On 20th and 21st April in Valletta, Malta it was held the International Conference “ScienceDIVER in the Blue Economy Era”, organized by Marine Cluster Bulgaria.
The hybrid event was officially opened by Simon Sciberras, President of PDSA Malta. 29 speakers in total shared their valuable experience and engaged discussions with the audience on educational approaches, operational challenges and occupational modes of scientific diving. The conference topics covered training courses, experiences performed in the field of scientific diving in Europe and worldwide, also considering the use of new technologies and the development of digital skills. Participants discussed existing training gaps and future steps towards the elaboration of a unified training methodology in scientific diving, as well as the stage of adoption of guidelines, regulations and standards. Speakers from different parts of the world covered specific techniques in scientific diving and showcased practical examples from the fields of biology, archaeological and/or underwater cultural heritage sites and geology. A moderation panel engaged scientific divers in a constructive discussion where both experts and the audience brought valuable comments and recommendations on the adoption of a Common Declaration for the establishment of common framework of Scientific Diving in Europe. Bringing forward the discussion on the occupational framework for Scientific Diving, project experts identified gaps and challenges in existing legislations and underlined the need to connect academia and marine industry to support young scientific divers in career paths to gain skills and experience. Among the discussions, there were interesting ongoing projects presented with impressive findings underwater, like the maritime archaeology project MAP in the Black Sea introduced by Pavel Y. Georgiev and the Kumluca 3,600-year-old Bronze Age shipwreck excavation presented by Dr. Hakan Öniz. The event gathered more than 100 participants – researchers, scholars, practitioners, students, government officials and representatives of the ScienceDIVER community in Europe and worldwide. The official closing of the project ScienceDIVER was marked with the adoption of the Common Declaration for the establishment of a common framework of Scientific Diving in Europe.
About ScienceDIVER The project “ScienceDIVER: Cross-sectoral skills for the blue economy market” (November 2019-April 2023) is funded by the European Maritime and Fisheries Fund (Project id: 863674 – EMFF Blue Economy 2018 – Blue Careers) with partners the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki Greece, University of Calabria Italy, University of Stuttgart Germany, DAN Europe, Atlantis Consulting Greece, envirocom Germany, Marine Cluster Bulgaria.
