2025a Online course
A warm welcome to the SOCIAT training program
Welcome to the SOCIAT training program! We are excited to have you on board. This program is designed to equip you with the knowledge, tools, and hands-on experience needed to capture the social impacts of nature protection and restoration projects.
Get ready to learn, grow, and connect with others on this journey. Let’s make it a great experience together!
Structure
The SOCIAT online training is structured as a four-session series. It begins with an introduction to conservation social science and social impact assessments, followed by a session on using the SOCIAT survey tool for conservation projects. Midway through, participants will learn how to conduct personal interviews, and then explore participatory mapping methodologies for social impact assessment. The program concludes by giving participants the opportunity to develop and present a social impact assessment for their own projects.
Session 1: Introduction to conservation social science and the SOCIAT framework
In this session, you will explore key theories and contributions from environmental sociology, environmental psychology, and behavioural science—foundational elements in the development of tools within conservation social science. We will also introduce the SOCIAT framework and the key concepts on which it is based (facilitator Prof. Nikoleta Jones)
Session 2: Using SOCIAT
During this session, we will walk through a step-by-step approach to using the SOCIAT survey tool, including selecting social impact indicators, planning your sampling methodology and techniques for questionnaire distribution. We will also cover basic statistical techniques for data analysis and take a deeper look at how to interpret the results (facilitators Prof. Nikoleta Jones, Dr Chrisovaladis Malesios)
Session 3: Part A. Conducting personal interviews.
In this first part of session 3 we will guide you through the process of conducting personal interviews, from designing interview questions to selecting participants and conducting the interviews. We will also discuss techniques for active listening, recording responses, and analysing qualitative data to draw meaningful insights.
Session 3: Part B. Monitoring & Evaluation
In the second part of session 3 we will discuss monitoring and evaluation in conservation projects and how social impact assessment tools can be useful in this context. The session will cover aspects of theory of change, identifying key elements for monitoring and evaluation such as long-term impacts, outcomes, activities and outputs while also ways of using different tools to collect the information needed for your evaluation framework (facilitator Dr Vangelis Pitidis- recording of this session is included in the material of Session 3-Part A).
Session 4: Using maps
During this session, you will be introduced to a tool that combines social impact assessment with participatory mapping. This innovative methodology enables you to capture social impacts through a mapping exercise, transforming how we interpret traditional maps. It also provides invaluable insights that can be integrated with ecological mapping assessments (Facilitators: Dr Vangelis Pitidis, Alfie Begley).
Final Activity
During the training you will be working towards developing your own social impact assessment for a project you have been currently working on or are planning to work in the future.
Contact
fidelio@warwick.ac.uk
SOCIAT program
Ramphal Building
University of Warwick
Coventry
CV4 7AL
UK
Funding
The training program and associate guidelines have been developed thanks to funding from the University of Warwick's Policy Support Fund, the internal ESRC IAA program and the Arts and Humanities Impact Fund.
The SOCIAT tool was the result of the FIDELIO project funded by the European Research Council (ERC) under the European Union’s Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation programme.