BlueSkills: Blue Jobs and Responsible Growth in the Mediterranean

The BlueSkills project promotes opportunities for “Blue” marine and maritime careers by developing skills, exchanging knowledge and valorising research for more sustainable Mediterranean Sea. Its aim is to develop new curricula and increase employability in the marine and maritime sectors. By supporting the Euro-Mediterranean communities of the Blue Economy stakeholders through higher education, research and innovation, the project will enhance the shared knowledge of the Mediterranean Region.

According to the European Marine Board recent dossier on the 21^st century maarine professionals, graduate programmes and career developments are mainly fragmented and highly specialized, some of which are explicitly marine while other opportunities are often integrated within other disciplines. Institutions part of the BlueSkills consortium aim to gather their knowledge and networks in order to propose a comprehensive training offer that can suit the long-term education and immediate up-skilling experience, circular mobility and knowledge transfer.

The concept of “blue economy” stands at the crossroads of the UfM action for human and sustainable development. Therefore, this project concretely addresses three main priority areas of the UfM: Higher Education & Research, Water & Environment and Blue Economy, Business and Development. BlueSkills is also in line with the framework of the BLUEMED Initiative and its process of enlarging its Strategic Research and Innovation Agenda (SRIA) to the non-EU Mediterranean Countries.

Actions:

• Advanced Studies Master Programme: 20 to 25 students per year.
• Summer School: 30 to 35 trainees per year.
• Research Mobility: Multi-lateral scholarships available for BlueSkills researchers (extra or existing funding) mainly for PhD and Post-Doc programmes; 1-2 Researchers hosted by a Project Partner per year.
• Professional Traineeship: Multi-lateral scholarships available for BlueSkills students (extra or existing funding); 1-2 Researchers hosted by a Project Partner per year (Training and Research in BlueSkills Partner’s Labs).
• Specific Workshops (Organization of minimum one thematic workshop on one main issue identified 20 to 25 participants per year), Conferences (Organization of minimum one event per year related to blue topics; general outreach: approx. 50 per year).
• Further contributions in particular for awareness and divulgation besides publications.
• Project Management: The BlueSkills Network: Mediterranean institutions actively engaged in the euro-med region.
• Online Portal Management: Content creation on the official portal www.bluegrowth.inogs.it.

The goals of the project are:

• promoting capacity building on Blue Economy sectors in the Euro-Mediterranean region and knowledge transfer among the blue economy stakeholders;
• boosting transferable skills and promoting employability for young professional and researchers in the Mediterranean;
• raising awareness on ocean governance, climate change and sea level rise, marine biodiversity and ecosystem functioning, sustainable blue economy and ecosystem based management, maritime spatial planning (MSP), and all challenges and opportunities related to the marine and maritime sectors in the region; and
• strengthening regional cooperation and networks on blue growth in the Euro-Mediterranean region.

The expected results include direct individual beneficiaries (young scientists, researchers and Ph.D. students; project managers, economists, engineers or other professionals; policy-makers, administrators) in the range of 120-140 direct beneficiaries per year, or 600-700 for the five-year project.

The project cost is valued as € 999,600 spanning across five years and ten countries, currently fully financed by the Italian Ministry of Education, Universities and Research (MIUR) and implemented by the National Institute of Oceanography and Applied Geophysics (OGS).

Photogallery of the Summer School (Trieste, 10-19 July 2017)

https://www.flickr.com/photos/ogs-official/albums/72157696792913691

About the promoter and partner institutions

The National Institute of Oceanography and Applied Geophysics (OGS) is a public research institution, operating under the aegis of the Italian Ministry of Education, University and Research (MIUR) developing basic and applied research in the fields of oceanography, geophysics and seismology.

Within its international mission, OGS promotes cooperation and dialogue amongst individuals, institutions and countries through the instrument of Science Diplomacy. OGS initiative on Sustainable Blue Growth represents a cross-cutting support to the Western Mediterranean Forum on Higher Education, Research and Innovation (Dialogue 5+5) and for the benefit of all Mediterranean Countries.

OGS is also involved in other intergovernmental initiatives such as the G7 future of seas and oceans as well as the Joint Programming Initiative Healthy and Productive Seas and Oceans (JPI Oceans).

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