Working Groups (WGs) provide opportunities for more focused Forum and cross-Forum activities, by addressing specific time-bound challenges related to established or emerging areas of marine research, policy initiatives or regulation.
Working Groups serve as a targeted tool for the community to address specified challenges in a defined grouping and to create tangible output(s) over a defined timeline. Take a look the below FAQ along with ongoing and completed Working Groups here and feel free to get in touch if you are interested in creating a group.
No. While Research Forums are encouraged to develop and lead Working Groups (WGs), membership of a Forum Steering Group is not required to run or participate in a WG. Any MASTS member with an interest in a topic can get involved, and ideas for new Working Groups are welcomed from across the MASTS community.
Participation is also open to non-members where their expertise or interest is relevant to the Working Group’s focus and activities.
The outputs can vary hugely depending on the aim of the working group, they could include but are not limited to:
Head over the resources page here for inspiration.
Before contacting MASTS, check current and completed working groups (WG) to ensure there is no cross over. Once you have an idea, contact MASTS to have a chat with us and refine your idea. You don’t have to have WG members established before having a conversation with us.
If MASTS see’s potential in your idea, we will provide you with a proposal form for you to complete. You can begin to add names of working group members you wish to include. Upon return MASTS can do a public call for interested individuals to also join (this can include non-MASTS members).
There are two deadlines per calendar year when Working Group proposals can be submitted. The deadlines are:
– 31st of March
– 30th of September
You must submit your completed proposal with working group members agreed by one of the above dates. After that MASTS will submit the form to it’s independent Scientific Advisory Panel (SAP) for assessment.
If successful, MASTS will work with WG leads to manage their WGs from beginning to end and will attend WG meetings.
This depends on the outputs that the Working Group (WG) have set out to achieve. MASTS will fund up to two years, but many WGs are completed within one year.
The timeline is agreed when the WG proposal is signed off by the MASTS Scientific Advisory Board who review all WG proposals.
Working Groups can apply for up to £4,000 per year and will receive administrative support through the MASTS Directorate.
Proposals will be assessed by the MASTS Science Advisory Panel (SAP) based on criteria such as innovative nature, societal and economic impact and implementation strategy.
The SAP is made up of 8 individuals and each will review the proposal.
The SAP will provide feedback along with individual scoring for the overall proposal. MASTS will return the collective feedback and scoring to yourself. The outcome can be acceptance without amendments, amendments required, or rejection.
Yes. A proposal can be put together and submitted by more than one person listed as the WG’s lead.
The size of the Working Group (WG) should be proportionate to the expertise needed and size/technicality of the output(s). We recommend a range of 7-12 individuals per WG, but this is a guide rather than a restriction.
Most WG participants should be MASTS members but externals are welcome to join.
If you have an idea but no WG members in mind yet, MASTS can advertise the opportunity to members and non-members via it’s mailing list.
Potentially! Some working groups may be just starting or may have a skills gap so it’s worth getting in contact with MASTS to see if there’s still time to get involved.
Yes, we encourage all career stages to get involved if they have the capacity within their workload to contribute to the work of the Group and help deliver its outputs by actively participating.
If you or someone else is interested in just learning more about the WG, MASTS recommends they sign up to the mailing list to ensure they hear about the outputs of the WG when they are ready.
Alternatively you can just regularly check the MASTS Resources page here where they will eventually be linked to.
We’re working behind the scenes to bring you a suite of useful, and updateable, resources including:
If you would like to be updated when the resources section is live please let us know.
