From January 21 to 23, 2026, the EMSO-France community gathered in Brest for its annual Steering Committee meeting, bringing together regional teams from across the country.
The annual Steering Committee (CoPilST) is a key moment for exchange and collaboration. It brings together scientists, engineers, technical staff, and IT specialists involved in developing and operating the observatories. Over three days, participants shared updates on ongoing activities, discussed future priorities, and strengthened connections across regions and disciplines.
This year, particular attention was given to advances in data sharing. Participants explored new tools developed with the Ocean Science Observatory (OSO), including a data catalogue that will contribute to the future European ERIC data portal. These developments aim to make ocean observation data more accessible and usable for both researchers and wider communities.
Interdisciplinary research was also at the heart of the meeting. Presentations highlighted emerging topics to be developed at observation sites, such as underwater acoustics, video monitoring, and methane measurements—key areas for better understanding marine environments and their changes.
The meeting finally featured a hands-on workshop on data dissemination and repository integration, helping participants improve how scientific results, datasets, and publications are shared and showcased.