The 4th Garden Route Interface and Networking (GRIN) Meeting will take place from 11-13 October 2022 (2 nights, 3 days) at Pine Lake Marina, Sedgefield, South Africa.

A post-GRIN Spring School on social-ecological systems research will take place from 14-19 October 2022, in the Garden Route.

GRIN provides a space for sharing experiences and latest insights related to the management, research and sustainability of social-ecological systems (e.g. protected areas, working landscapes, estuaries and catchments) from around the world.

GRIN aims to be practitioner relevant and specifically cater for managers, rangers and policy makers to share their real-life stories / experiences and participate in discussions.

For the 2022 meeting we are keen to feature papers and sessions on:

  • the effect of COVID-19 on people-nature relations and sustainability;
  • lessons and experiences from promoting co-learning, knowledge sharing and collaboration among diverse stakeholders;
  • responding to climate and other drivers of change;
  • governance and management approaches for social-ecological systems;
  • monitoring and evaluation within social-ecological systems.

Please don’t feel constrained by the above themes – we encourage a wide scope of presentations related to the people-nature and science-practice interfaces. However, if you have a specific question related to the suitability of a topic for presentation, or if you are a practitioner unsure about the contributions you can make, please contact Dirk Roux (dirk.roux@sanparks.org).

The Spring School is a unique opportunity for post-graduate students, scholars and practitioners, especially those new to the social-ecological space, to learn how to navigate a broad spectrum of methods and tools typically used in social-ecological systems research. The Spring School combines seminars with group-based field and research work, facilitated by a number of experienced social-ecological researchers. Please direct inquiries to Jonel Ackermann (Jonel.Ackermann@mandela.ac.za) or Hervé Fritz (herve.fritz@mandela.ac.za).

See GRIN website for submission and registration details.

Important Dates:

Abstract submission no later than 30 June 2022

Registration and final payment (R1,800 per delegate and R1,200 for registered students) no later than 31 August 2022

Note: Due to the size of the venue and to allow for quality interaction, the number of delegates will be capped at 70 on a first pay first accept basis.