Gaps in European Ocean Observing Community
Ocean observations - collecting information about the ocean, like on temperature, or sea ice, or different plants and animals - is so important for understanding our ocean, predicting what might happen in the future, making sure that whatever we do won’t cause too much damage, and keeping people safe at sea (and along the coast).
Ocean observing involves many people and lots of cool tech like satellites, underwater robots, and more. To get full coverage, it also requires a lot of coordination and planning and collaboration.
Needless to say, it is a complicated affair.
So when scoping out the gaps in, say, the European Ocean Observing Community, you might expect to see things like more instruments to cover more of the ocean and more often and improving real-time data transmission from the instruments to our computers, so we know what’s happening as soon as possible. Indeed, that’s what researcher Abed El Rahman Hassoun and colleagues found.
What else did they find as a gap?
Communications.
“The absence of well-trained communication teams within EOOC organizations limits the system’s ability to effectively disseminate research findings. For instance, less than 5% of the workforce in European Marine Board Member organizations is typically engaged in marine science communication, underscoring the need for more professionals skilled in this area (Seys et al., 2022). Furthermore, current communication channels fall short in effectively engaging and collaborating with regional policy stakeholders (Tintoré et al., 2019).”
The situation isn’t that unusual. Too often, science communication is almost all but forgotten in research structures, consortia, organisations, projects, etc. Budget allocations aren’t large. Communication experts aren’t brought in at the planning stage. If you’re a researcher reading this and realising you, too, may be in a project, organisation, or other research structure that may have inadvertently neglected the communications part, it’s never too late to reach out. We’re a friendly bunch - promise!
