The multitude and magnitude of challenges facing today’s ocean are such that the scientific research needed to underpin solutions to these problems must also be conducted on a large scale. But the ocean is vast, much of it remains unexplored and collection of marine data is an expensive undertaking. With only an average of 1.2% of national research budgets allocated for ocean science, we need to work smart to generate the information and knowledge needed. Strategic thinking, innovative technology and – most importantly – genuinely productive partnerships between countries, regions and multiple sectors can achieve ambitious scientific objectives, support responsible decision-making and advance progress towards a healthier and more sustainable ocean.

iAtlantic is an EU-funded international research programme undertaking an ocean-wide approach to understanding the factors that control the distribution, stability and vulnerability of ecosystems in the Atlantic Ocean. Our work will determine the tipping points – the points of irreversible change – for deep and open-ocean ecosystems, which drivers are most crucial in propelling ecosystems towards those tipping points, and provide new insights into the factors that influence and support ecosystem resilience to environmental change.

This is an ambitious programme, spanning the full scale of the Atlantic basin from the tip of Argentina in the south to Iceland in the north, and from the east coasts of Canada and Brazil to the western margins of Europe and Africa. International scientific collaboration throughout the Atlantic region is critical to the project’s success: sharing of expertise, equipment, offshore vessels, data and personnel is at the forefront of iAtlantic’s approach. This aligns with a commitment to enhance human and technological capacities, and to ensure science results are readily available to decision makers.

In this side event, we will showcase how the iAtlantic community has pooled resources and expertise to meet some of the pressing scientific challenges in the Atlantic, and how the project has fostered strong, productive collaborations with other organisations, initiatives and sectors to generate tangible progress in addressing critical scientific questions at the Atlantic ocean basin scale. Speakers are drawn from our network of partners across the Atlantic and represent academia (Seascape, UEDIN and others), government (DFO, NOAA), industry (IOGP), and civil society (IUCN). A special highlight of this event is a live link to scientists on the NOAA Okeanos Explorer research vessel in the high seas of the mid-Atlantic, where they will be investigating previously unexplored areas of the deep ocean. Collectively, our speakers will demonstrate how shared scientific ambition can be an effective driver for innovative and productive partnerships that bring benefits to the wider global ocean community.

This event was livestreamed on Zoom – watch the session recording below!