Our approach to trainings, workshops, and outreach centers the participants – what do they want to learn or practice, how do they want to engage, and how can we design (and evaluate and adapt) programs and activities to be truly inclusive and effective?
TRAININGS
We generally take a multi-layer approach to developing trainings:
- Core mindsets and skills: Critical thinking, systems thinking, and mindfulness
- Knowledge: Broad background information (as needed) for the topic at hand, then efficiently moving to specific information needed
- Specific technical skills: The skills needed to carry out work in the given topic/area of interest, ranging from cross-cutting skills (e.g., Microsoft Office, presentation skills, data entry and management, writing) to research methodologies (e.g., interview techniques, field surveys) to basic project management (e.g., preparing a research budget).
Trainings include: Foundational skills (e.g. proposal and report writing, research design and processes, interview methods, data management, academic reading for ESL students, presentation skills; critical thinking, systems thinking, mindfulness); Specific topics (e.g. rapid assessment of marine megafauna bycatch in fisheries, gender issues in natural resource management, marine conservation topics, presenting research to stakeholders); Research team training
FACILITATION
Facilitation experience in: stakeholder consultations; research and planning workshops; discussion-based research symposium for stakeholders
OUTREACH
Outreach examples: Village awareness campaigns on marine mammal conservation; public presentations; guiding outreach strategy for Myanmar Coastal Conservation Lab
Design Thinking & Conservation
With thoughtful and responsible use, Design Thinking can substantially contribute to more effective, equitable, and ethical conservation practices.
Developing an Innovative Conservation Training Program
At the Myanmar Coastal Conservation Lab (MCCL) at Point B Design + Training, we’ve developed a thoughtful, remarkably effective training program to build research and conservation skills and knowledge and to cultivate the passion that many youths have for environmental work. We designed this as part of the Gulf of Mottama Project’s (GoMP) Conservation and…
Environmentalism in a Pandemic: The importance of critical, empathetic, and future-driven thinking
Written in April – some thoughts and quick information search on what the pandemic actually means for the environment, beyond thoughtless “nature is healing” memes. Posted in the Age of Awareness publication on Medium.
What dwells in these muddy waters: The quest for dolphins and porpoises in the Gulf of Mottama, Myanmar
About our journey – from an unexpected revelation in India, to poking around fishing villages, to finally seeing the animals with our own eyes – to start a research program on the marine mammals in the Gulf of Mottama. Posted on Medium.
A Street in a Strange World
An old bit of musing that I wrote while leaving Jakarta after a whirlwind – yet tedious – visit to process my research permit in 2012. Posted in Medium
A tangled net: Bycatch, dolphin conservation, and human well-being
Bycatch is a serious threat to marine megafauna around the world; reducing it requires changes in how people fish, posing a highly challenging situation where conservation might threaten human well-being.
Birthdays, viruses, & coming home: Clarity in a time of confusion
My father died in 2018, of pneumonia following a brutal flu infection. The experience of watching him wither away on a ventilator, and the profound, immense world of emotion and realization that I fell into, changed me in ways that I am still trying to grasp. This is something I wrote about the emotional struggle…
Cute, Generally Irritating, and Endangered: Lessons from studying Irrawaddy dolphins & their conservation systems
We love to gripe about these dolphins, but we also just love them. My views of conservation have been heavily influenced by my experience following these “generally irritating” animals, interviewing the fishers who live alongside them, and working with some of the most dedicated and bright conservation minds in the world. Posted on Medium
Myanmar Coastal Conservation Lab @ PointB Design + Training
A very exciting part of my current work is my close collaboration with the Myanmar Coastal Conservation Lab (MCCL) – part of the social innovation lab and training center, Point B Design + Training. This unique, innovative group builds skills and develops solutions for the future of coastal conservation in Myanmar, with a focus on youths….
