SOCIAT Training Course is now open!
How can we gather evidence to demonstrate the multiple benefits that nature conservation provides for people?
SOCIAT Training Course is now open!
The EUROPARC Federation and the University of Warwick are proud to launch the SOCIAT Training Course, which enables professionals to assess social outcomes of nature protection and restoration projects.
The development of SOCIAT was led by Dr Nikoleta Jones (University of Warwick) in collaboration with the EUROPARC Federation. This, along with other innovative tools, was created as part of the FIDELIO project (Forecasting Social Impacts of Biodiversity Conservation Policies in Europe), which was funded by the European Research Council (ERC) under the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme. Learn more on the FIDELIO project website here.
SOCIAT – Social Impact Assessment Tool for Nature Protection and Restoration projects is a structured questionnaire providing evidence-based insights to:
- Capture community perspectives
- Strengthen governance and trust
- Align conservation goals with community wellbeing
The SOCIAT Training Course provides a step-by-step guidance on the application process, explanations of the indicators, and standards for analysing the collected social data.
To help ensure that community voices are part of conservation decisions, the course is tailored for NGOs and professionals in the civil sector involved in management and decision-making. This includes Protected Areas Practitioners such as guides, rangers, administrative officers and assistants, as well as technical specialists and managers.
The online self-paced course is organised into four modules, all lessons and quizzes are in English, and the completion time for the course is approximately 2.5 hours.
By prioritising community engagement and understanding, SOCIAT helps create sustainable conservation outcomes rooted in local support and collaboration, says Dr Nikoleta Jones.