JPI Oceans

25/06/2026

JPI Oceans and the Sustainable Blue Economy Partnership welcomed a high-level Portuguese delegation with representatives from Fórum Oceano and Hub Azul Portugal. This exchange represented a valuable opportunity to discuss ongoing efforts in the blue economy sector and explore potential alignments.

Portugal has been a long-standing member of JPI Oceans, and the meeting provided an opportunity to better understand how these initiatives are advancing the blue economy while aligning with national interests and policies.

The Hub Azul network stood out as a strong example of how to bridge the gap between science and the market, by supporting the development of viable business models and accelerating the scale-up of innovative solutions.

The day concluded with a visit to the permanent representation of Portugal, with further discussions on unlocking European blue innovation partnerships. The event addressed key topics such as Portugal’s Blue Strategy and how to turn Europe’s blue ambition into concrete investments and projects, as well as highlighting the strong momentum in current European and global ocean policy developments.

We thank the Portuguese delegation for this exchange and the opportunity to discuss further alignments and potential collaborations.

24/06/2026

Do you have an idea for a future JPI Oceans Joint Action? We're all eyes and ears!

Share it with us by 7 September 2026 and help shape future ocean R&I collaboration. Details below 🌊 👇

👉 JPI Oceans wants YOUR ideas for new Joint Actions!

For the fourth time running, JPI Oceans offers interested stakeholders the opportunity to bring innovative ideas and emerging topics to the attention of our member countries.

📌 Which marine topic do you propose should be explored through trans-national R&I?
📌 How could a related Joint Action be implemented?
📌 Where can JPI Oceans add value and complementarity to existing efforts?

Let us know, your idea could be next! 🔜

⏰ Deadline: 7 September 2026
🔍 More details: https://jpi-oceans.eu/en/share-your-ideas-new-joint-actions-us

18/06/2026

Ocean Social Talk: Water Resilience

The next Brussels ‘Ocean Social’ brings together casual networking with a focused conversation on water resilience and extreme weather events. Alexandra Schueller, Professor of Hydraulic Engineering and Morphology at the University of Applied Sciences Koblenz, will lead the discussion on how coastal and riparian communities can better prepare for and respond to floods, storms, drought, and erosion. The event is hosted by the Representation of the State of Rhineland-Palatinate.

📍 Representation of the State of Rhineland-Palatinate, Brussels
📅 Wednesday, 1 July 2026 | 18:00–22:00

👉 Register here:

The Ocean Social Talk combines the traditional casual networking event with a one-hour conversation focused on water resilience, especially our efforts to prepare for and mitigate extreme events along waters’ edge. Coastal and riparian communities alike are being increasingly hit by extreme events...

18/06/2026

☀️ Summer reading: sorted ✅

The JPI Oceans Annual Report 2025 is out. Whether you're catching up on the latest Joint Actions, exploring our Strategic Engagements, reliving the new Strategy launch, or just curious about what a year's work in ocean science-policy looks like, this one is for you.

👉📖 Read the full report here: https://jpi-oceans.eu/en/publications?id=1336

17/06/2026

Yesterday, our Secretariat went on a day trip to Ostend, where we visited the InnovOcean campus. We were warmly received by the colleagues at Vlaams Instituut voor de Zee, along with several close partners hosted in the same building: the European Marine Board IVZW, , and the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission (IOC) of UNESCO Project Office for IODE. We heard presentations from all of them, as well as from VLIZ's International Relations team.

We are all part of the same sphere, yet it's important to take the time to sit down together, hear what everyone is working on, understand each other's priorities and challenges, and be reminded of how it all connects. Listening to the sheer scale and dedication of the work being done by these organisations is a good reminder of what a strongly-knit ocean science community this is, with each contributing in its own capacity: building international synergies, engaging with citizens and society, providing advice at the science-policy interface, making ocean data openly accessible, and much more 🌊🤝

As Ward Appeltans put it, the ocean policy landscape is like a snowball: when shaken, many particles float around, making it hard to see clearly. However, when the snow settles, the landscape is rather beautiful. Thanks to all our partners for the shared clarity and (alert: buzzword) intelligence.

Thanks also to the colleagues who organised the visit, and to our hosts at VLIZ for their continuous and generous support.

10/06/2026

15 years, 15 stories #2. And for the second episode in our anniversary series, we're handing the floor to an active researcher ⬇️

Sabine Gollner is a deep-sea biologist at NIOZ and coordinates the Dutch contribution to : a research project funded through JPI Oceans' Joint Action on the Impacts of Deep-Sea Mining, now in its third cycle after more than a decade on.

Sabine has participated in more than 10 research expeditions in the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans, even leading some of them, and has been studying the same deep-sea sites for over two decades. She started following the work of MiningImpact 1 back in 2015, and has been closely engaged ever since.

Swipe through to read what she values most about working on cross-border, long-term research that could hardly happen any other way.

08/06/2026

📢 JPI Oceans’ Photo & Art Contest just opened!

Fifteen years of joint ocean research is also fifteen years of finding ways to share it with the world. On this , we wanted to make something special happen: we are inviting artists and photographers to take our Joint Actions as inspiration and show us what they see.

We welcome submissions from professionals and enthusiastic amateurs alike, from Europe and beyond.

🏆 Prize: €1,000 for the winner and €500 for each of two runners-up
📅 Deadline: 6 September 2026

Full details and terms at https://www.jpi-oceans.eu/en/celebrating-15-years-jpi-oceans-photo-and-art-contest

05/06/2026

📍 This week, we hosted a lunchtime seminar at the EU Maritime Spatial Planning Week on 'Blue Carbon for Climate-Smart Maritime Spatial Planning' — an opportunity to share work from our Blue Carbon Knowledge Hub and discuss what better policy integration could look like in practice.

Gabrielle Aubert presented our recent policy brief on integrating Blue Carbon Ecosystems under the EU LULUCF Regulation, covering the role of blue carbon in ocean-climate action, the gaps that currently hinder their recognition in EU climate policy, and the pathways to bridge them.

Juan José Ronco Zapatero then explored the spatial dimension: what it means in practice to design Maritime Spatial Planning that actively prioritises climate mitigation, ecological resilience and nature-based solutions, with concrete guidance for planners and policymakers navigating the science-policy interface.

Thank you to everyone who joined the discussion!

📎 The policy brief is available here: https://lnkd.in/ekJ-T3TF

04/06/2026

🔊🌊 Too loud to be ignored!

We're wrapping up with SONORA, the fifth JPI Oceans Underwater Noise funded project, which focused on the impacts of noise on fish in offshore aquaculture facilities.

From fishing vessels disrupting fish farms to seismic airgun surveys threatening marine life, SONORA has shown us just how much human activity shapes the underwater soundscape.

This is the last project spotlight of our campaign, but we're not done yet. 👀 We have one final post coming next week with a special guest, so stay tuned for our closing thoughts!

04/06/2026

🌊 Meet , our new window on the ocean.

Did you know the ocean covers 70% of Earth’s surface, yet only 5% has been mapped and explored?

Understanding our ocean is essential to protect it, adapt to climate change, strengthen coastal communities, and unlock sustainable opportunities for the blue economy.

With OceanEye, we aim to:

🔹 Contribute 35% of the global ocean observing system by 2035
🔹 Secure 35% of the ocean observation technologies market
🔹 Become the world's leading provider of ocean intelligence

OceanEye is our collective investment in knowledge to unlock the mysteries of our ocean.

🔗 Learn more: https://link.europa.eu/7Fjhfy