The Gulf Coast and Caribbean State of the Science Annual Meeting Series is excited to announce the 2026 State of the Science Meeting in partnership with the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH), the Southeastern Coastal Center for Agricultural Health and Safety and our new collaboration with the Southeast & Caribbean Disaster Resilience Partnership (SCDRP).

The 2026 State of the Science Meeting will take place on March 2-3, 2026 at the College of Charleston, directly preceding the SCDRP 2026 10th Anniversary Annual Meeting on March 4-5, 2026. 

The theme of the 8th Annual State of the Science Meeting is Change Among our Working Waterfront where attendees will explore evolving challenges faced by coastal communities and fishery workers. The event will explore the health and safety concerns derived from natural disaster impacts, while also presenting forward-looking solutions and opportunities. 

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The 7th annual State of the Science Meeting will be the first SOS meeting hosted in the Caribbean and will focus on the latest research on topics impacting fisher communities along the Gulf and Caribbean Coasts. The meeting will also include a community voices panel where attendees will have the opportunity to engage directly with fishers and local community leaders who can provide invaluable on-the-ground perspectives.

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The 6th annual State of the Science Meeting brought together several researchers and Extension professionals working at the intersection of agricultural health and safety research, policy, and outreach communication in the southeastern U.S. Learn more about the event by reading the news story at the button below or scroll to the bottom of this page to see presentations from the speakers.

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The 2023 State of the Science meeting focused on The Impact of Climate Events on Agricultural Health and Safety. The State of the Science meeting included a poster session Monday evening, followed by Tuesday’s one-day meeting with highly esteemed researchers from various institutions, including the United States Department of Agriculture, the University of Florida, Florida State University, American Farm Bureau Federation, and the University of Puerto Rico. These researchers shared current findings, resources, and collaborative efforts to help those on the front lines of climate impacts in the agricultural industry. Attendees also learned about funding opportunities from the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences and SCCAHS.

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Hosted by the Southeastern Coastal Center for Agricultural Health and Safety (SCCAHS) headquartered at the University of Florida in Gainesville, FL, the annual State of the Science Meeting combined esteemed speakers to present research relevant to occupational safety and health needs of people working in agriculture, fishing, and forestry in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands.

State of the Science 2020 featured researchers and scientists from various fields from across the United States, who presented their findings on COVID-19 and its impact on agricultural workers and farmers and paved the way for future research collaborations that can address the long-lasting effects this pandemic will have on the industry. 

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Those who work in agriculture face many stressors, including financial uncertainty, family and relationships issues, social isolation, disaster, accidental injury, and acute and chronic diseases, that can affect their mental health. While some mental health issues, such as the high rate of farmer suicides, have been discussed widely, other mental health stressors that affect agriculture workers in vulnerable rural communities have not been discussed as broadly. Research, strategies, and policies from across disciplines are needed 1) to identify the mental health issues that farmworkers, farm operators, farm owners and others in these communities face; 2) address the social, environmental and built-environment associations with mental health in rural communities; and 3) understand the inequities in farmworker/fishery/forestry community mental health (depressive or substance use disorder rates) and how we might close these gaps to encourage individual, family, and community-level resilience.

To address this need, the Southeastern Coastal Center for Agricultural Health and Safety (SCCAHS) organized a State of the Science meeting, focusing on Stress and Resilience Among Agricultural Workers in Vulnerable Rural Communities. The State of the Science meeting included a poster session featuring research on Thursday evening, followed by Friday’s one-day meeting with a crosscutting slate of researchers from various fields to present current findings and to begin the process of developing future research collaborations on stress and resilience in vulnerable rural communities.

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The Southeastern Coastal Center for Agricultural Health and Safety (SCCAHS) put together a slate of esteemed speakers on the topic of heat related illness, showcasing research at the intersections of heat related illness and climate change as it relates to the health and safety of outdoor workers and farmworkers, as well as athletes and military personnel. This crosscutting meeting brought together researchers from various fields to present current findings and pave the way for developing future research collaborations on these topics.

The SCCAHS Heat Related Illness State of the Science Meeting took place October 25-26 at the Don CeSar hotel in St. Petersburg, Florida, with a Heat Related Illness poster session occurring on October 25.

SCCAHS is a research and education center based at the University of Florida, whose mission is to explore and address the occupational safety and health needs of people working in agriculture, fishing, and forestry in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands.

This event was made possible through partnership with Sunshine Education and Research Center. Learn more about this NIOSH Education and Research Center at the University of South Florida.

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