Session Overview
At the 2022 AZA Annual conference, the Social Science Research and Evaluation Scientific Advisory Group (SSRE SAG) convened a session that delved into one of the five priority research questions of the AZA’s Social Science Research Agenda (SSRA): What is the role of zoos and aquariums in communities? This session brought together professionals who develop, facilitate, evaluate, and research the development, processes, and impacts around the roles of zoos and aquariums in communities, including: community expectations, effective strategies and processes for engagement, and how Z/As (zoos and aquariums) contribute to their communities. Through brief presentations, speakers shared what is currently being done in their communities, and what SSRA sub-questions we have started to answer. Breakout sessions engaged participants in discussion about where community engagement can go, what other research questions we have, and how we can answer them in relation to 1) expectations of communities, 2) effective methods to engage with communities, and 3) contributions of Z/As towards communities. Representatives from the SSRE SAG compiled notes from these breakout sessions and have synthesized them here to make them available to the AZA and greater SSRE community.
Session speakers, facilitators, and note takers used the information provided during the session by program participants in the break out sessions to identify themes across groups.
Continue reading “What is the Role of Zoos and Aquariums in Communities?”