Register for the upcoming webinar on Advancing ocean observations of marine life, on 11 April online

We are excited to announce that together with our project partners, the AIR Centre and OBIS, we will present BioEcoOcean at the Marine Biodiversity Networking Fridays webinar series on April 11, 2025. We hope to count on the enrollment of the marine biodiversity community supporting us in the development of the Blueprint for integrated ocean science.

Please register here

How do we collaborate for a better understanding of life in the ocean? How do we enable and facilitate communication at different scales and across sectors? In this session, we will share and invite you to our co-creative process of developing a tool to support your thinking and planning of ocean observations. We call it a Blueprint for Integrated Ocean Science. The Blueprint is question-based and encourages holistic thinking. It challenges you to think about where and how your work fits into the broader ocean observing system, and what actions you could take to advance our understanding of marine life.  

During the second part of the presentation, one component comes into focus: the data itself. Ocean observation generates a diversity of information, which raises questions like, what do we do with this data? How can we make sure it’s accessible and useful for others? Together, we’ll explore these important questions, highlight the advantages of well-managed data, and share tools in development that will simplify data management.  Finally, we’ll outline some simple steps to ensure data contributes to global data platforms like the Ocean Biodiversity Information System (OBIS), where it can help advance our understanding of the oceans. 

Speakers

Lina Mtwana Nordlund
Associate Professor, Uppsala University, Sweden

Dr. Lina Mtwana Nordlund is an Associate Professor in Natural Resources and Sustainable Development at Uppsala University, Sweden, specializing in coastal sustainability. As the Project Coordinator for BioEcoOcean, a Horizon Europe-funded initiative, she focuses on co-creating transformative pathways for biological and ecosystem ocean observations. Her research takes a transdisciplinary approach, emphasizing social-ecological systems and futures thinking, with a particular focus on seagrass ecosystems, fisheries, ecosystem services, and management strategies. Dr. Nordlund is an expert member of the Biology & Ecosystems panel of the Global Ocean Observing System (GOOS) of IOC-UNESCO and co-leads the Seagrass Essential Ocean Variable. She also contributes to the United Nations Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development (2021–2030) as a member of Vision 2030 Working Group 2: Protect and Restore Ecosystems and Biodiversity. Additionally, she is a co-author of the World Ocean Assessment III.

Elizabeth Lawrence
UNESCO/IOC Project Office for IODE, Ocean Biodiversity Information System, Canada

Elizabeth Lawrence is the Capacity Development Officer for the Ocean Biodiversity Information System (OBIS) and the Horizon Europe project, BioEcoOcean. Within BioEcoOcean, her role extends from capacity development to also include data management, including developing tools to facilitate management of data and metadata. In OBIS, she is responsible for creating, maintaining, and updating OBIS training resources, including the OBIS Manual, OBIS/OTGA training course(s), and How-To videos on data formatting and controlled vocabulary for the OBIS YouTube channel.  

Moderator

Frank Muller-Karger
Professor, College of Marine Science, University of South Florida, USA

Frank Muller-Karger is a Professor in the College of Marine Science, University of South Florida in St. Petersburg, Florida/USA. He has over 35 years of experience managing oceanographic projects and mentoring students and scientific personnel. His research focuses on biological and biogeochemical linkages among coastal, estuarine, marine, and terrestrial habitats. He is interested in understanding long-term environmental change and the relationship to changes in marine life. He has led national and international projects, including the CARIACO Ocean Time Series (1995-2017) and the Southeast US Marine Biodiversity Observing Network (2014-present). He is a member of national and international science teams and advisory committees, including the NOAA Ocean Exploration Advisory Board and the Ocean Best Practices System of UNESCO-IOC. Frank serves as co-chair of the international MBON and UN Ocean Decade Marine Life 2030. Member, TOS, AAAS, AGU, ASLO. He has authored or co-authored over 350 peer-reviewed articles and book chapters.

Please register here