MARE - The research center at the World Ocean Summit 2024
On March 11, 12 and 13, the Lisbon Congress Center hosted the 11th edition of the World Ocean Summit. This event brought together the scientific community, companies, government and financial organizations, and members of civil society, to explore and discuss the thematic areas of this year's edition: Ocean health, industry strategies for a sustainable ocean economy, and ocean solutions to tackle global climate problems.
The summit is a privileged platform for establishing new partnerships, solutions and strategies with a view to achieving the goals set for 2030 by the ONU under SDG 14.
.This year, MARE was once again the only national research unit with a stand at the event. This sparked the curiosity and interest of many delegates who visited MARE's space at the event.
For Pedro Raposo de Almeida, MARE's director, this summit "is an international stage where MARE must be present. Not just because of the topics covered, but because we want to contribute to scientific and technological solutions aimed at solving the problems identified by renowned experts."
In addition to its director, MARE was also represented by Zara Teixeira, researcher (MARE-UCoimbra) and responsible for communication and dissemination, by science manager Mélanie Costa, and by researchers Paula Sobral (MARE-NOVA) and Helena Adão (MARE-EVORA).
The World Ocean Summit was also attended by researcher Ana Dinis and Head of Strategy Diane Esson, who, representing MARE-MADEIRA, showed their work at regional and national level to entities and people from various sectors who have little contact with the reality of researchers. For Ana Dinis, "it's interesting to build this bridge between the different sectors". The researcher explained the importance of her research unit's presence at the summit, in terms of broadening its range of connections with people from the same area, or from different areas but with the same objectives, and learning more about the work being carried out in other places and on other scales.
With its participation, MARE promoted its internationalization and strengthened its position as a reference institution in Marine and Environmental Sciences. For the director, Pedro Raposo de Almeida, "the balance of our participation in the World Ocean Summit is clearly positive, and we hope to be present again in the future".
