When Don Field and Rabel Burdge started the ISSRM (now known as “IASNR Conference”) in 1986, their fundamental idea was to break down barriers between social science researchers in the natural resources/environmental area and public land managers. By that time Rabel had a long track record in the social impact assessment world and Don had created and overseen dozens and dozens of applied social science projects for the National Park Service. They were both concerned that social scientists and land managers did not understand each other very well or communicate effectively. Their aim was to build an informal culture where social scientists (including students) and managers were on a first name basis so they could talk productively about social science projects that could help managers be more effective.

Over the years our organization has done a remarkable job of building a community of applied social scientists from all over the world who work on natural resources and the environment. Many careers have been greatly enhanced by our efforts. However, we have been less effective at consistently attracting land managers (and in more recent years ever-more-important NGO folks) to our meetings. Our theme for 2023 “Bridging the Gap between Research & Practice – through Communication & Collaboration” is aimed at rededicating ourselves to the second half of Don and Rabel’s vision. To that end we are striving to emphasize applied research and the perspectives of “real world” resource managers and NGO representatives in our conference.