Recent years have seen a growing push for better integration of the social sciences with the more traditional, natural science orientated approaches. Moreover, increasing understanding of how people use and respond to marine and coastal environments could also be an opportunity to frame society as part of the solution to challenges facing the ocean, coasts and seas, rather than solely being viewed as the cause. As explored in other chapters, social science research and practice provide a suite of valuable lenses and a diverse toolbox to explore relationships between different groups of society and the ocean, providing much-needed insight into the drivers and motivations behind a whole suite of human behaviours towards our marine environment. Increasingly, there is recognition from international initiatives that ‘society’ has a very real, and necessary, role to play in supporting sustainable use and management of our marine and coastal resources. For this to be delivered, ocean research which is transdisciplinary and inclusive of multiple and diverse communities, perceptions and ways of knowing is crucial. Growing the community of marine social science researchers and practitioners, and their champions within decision-making organisations, is fundamental to this. While there have been active communities of marine social scientists for some time, the community has experienced something of a rapid growth in recent years and, as a recognised discipline, it is relatively young. This chapter will explore the importance of building collaborative relationships and networks, drawing insight from some of the existing communities and networks, including MARE and the Marine Social Science Network among others, and discusses why networking is essential for advancing marine social science research and practice more broadly.