BlueSkills: Blue Jobs and Responsible Growth in the Mediterranean
Context and objectives
The BlueSkills project promotes opportunities for “Blue” marine and maritime careers by developing skills, exchanging knowledge and valorising research for more sustainable Mediterranean. It aim at developping new curricula and increase employability in the marine and maritime sectors. By supporting 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 dossier on the 21st century marine professionals, graduate programmes and career developments are mainly fragmented and highly specialized, some explicitly marine while others are 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 inclusive and sustainable development, addressing the 3 main priority areas of the UfM: Higher Education & Research; Water, Environment and Blue Economy; and Business & 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.
Location
Key figures
Duration:
2019-23
Beneficiaries:
600-700 across 5 years
Total cost:
€999,600.00
Countries:
10
Financial contribution
Fully funded by the Italian Ministry for Education, University and Research (MIUR)
Promoter
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. The OGS initiative on Sustainable Blue Growth represents 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).
Key partners
Algerian National School of Marine Sciences and Coastal Management – ENSSMAL (Algeria)
Libyan Authority of Natural Science Research and Technology – ANSRT (Libya)
Beneficiaries
The project is expected to benefit 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.
Key actions
Advanced Studies Master Programme: 20 to 25 students 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).
Project Management: The BlueSkills Network: Mediterranean institutions actively engaged in the euro-med region.
Summer School: 30 to 35 trainees per year.
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).
Online Portal Management: Content creation on the official portal www.bluegrowth.inogs.it.
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.
Further contributions in particular for awareness and divulgation besides publications.
Expected Results
Promote capacity building on Blue Economy sectors and knowledge transfer among the blue
economy stakeholders.
Boost transferable skills and promote employability for young professionals and researchers in the Mediterranean.
Raise awareness on ocean governance, climate change and all challenges and opportunities
related to the marine and maritime sectors.
Strengthen regional cooperation and networks on blue growth in the Euro-Mediterranean
region.
