PREP4BLUE Webinar Series: Citizen Science to Support Mission Ocean Project Activities

Citizen Science is being increasingly recognised as a means to democratise knowledge creation, for communities to influence policy, and as a rich source of data for research and governmental institutions. Including citizen science groups in data collection, restoration activities and anti-pollution initiatives is a core aim of the European Commission and a central theme of Mission Ocean funding calls.

This webinar will introduce some of the work of marine and freshwater citizen science groups from around Europe and discuss how such groups might be integrated into Mission Ocean project proposals, as well as ocean and freshwater-related activities.

Information on how to access and use a database of all European marine and freshwater citizen science initiatives will also be provided.

About the trainer: Dr. Jan Seys, Flanders Marine Institute (VLIZ), Belgium

Dr. Jan Seys is the head of Science Communication & spokesperson of the Flanders Marine Institute (VLIZ) since 2000. He chaired the European Marine Board Communications Panel from 2010 till 2017 and is member of UNESCO’s Group of Experts on Ocean Literacy. Trained as a marine biologist, he built up extensive experience in marine education and science communication, including all kinds of public engagement. Dr. Seys is one of the pioneers of the Ocean Literacy movement in Europe, the organizer of the First Conference on Ocean Literacy in Europe (12 October 2012, Bruges) and of the international CommOCEAN 2016 conference on marine science communication. He is a marine citizen science ‘believer’ and practitioner, coordinating two initiatives in Belgium (SeaWatch-B; Big Seashell Survey) and author of several publications on marine citizen science and science communication. He is task-leader on citizen science in the Prep4Blue project and leading the task on public engagement in the North Sea/Baltic Sea region within the Horizon Europe BlueMissionBANOS project.