Following any disaster event there is a desire by the social science research community to both inform recovery efforts and learn from the event. However, social science researchers may also be conscious of the need to keep their distance from communities and governance bodies who are under immense pressure to deal with immediate recovery needs. There is also a focusing effect of disaster, where there may be a greater likelihood of collaboration between scientists and policy makers, but also a chance that research may be duplicative due to escalating research effort (Beaven, Wilson, Johnston, Johnston, & Smith, 2016). When New Zealand was impacted by the 2016 Kaikoura earthquake, a group of New Zealand-based researchers decided to gather social scientists and practitioners for a workshop to ascertain both the immediate and ongoing research needs and identify applicable lessons learned from past events. The Kaikoura Earthquake Social Science Research Workshop was held on the 24^th of February 2017 in Wellington (NZ) and provided a setting to explore and inspire collaborative and coordinated post-disaster research.

This report serves two purposes. First, we summarise the workshop process and lessons learned about research collaboration, coordination, and impact following major disruptive events. Second, we present the research and research coordination priorities for the Kaikoura earthquake and tsunami, that were identified during the workshop.