SEAS project delivering innovative ocean science solutions
Since its launch in 2022, the EU-funded SEAS project has been offering postdoctoral researchers high-quality inter- and transdisciplinary research and training opportunities geared towards marine sustainability. Now, the project has been endorsed by the United Nations as an official Ocean Decade Action for the United Nations Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development (2021-2030).
A second honour
Coordinated by the University of Bergen (UiB) in Norway, SEAS is the university’s second project to be endorsed as an official Ocean Decade Action. The first was the Norway-Pacific Ocean-Climate Scholarship Programme (2021-2025) funded by Norway’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation. “This endorsement is a great honour and fits right into the work we do with our local partners as part of One Ocean City Bergen, our European partners to establish a Knowledge and Innovation Community (KIC) on water, and our global position as the SDG14 Hub Chair for United Nations Academic Impact (UNAI),” states Margareth Hagen, the rector of the UiB, in a recent news item posted on the university’s website. To survive, humanity needs healthy oceans. They sustain life, stabilise the climate and ensure prosperity. Propelled by this crucial role, SEAS brings together all UiB faculties as well as many academic and non-academic partners in order to combine different approaches to marine sustainability – a necessary strategy to address the multifaceted challenges threatening marine and coastal biodiversity worldwide. “SEAS is very much a joint effort across the university and underlines our commitment to meeting the challenges of the future by providing interdisciplinary solutions for the ocean and ocean science of the future,” remarks UiB’s Vice Dean for Ocean Øyvind Fiksen. “The endorsement from the Ocean Decade is an inspiration for us to continue this work both in our research and transforming our education.” The SEAS postdoctoral fellowship research programme has 37 fellows – all highly talented and experienced researchers who are contributing the knowledge needed for a viable marine future. World-class training and support provided at the UiB are helping the SEAS fellows reach professional maturity as leaders equipped with transferable skills in inter- and transdisciplinary research and intersectoral collaboration.
In the words of one fellow
One of the programme’s fellows is Aistė Klimašauskaitė from UiB’s Centre for the Study of the Sciences and the Humanities. Besides researching deep sea mining, Klimašauskaitė is also involved in assessing the SEAS programme as a whole, which has given her more insight on it than most. Remarking on SEAS (Shaping European Research Leaders for Marine Sustainability) being endorsed as an Ocean Decade Action, Klimašauskaitė states: “The Ocean Decade depends on resilient and collegial research communities that nurture support among colleagues. SEAS is a community before it is a programme. This is one common thing that SEAS fellows mention, and this is something many of us experienced. As I see it, this is the main contribution to the Ocean Decade and therefore not just an Action, but, perhaps, the Action.” For more information, please see: SEAS project website
Keywords
SEAS, Ocean Decade Action, ocean, marine, sustainability, research, fellow
