WORKSHOPS

Coral reef restoration is advancing rapidly worldwide, yet policies and regulatory systems that enable action on the ground have not always kept pace with the scale, complexity, and innovation of emerging interventions. Across regions, practitioners face fragmented, unclear, or burdensome permitting processes that can delay or constrain restoration efforts. This is particularly true for novel and hybridized approaches such as larval enhancement, assisted evolution, microbiome-based interventions, and larger-scale structure deployment. At the same time, regulators are navigating rapidly evolving science and frequently lack clear frameworks or criteria to evaluate what constitutes effective restoration within their jurisdictions. This dual challenge can create uncertainty, slow decision-making, and highlight the need for more adaptive and collaborative permitting pathways. This workshop will convene restoration practitioners, researchers, regulators, and policy experts to identify shared challenges and opportunities in coral restoration regulations at the national level and across jurisdictions. Discussions will explore key barriers, including application complexity, coordination across agencies and levels of governance, uncertainty around ecological risk and long-term adaptation needs, and how national and regional standards can work synergistically with international frameworks. The session will be structured as an interactive workshop, beginning with plenary presentations to frame regional and global challenges, followed by facilitated breakout groups focused on: (1) permitting bottlenecks and user experience across different capacity contexts, (2) scientific and data gaps needed to support regulatory decisions, (3) international policy constraints, and (4) implementation case studies for emerging restoration technologies and community-based restoration approaches. By bringing together diverse perspectives, this session seeks to align policy and practice, support responsible innovation, and accelerate effective reef restoration at scale.

Assisted gene flow (AGF) of Caribbean corals offers a promising pathway to enhance reef resilience, yet its practical deployment faces a suite of challenges, including regulatory obstacles, transportation logistics, and facility infrastructure, as well as biological considerations such as genetic risks, pathogen/invasive species introduction, and microbiome integrity. This workshop aims to convene scientists, managers, and policymakers to examine how to overcome these challenges and develop responsible AGF programs. Discussion will address the complexities of moving corals across jurisdictions at different life stages, the need for scalable capacity (infrastructure and personnel), and other emerging challenges. Participants will collaboratively identify the strategic pathways, regulatory considerations, and financing mechanisms needed to enable safe, ethical, and regionally coordinated implementation of AGF across the Caribbean.

The ICRS Student and Early Career Committee (SECC) Skills and Professional Development Team proposes an interactive workshop focused on integrating artificial intelligence (AI) into coral reef science. This session builds on a preceding online workshop (August 2026) where a panelist of experts introduced the applications of AI within their research. The workshop will be facilitated by ICRS - SECC, and led by two professionals in the field who are actively developing and applying AI-based approaches, such as computer vision, image analysis, and photogrammetry.

At Reef Futures 2024 we collaborated creating a memorable closing ceremony entertainment item, One Reef More on the back of our Creative Communications workshop. This time at Reef Futures 2026 we would like to propose another creative communications workshop and coral restoration focused performance to be performed at the closing ceremony. The intended outcome is to engage and inspire participants and create a memorable experience for all RF participants.

NOTE THIS IS AN INVITATION-ONLY WORKSHOP
To inquire about the application process to attend contact shackero@udel.edu

This workshop will bring together coral intervention experts, restoration practitioners, and managers to develop practical guidance for implementing emerging approaches to enhance coral resilience within restoration. Whether through genetic selection, microbiome-based approaches, physiological enhancement, or environmental and ecological interventions, participants will explore areas of uncertainty, context dependence, regulatory requirements, and measures of success. Guidelines will be drafted to help practitioners make more informed decisions about when, where, and under what conditions different interventions may be appropriate. While discussions will benefit from global insights, the Caribbean will be the focal region for implementation context.

The Gulf of Mexico’s coral reefs are ecologically connected across national boundaries, yet research, conservation, and restoration efforts often remain fragmented among the U.S., Mexico, and Cuba. This interactive RedGolfo workshop will convene scientists, managers, restoration practitioners, policymakers, and partners from across the Gulf to identify shared priorities, develop collaborative project ideas, and strengthen pathways for coordinated coral conservation and restoration. Join us in building a more connected, Gulf-wide strategy for coral reef resilience.

This workshop will create a dedicated space for practitioners working in, or exploring, land-based coral nurseries to collectively shape how knowledge, tools, and best practices are shared across the sector. Participants will be involved in dynamic exchanges on current approaches, challenges, and innovations in land-based coral farming. They will also work together to identify evolving needs, and co-design a solution that accelerates learning and supports the broader adoption of effective nursery design and operational approaches.

Discover the current state of the art in robotics and AI and help shape the next generation of technologies to scale up restoration and monitoring of coral reefs. This workshop will include interactive activities and panels with engineers developing AI and robotics tools, and their users. There will be opportunities for reef practitioners to design their dream AI enhanced robot system. No experience necessary.

The goal of the workshop is to provide participants with a hands-on learning opportunity and the knowledge to troubleshoot issues and bring back their experience to their respective programs and projects. This workshop will connect coral restoration practitioners with little or no experience with microfragmentation techniques and provide a general introduction to the tools and methodology. **This workshop is being offered 4 times. Register ONLY for 1 session**

Coral reefs and mangroves provide billions of dollars in annual flood and erosion protection. These values can help finance the restoration that these critical habitats urgently need. This three-hour workshop equips practitioners, agencies, and investors with practical tools to quantify protection benefits, design reef restoration for risk reduction projects, evaluate cost-effectiveness and Return on Investment (OI), and access emerging financing mechanisms like resilience credits and reef insurance. Trainers include leaders from UC Santa Cruz, U. Miami, USGS, TNC, and Iberostar.