Oxygen is vital for marine life and plays a key role in nutrient and carbon cycles. However, oxygen levels in the ocean are declining as a result of climate change and other human pressures. Since the 1960s, around 2% of the ocean's oxygen inventory has been lost, while coastal environments are experiencing particularly rapid declines. Ocean oxygen loss can affect marine species, habitats, food webs and ecosystem functioning, with wider consequences for sectors including fisheries and aquaculture.
Significant knowledge gaps remain regarding the drivers, impacts and future trajectories of ocean deoxygenation, as well as effective responses. Improved understanding is needed of the relative influence of climate change stressors and eutrophication, how declining oxygen affects marine ecosystems and ecosystem services, and how oxygen loss can be better detected, monitored and predicted across different marine environments. Addressing these gaps is important for informing effective mitigation and adaptation strategies and supporting sustainable management of marine resources.
The Joint Call will support research addressing the following overarching research priorities:
Assessing the influence of climate change stressors and eutrophication on accelerating oxygen decline and projecting future change of oxygen levels under different scenarios.
Understanding how declining oxygen limits life in the ocean changes ecosystems, alters productivity across food webs and influences ecosystem services.
Projects are expected to contribute to one or more of the following complementary thematic areas:
Reduce uncertainty on drivers of oxygen loss
Quantify trends, impacts, and improve predictions on oxygen loss
Inform mitigation and adaptation strategies
The geographical scope of the Joint Call includes the open ocean, regional seas and local coastal systems such as fjords, bays and lagoons. Proposals may focus on individual settings or compare processes across multiple settings.
Each application must involve eligible project partners requesting funding from funding partners from minimum three different countries participating in the Joint Call. Detailed eligibility requirements and national funding rules will be provided in the full Call text.
Applicants from countries not providing funding to the Call may participate as associated partners with their own resources, subject to the conditions specified in the final Call text.
Launch of the Call: 18 November 2026
Information webinar: 9 December 2026 (to be confirmed)
Deadline for submitting applications: 1 March 2027
End of peer-review process: April 2027
Applicants informed of results: May 2027
Start of projects: no later than 1 December 2027
The Research Council of Norway, Norway
Executive Agency for Higher Education, Research, Development and Innovation Funding, Romania
Ministry of Universities and Research, Italy
Marine Institute, Ireland
Marine Environmental Observation, Prediction and Response Network (MEOPAR), Canada
Centre for Environment, Fisheries and Aquaculture Science, United Kingdom (in-kind)
The Hellenic Centre for Marine Research, Greece (in-kind)
To support interested applicants, an information webinar is planned for 9 December 2026. The webinar will present the Call objectives, application process and opportunities for questions and answers. Additional information will be made available closer to the event.
The information provided in this pre-announcement is provisional and subject to change. Full and confirmed details will be published in the official call documents at launch.