The International Council for the Exploration of the Sea (ICES) invites to a workshop on participatory modelling from 7–11 October 2024 at the ICES Headquarters, Copenhagen, Denmark:

​​​​​​​​​​​​​​As the pursuit of ecosystem-based management is continued, it is vital to embrace and escalate the principles of knowledge co-production and foster collaboration between researchers and stakeholders. Moving forward, we can expect to encounter increasingly diverse questions and issues. These, in turn, may generate complex evidence and scientific advice in the form of products derived from numerical models.

With this workshop, ICES aims to give greater attention to the concept of participatory modelling: an innovative concept that combines modelling developed jointly by scientists and a wide diversity of stakeholders to create a shared vision while maintaining substantial and structured dialogue between groups.

Participatory modelling is well established in the scientific literature and frequently occurs across ICES groups and workshops. However, its application within ICES can appear inconsistent across both geographical regions and fields of research.

This workshop is designed to review experiences of participatory modelling (both within and external to ICES), identify candidate studies or assessments within ICES that would benefit from participatory modelling, and – perhaps most fundamentally – develop a framework for participatory modelling within ICES that builds on shared experiences, stakeholder preferences, and literature.

Building an ICES framework for participatory modelling requires a trans-disciplinary approach and two-way dialogue between end-users and modellers. ICES is therefore seeking contributors with a range of skills and knowledge. This includes end-users (such as ICES requesters and observer, MIRIA, and MIACO), modellers (fisheries, ecosystems, ecological, economic, social, and others), and social scientists from a range of disciplines that embrace themes of facilitation, communication, evaluation, and contextualization.

ICES encourages in-person participation, but online participation will also be possible.