HIFMB

Time for good news? More than ever! We keep asking our colleagues about discoveries and developments that give them a positive outlook for the future. Dr. Jan-Claas Dajka works in the Transfer Office for Marine Biodiversity Change to promote dialog between science and politics. He is encouraged by the fact that policy makers have shown themselves to be very open to discussion and criticism.   “Over the last few months, I have spoken to a number of political decision-makers at EU, national and federal state level. We discussed quite conceptual criticism of very established environmental management tools such as thresholds and marine protected areas. To my surprise, the overwhelming majority of policy makers I've talked to were very open to hearing this criticism and actually actively helped taking my ideas for alternative management approaches to the next level. They gave tips, suggested windows for opportunity in the political process and referred me to colleagues. I'm quite new to the science-policy interface, but going into it, I did not expect my work to be met with this much openness - this is super uplifting and fuels me with hope for the future.”   #marinebiodiversity #sciencepolicydialogue #goodnews

We had a fantastic #anvio workshop here at the HIFMB thanks to Florian Trigodet and Iva Veseli and all the attendees that came to Oldenburg for an entire week to learn about anvi'o and microbial 'omics. I wrote a blog post to share some photos from the workshop along with the summaries of the attendee survey results: https://lnkd.in/e6zkSCmG

Hard to believe that it's already been a month since our opening ceremony. The colorful spotlights have been taken down, the confetti snippets are all swept up, but what remains is the fantastic atmosphere. A great place to work! Carl von Ossietzky Universität Oldenburg Alfred-Wegener-Institut, Helmholtz-Zentrum für Polar- und Meeresforschung Niedersächsisches Ministerium für Wissenschaft und Kultur

🌊 One Week to Go! Counting Down to the #MarineBiodiversityCluster Event in Brussels!  🌊 We’re excited to announce the Marine Biodiversity Cluster Event, a key gathering of EU-funded projects working on: ✅ Restoring & Protecting Marine Biodiversity 🐠🪼 ✅ Reducing Bycatch 🎣 📅 Date: 13 & 14 March 2025 This event, co-organized by the BioAgora Project, B-USEFUL, the European Commission (DG RTD, DG MARE, DG ENV & REA), Eklipse, and HIFMB, will bring together #Researchers, #PolicyMakers, and #KeyStakeholders to: 🔍 Explore synergies between marine conservation projects. 📢 Engage with policy-makers to strengthen the science-policy interface. 💡 Shape future actions to maximize impact on EU biodiversity policies. 🚀 Stay tuned for more updates! We’ll be sharing key highlights and outcomes in the coming weeks. #kexMarineCluster #MarineBiodiversity #MarineRestoration #EUProjects #HorizonEurope #ESA #BycatchReduction #BiodiversityConservation #SciencePolicy #BRACENET

Heute ist der internationale Tag des #Artenschutzes! 🪸 #Biodiversität und #Artenvielfalt finden sich überall auf unserer Erde: auch auf dem Meeresboden der #Antarktis. Trotz der extremen Bedingungen gibt es eine erstaunliche Vielfalt an Lebewesen, die in den kalten, dunklen Gewässern leben. Von leuchtenden Tiefsee-Kreaturen bis hin zu Eisfischen und Schwämmen. Doch der Klimawandel und menschliche Eingriffe bedrohen diese einzigartigen Ökosysteme. Eine wichtige Entscheidung für den globalen Artenschutz haben Expert:innen aus fast 200 Ländern in der letzten Woche auf dem Weltnaturgipfel in Rom getroffen: Sie einigten sich auf einen Finanzierungsplan, um die bis 2030 gesteckten Artenschutzziele umzusetzen. Dieser Plan sieht vor, die jährlichen Ausgaben für die Biodiversität bis 2030 auf 200 Milliarden US-Dollar zu steigern. Fotos: Julian Gutt

🎉🎓 Our Annual #Call 2025 is open for #applications! Apply now for funded research fellowships in #Germany in most disciplines, for junior and senior scientists. Applications close 15 July! Learn more and share: https://bit.ly/42RYOG0 #funding #sociology #marinescience #oceans #biology #humanities #liberalarts #research #fellowships

“Before You Go Anywhere! Practical Concerns and the Matter of Ethics” The third and last #podcast episode of #SocialScienceMatters covers the essentials of social science research in terms of practical concerns and ethical considerations. ➡️ https://lnkd.in/ep7nPepy It firstly spends some time, thinking about time! How researchers can plan projects within specific timeframes, budgetary constraints, possible travel restrictions, and how to also think on vital matters of risk, health and safety in doing social research. The podcast secondly shifts to ethical principles, discussing the importance of taking ethical approaches and engaging formal ethical procedures when working with human subjects. The episode considers matters such as informed consent, confidentiality, and minimising harm and how ethics is not just about forms and approvals but treating people with respect, ensuring their well-being, and building trust. We also offer ‘top tips’. #scicomm #marinegovernance #socialsciences

Finally we are reunited in person to congratulate our colleague and friend, Dr.Solomon Sebuliba. We have been thrilled and humbled by the experience in our PhD journey. We both are grateful for the kindness and generousity our supervisor, Dr. Katherine G Sammler, has given to us before, during, and after the PhD. You're amazing personally and professonally, Kate. We win!

We hope you've already had time to listen to Episode 1, because here comes Episode 2 of our podcast “Social Science Matters”. ➡️ https://lnkd.in/e6KQuqe4 This episode shifts our focus to how we might start to think about social worlds in our research. It outlines that how we look at the world – the assumptions we hold about it (what exists, how we know what exists) – is crucial to our start points in research, and drives the kind of questions we might ask about the world. This podcast explores the role of theory (and how it is something we are all using, all of the time anyway!) and positions theory as a useful (rather than intimidating) framework for understanding and interpreting the social world. The episode further considers how theory – thinking about the way we view the world – can open space towards valuing knowledges beyond Western understandings. Finally we consider how the way we think about the world, what we want to find out about it, will also guide the kinds of research questions we ask about it, and choice of methods we engage.   You can tag us on social media #SocialScienceMatters. #sciencepodcast #socialsciences #marinebiodiversity #scicomm

The first episode of our podcast mini-series “Social Science Matters” was released today. This episode tackles the fundamental question: What is social science, and why does it matter for marine research? Prof. Kim Peters and Jan-Claas Dajka first (try to) define social science, discussing the various disciplines which constitute it, and briefly introduce the methods and approaches that will be discussed further, later in the series. They discuss marine social science, its special and important place in the marine sciences more broadly, and how it can help us tackle important questions that the natural sciences can’t do alone. Enjoy listening: https://lnkd.in/edbnsuhB #SocialScienceMatters #sciencepodcast #marinebiodiversity #marineresearch #marinegovernance