ANERIS Coordinator Jaume Piera and colleagues have established a collaboration with the Horizon Europe project OCEAN CITIZEN (GA No. 101093910). Together, the two projects will explore synergies for scientific, societal and technological collaboration to achieve their goals.

Similar to ANERIS, OCEAN CITIZEN represents a large consortium aiming to explore holistic approaches for ocean ecosystem restoration & adaptation. Targeted and sustainable regeneration of marine forest ecosystems on the one hand and increasing resilience of local communities on the other are central to their work. The 4-year project that started alongside ANERIS in January 2023 will identify and focus on implementing tailored restoration plans for 5 coastal pilot sites and fine-tune their “Underwater Regeneration Toolbox” for large scale restoration.

Over the course of their discussion, the coordinators of the two projects identified positive synergies related to the monitoring of the pilot regeneration sites through some of the ANERIS tools and technologies under the Operational Marine Biology (OMB) concept. Possibilities for collaboration were also identified at the stakeholder engagement level as both projects are strongly involved in the creation, use, and promotion of participatory platforms and citizen science initiatives.

Follow OCEAN CITIZEN and stay tuned for developments in our joint efforts to protect, restore and understand the oceans, and empower communities.