EurOCEAN conferences are major European marine science policy conferences. They provide a forum for the marine and maritime research community and wider stakeholders to interface with European and Member State policymakers and strategic planners, to consider, discuss and respond to new marine science and technology developments, challenges and opportunities.
Through EurOCEAN conferences the marine and maritime research community responds to and impacts on European science policy developments. At the launch of the EurOCEAN 2014 conference in June 2013, Máire Geoghegan‐Quinn, EU Commissioner for Research, Innovation and Science noted that “EurOCEAN considered as a top science conference in Europe which delivers concrete messages to science and policy. These are instrumental in strengthening the knowledge base for Europe and developing common priorities in the area of marine sciences”.
EurOCEAN conferences started in the 90s as EurOCEAN/MAST Days Conferences. Previous conferences were held in Brussels (1993), Sorrento (1995), Lisbon (1998), Hamburg (2000), Galway (2004), Aberdeen (2007) and, most recently, Ostend (2010). Since 2000, EurOCEAN conferences are co-organized, in partnership, by the European Commission, the European Marine Board, who is catalyzing the research community and coordinating the programme, and local organizing committees.
EurOCEAN 2004 (10-13 May 2004, Galway, Ireland) presented a wide range of marine science challenges and opportunities, reviewed progress towards a European Research Area and examined ways to achieve further integration in Europe. Endorsed by over 550 participants, the high-level messages from the EurOCEAN 2004 conference were communicated for the first time through a EurOCEAN declaration, which became known as the Galway Declaration.
EurOCEAN 2007 (22 June 2007, Aberdeen, United Kingdom) took place during the final phase of a public consultation process on the European Commission Green Paper "Towards a future for the Union: A European Vision for the Oceans and Seas", and provided a unique opportunity for the European marine and maritime science communities to respond through the Aberdeen Declaration.
EurOCEAN 2010 (12-13 October 2010, Ostend, Belgium) continued the tradition of the previous conferences with the adoption of the Ostend Declaration. This Declaration represented a call from the European marine science community for specific actions from the Member States and the European Union in support of essential marine science and technology research challenges in the upcoming Horizon 2020.
Further information on the EurOCEAN conference series is available on this website: www.euroceanconferences.eu