Science and Research

Back-to-back with EMD2024,  the European Blue Forum will hold its Annual Meeting, "From Position to Practice," in Svendborg, Denmark, on May 30, 2024. This year's event, offers an invaluable platform to collectively shape the blue economy's future. The event is hybrid, in person or online and will include interactive workshops designed to transform ideas into impactful practices, and the future workplan for the next 18 months, promoting collaboration with stakeholders to build sustainable practices that benefit the oceans and us all. Registration is open until May 8, 2024.

The Thalassa 2024 Marine Sciences Conference, organised by EMODnet Associated Partner the Cyprus Marine and Maritime Institute (CMMI), will take place on 28th-29th May 2024 in Larnaca, Cyprus. Registration is open until 15th April here.

EMODnet has multiple oral and poster presentations at the International Conference on Marine Data and Information Systems (IMDIS) taking place in Bergen, Norway, and online on 27th-29th May 2024. Join the large SeaDataNet, EMODnet and wider data management community for the latest developments in this space. Registration is open (early bird rate by 15th April). 

We are excited to announce that EMODnet will be an Institutional Partner and key speaker for the Hydrospatial Infrastructure and Blue Economy Summit at the upcoming Geospatial World Forum (GWF) 2024. Save the dates for this event taking place May 13-16, 2024, in Rotterdam, Netherlands. During the summit, the EMODnet Secretariat and EMODnet Bathymetry will deliver key speeches, sharing insights and expertise. Join for a focused program on "The Hydrospatial Infrastructure and Blue Economy Summit," where we will delve into the need for ocean knowledge and explore opportunities for growth within the blue economy.  Find out more and register today.

This course is suitable for anyone who would like to learn about how to use version control tracking changes and effective collaboration on their projects. This 2-day course will take place online and you will be introduced to the most popular open-source software for version control (Git) and the most popular platform for sharing and collaborating on projects online (GitHub) using a graphical interface to both (GitKraken Client). The course is designed to get researchers started with version control, demonstrate how to collaborate effectively as well as introduce version control best practices, as practiced by research software engineering teams.

On 29-30 April 2024 the EMODnet Steering Committee (SC) met online for its 20th meeting. The open session was attended by diverse representatives of the EC and EU agencies, including CINEA, EC DG MARE, DEFIS, ENV, RTD, JRC, and the European Environment Agency (EEA), with a dedicated discussion on EMODnet for EU Policy, Chaired by Rémy Denos, EC DG MARE. EMODnet thematic and data ingestion Coordinators together with the Central Portal technical team presented the latest EMODnet offer and ongoing developments. The closed session included operational discussions, including planning for the next EMODnet hackathon ‘Open Sea Lab 4.0’ (more news to follow).

EMODnet experts from VLIZ and the Secretariat participated in the final event of the Green Deal Data Space (GREAT) Project, held on 23 April at the Press Club in Brussels. This event marked the end of the 20-month project on the Green Deal Data Space Preparatory Action, celebrating the project achievements which included wider stakeholder surveys. As a result of proactive inputs by the EMODnet community into these consultations, EMODnet was highlighted as a best practice for data spaces in the marine domain, a key component of the future trans-domain Green Deal Data Space (GDDS). The event highlighted key findings and successful collaborations that have laid a solid foundation for future projects. If you missed it, re-watch the live stream: https://go.egi.eu/rv8NV.

EMODnet has a key role in the EDITO project underpinning the European Digital Twins of the Ocean (DTO). In this capacity, EMODnet presented at the “DTO4ECOPS” satellite event in Barcelona on 9 April, as part of the Ocean Decade week ahead of the United Nations Ocean Decade Conference. This engaging session brought together leading European and international marine data services to explore the impact and potential of DTO's. A key focus was on how these innovative tools can empower Early Career Ocean Professionals, fostering new opportunities and insights in ocean science and management. The Central Portal technical team of EMODnet (VLIZ and the EMODnet Secretariat) continue to coordinate EMODnet’s contribution to the European Digital Twin Ocean via the EDITO infrastructure project. This is increasingly engaging all EMODnet thematics to enable EMODnet’s full offer to be made available in cloud-optimised formats on the EDITO platform. The latest developments will be showcased at the Digital Ocean Forum (DOF) on 12-13 June 2024 in Brussels.

EMODnet is a UN Ocean Decade Implementing Partner. In April 2024 the EMODnet network was very active in presenting EMODnet at the UN Ocean Decade Conference and related side events in Barcelona, including for Digital Twins of the Ocean, Early Career Ocean Professionals (ECOPS), Ocean Observing and Ocean Prediction, Private Sector Data Sharing, Sea Level Rise, and more. In addition, EMODnet, EUMETSAT and Copernicus Marine Service will host a joint webinar on 19 June 2024 titled “Data for the UN Ocean Decade: A European focus”. Further information will be shared soon on EMODnet and co-organiser social media channels.

