Forging an Ocean Pact for Europe: Role of EU University Alliances

The International Symposium on Transformative Science, a high-level forum bridging science and policy so as to shape the future of European ocean science and innovation, was recently hosted by the European Commission and the Italian national research council – the CNR – in Venice. The same symposium is envisaged as the first within a series, with the first edition focusing on the Ocean Pact, the European Union’s new strategic vision for the ocean. It in fact explored how science, ethics, and innovation can work together to turn this vision into reality, transforming ocean knowledge into concrete pathways for planetary sustainability.

Prof. Alan Deidun, Rector’s Delegate for SEA-EU and resident academic within the Department of Geosciences of the Faculty of Science and Malta’s first Ocean Ambassador, participated as a panellist within a roundtable so as to represent the role played by European University Alliances in bringing about the expected shift in ocean governance. Prof. Deidun used concrete examples from the SEA-EU Alliance to showcase how such alliances can spearhead innovation through the training they offer and through the research initiatives they embark upon.

Co-panellists with Prof. Deidun on the same roundtable included Director of the Ocean Exploration Collaborative Institute of NOAA (US) Adam Soule, Executive Director of the European Marine Board Sheila Heymans, Secretary General of EuroMarine Association Simonetta Fraschetti as well as the Chair of JPI Oceans Peter Haugan. The day was opened through keynote contributions by Prof. T. Hunt, Nobel Prize winner in 2001 for Medicine/Physiology as well as by Pascal Lamy, Chair of the EU’s Mission Board for Healthy Oceans and Waters, of which Prof. Deidun was a member over the 2019-2024 period.

The Symposium encouraged critical reflection on questions such as:

- Can the Ocean Pact truly transform the way societies engage with the ocean?
- How can science reconcile economic imperatives with ethical and environmental responsibility?
- Which research frontiers and communities are best placed to ensure its implementation?

By addressing these questions from scientific, social, and policy perspectives, the Venice Symposium positioned the Ocean Pact as both a challenge and an opportunity to rethink the role of marine science in shaping the future. Interestingly enough, European University Alliances are seen as a key enabler to achieve the essential quantum leap in youth upskilling which is necessary to fuel the expected growth in the Blue Economy and in driving the innovation agenda through the research conducted within the same Alliances. The SEA-EU Alliance was hailed as a prime example of a fruitful European University Alliance.

Further information about the Venice Symposium can be gleaned online, whilst further insight about the SEA-EU Alliance can be obtained through the website.