The Collaborative Research Action “Transdisciplinary Research for Ocean Sustainability” is an initiative of the Belmont Forum, co-branded by JPI Oceans and Future Earth. Last year, the CRA selected 13 Research & Innovation project proposals for funding. This month, the Belmont Forum has launched the Ocean Sustainability Hub, a knowledge platform highlighting the awardee projects’ findings and showcasing their publications, presentations, images and other outputs.
The Ocean Sustainability Hub has two interwoven functions: To the interested public and funders it offers a central go-to place for project information. For awarded projects is also an interaction tool to strengthen synergies and share knowledge and data between them and with stakeholders. Featured on the page is a calendar highlighting events specific to the Collaborative Research Action, an interactive map, and a visualization showing the transdisciplinary nature of the projects. Also, the Hub in fact has a built-in social network feature that allows Coordinators, Consortium Leads, Researchers, and Stakeholders to coordinate with each other, facilitate engagement, and share opportunities.
In total, 16 organizations from 14 countries including JPI Oceans members France, Germany, Iceland, Norway and Sweden, are providing € 14.25 million and additional in-kind contributions for the projects addressing the two themes: “Pathways towards sustainable and equitable use of oceans” and “Accounting for and minimizing impacts of global change”. Accordingly, the ongoing projects cover a diverse range of topics such as sustainable management, shipping, conflict management, innovative multi-use of seawater desalination, and many more. A set of short videos outlining each project is available on YouTube.