EMODnet formally kicked off its Vision 2035 activities in April 2024 with the first meeting of the EMODnet Vision 2035 Drafting Group, which is coordinating a Vision to 2035 of EMODnet’s service evolution. The Group consists of representatives from all EMODnet thematics, data ingestion, central portal and Secretariat, also including Sea-basin Checkpoint Coordinators, EMODnet Associated Partners and key actors from the EU and Global stakeholder community. A key input to the Vision 2035 will be a public consultation, planned for launch in early summer 2024, open to all. Stay tuned to have your say in EMODnet’s future evolution!

As part of the AdriaClim project, researchers from the University of Bologna and the Euro-Mediterranean Center on Climate Change in Italy utilized EMODnet Chemistry data to create a detailed 3D biogeochemical model for the Adriatic Sea. Their analysis yielded insights into future biogeochemical changes driven by climate change, affecting marine ecosystems and key economic sectors like fisheries.

EMODnet experts from the Secretariat and wider partnership represented EMODnet at the first United Nations Ocean Decade (UN OD) Conference 2024, held in Barcelona from 10-12 April. EMODnet contributed to the Ocean Prediction booth and to number of sessions and week-long side events spanning Early Career Ocean Professionals (ECOPS) for the European Digital Twin Ocean (DTO), CoastPredict and the JPI Knowledge Hub on Sea Level Rise, the UN OD Challenge 8 digital representation of the ocean, and invited presentations at European project side events.

EMODnet is pleased to announce and welcome 3 new associated partners in Spring 2024: Renewable Grid Initiative (RGI), Voice of the Ocean (VOTO) and Oceano VOX. Each new member brings unique expertise and a strong commitment to advancing collaboration with EMODnet in the areas of data sharing, best practices in marine data, information technology and data services, and expanding the users of EMODnet, including for the Blue Economy.

This year, the EGI federation of computing and storage resource providers are holding their annual EGI conference in Lecce, Italy, in collaboration with the CMCC Foundation from 30th September until 4th October 2024. Different contribution types are accepted (short and long talks, posters, and demonstrations) across a variety of topics. Deadline: 24th April, 2024. 

On April 18th, EMODnet Biology will host a half-day workshop that is aimed at the Regional Sea Conventions. The workshop will represent an important opportunity of interaction, and of collection of feedback and of gaps and needs by RSCs. in terms of data, products and/or tools required for marine ecosystem status assessment.

The Sustainable Blue Economy Partnership has announced its second joint transnational call, offering support to research and innovation projects lasting 36 months. This call, co-branded as part of the UN Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development, focuses on four priority areas: Digital Twins of the Ocean, Blue economy sectors and marine multi-use infrastructures, Planning and managing sea-uses at the regional level, and Blue Bioresources. Applicants have until April 10, 2024 (15H00 CEST) to submit their pre-proposals, with a deadline for full proposals expected in November 2024

The Thalassa 2024 Marine Sciences Conference, organised by EMODnet Associated Partner the Cyprus Marine and Maritime Institute (CMMI), will take place on 28th-29th May 2024 in Larnaca, Cyprus. Registration is open until 15th April here.

The EMODnet Secretariat attended the Equinox Summit "European Climate change Science Summit" on 26th March 2024 in Brussels, co-organised by JPI Climate and European project MAGICA and held under the auspices of the Belgian presidency of the Council of the European Union. The event was attended by many National representatives from Ministries and public authorities, EU policy makers, JPI Climate, JPI Oceans, European projects and wider stakeholders. The event highlighted the value and crucial role of high-quality ocean and climate data, information and science to understand Climate Change and to inform mitigation and adaptation solutions. The EMODnet offer of marine environmental and human activities data spans Ocean and Climate, including Sea Level Rise data products, relevant for the first European Assessment Report on Sea Level Rise coordinated by JPI Oceans and JPI Climate, which will be launched in late Spring 2024.

EMODnet experts from the Human Activities and Secretariat presented EMODnet and provided technical advice at the Technical Expert Group (TEG) on Data for Maritime Spatial Planning (MSP) workshop “MSP Data tools and Guidance” which was held as a hybrid event on 13th March 2024.

BLOG #1 (March 2024): EMODnet’s technical state-of-the-art as a unified Portal. The EMODnet EC in situ marine data service is enabled by a large expert community of technical experts in thematic data, data and web services, data ingestion and more. One year on from the launch of EMODnet’s unified Portal, EMODnet launches a technical blog that brings the technical developments and achievements of the EMOD-network to the forefront, championed by EMODnet’s Technical Coordinator, Conor Delaney. The blog is intended for wider stakeholders who use and/or contribute to EMODnet and would like to know more about the latest state-of-the-art in EMODnet services. The technical blog will be released quarterly.