EMSO EVOLVE positions EMSO ERIC to become Europe’s leading long-term ocean-observing body by 2035, moving from single-site observation to basin-scale observation and towards service-oriented operations.

Its mission is the sustained observation and analysis of Essential Ocean Variables from the seabed and along the water column, building on EMSO’s network of deep-ocean and water-column observatories across European seas.

The strategy rests on five structuring goals: stronger sustainability and governance efficiency; scientific excellence and observation centrality; upgraded upstream data services; better downstream, user-oriented services; and capacity building through the EMSO Academy.

EMSO EVOLVE Kick-off Meeting

The official Kick-off Meeting for the EMSO EVOLVE project will be held on October 6–8, 2026, at Hotel Genova (Via Cavour, 25, 00184 Roma). This key event marks the start of the project activities, bringing together partners to align on goals and set the roadmap forward.

Participants can review the full schedule in the Meeting Agenda, which includes a guided social event to facilitate networking among partners. For further details on the venue and evening logistics, please consult the Social Event & Logistics Guide.

The project at a glance

7Work Packages
48Months duration
19Partner organisations
10European countries

Governance & sustainability

Revise membership, governance and national commitments — harmonising nodes, enlarging the consortium and introducing a diversified business and funding plan with Blue-Economy indicators, strengthening EMSO’s position in national roadmaps and the European RI landscape

Observing design

Update the observing design to address basin-scale variability and four scientific challenges, while deepening cooperation with sister research infrastructures and the modelling and satellite communities.

E-infrastructure & services

Upgrade the e-infrastructure and services: implement the Observatories of Seas Ontology, strengthen quality control and metadata, deploy a modern data portal and virtual access, and enable FAIR, AI/HPC-ready workflows interoperable with EMODnet, Copernicus and Digital Twin initiatives (EDITO, DestinE).

Capacity building

Institutionalise the EMSO Academy to map skills and deliver courses, webinars, summer schools and staff mobility — professionalising teams and expanding uptake.

Four scientific challenges

EMSO’s scientific strategy focuses on four driving topics that shape the observing-system redesign:

Climate & ocean variability

Open-ocean temporal variability across spatial scales

Geohazards

Variability of spatiotemporal processes and natural hazards

Biodiversity

Baseline and potential changes of open-ocean benthic and pelagic ecosystems

Deep-ocean carbon

Geophysical events, climatic and anthropogenic changes, and deep carbon storage

Work packages

The project is delivered through seven work packages spanning coordination, multi-level governance, financial sustainability, basin-scale observing design, e-infrastructure and services, capacity building, and communication and advocacy. Explore each below.

Lead participant: EMSO ERIC (M1–M48)

Objectives

To ensure efficient project coordination adapted to the specifications of the EMSO EVOLVE project and to achieve the project objectives and goals, the management is divided into the following tasks: T1.1: day-to-day coordination and reporting T1.2: Common meetings organisation, T1.3: Project governance and committee, T1.4: Quality Assurance & Risk management.

Lead participant: EMSO ERIC (M1–M48)

Objectives

As a distributed RI, EMSO will expand services, leverage national strengths, and grow membership. To optimise operations and decision-making we will implement efficient multi-level governance, reinforcing EMSO’s position in the EU marine RI landscape, advancing EOOS integration, and building complementary cooperation with European and non-EU RIs.

Objective 1. Strengthen national organisations: clarify and formalise the role of national nodes and their functional links to EMSO governance and operations.

Objective 2. Embed nodes in National Ocean Observing Strategies (nOOS): boost their capacity to integrate/interoperate new systems, facilities and services, and broaden national participation.

Objective 3. Expand membership and international partnerships: promote nodes and support candidate countries along a guided ERIC accession pathway.

Objective 4. Position EMSO more strongly in Europe (ESFRI and beyond): reinforce EMSO’s contribution to EOOS and establish structured cooperation with other marine RIs to drive harmonisation and integration.

Objective 5. Upgrade theEMSO’s organisational model to address new challenges: accommodate new observing systems, develop new Virtual Access services, and prepare Service/Thematic Centres across facilities.

Lead participant: MI (M1–M48)

Objectives

Objective 1: Revise EMSO ERIC’s business and funding plan to ensure financial sustainability through region-specific revenue and private sector partnerships that support Nature Restoration Regulation (NRR)/Marine Strategy Framework Directive (MSFD) goals.

Objective 2: Strengthen alignment with European and global research infrastructures by promoting cross-ERIC collaboration and data interoperability.

Objective 3: Enhance operational and technological resilience using EMSO’s regional infrastructure and marine technology expertise to enable long-term monitoring.

Objective 4: Develop an impact assessment framework to measure EMSO ERIC’s regional contributions and scalability.

Objective 5: Promote societal sustainability through inclusive, region-specific stakeholder engagement aligned with ERIC Forum principles.

Lead participant: CNRS (M11–M48)

Objectives

WP4 will overhaul EMSO’s observational design to better address its four scientific topics and KSQs, refocusing RF strategies on basin-scale variability in line with ESFRI recommendations and complementary to sister marine RIs. Actions: (i) review distributed observing capacity (T4.2); (ii) update regionally tailored observation plans across all RFs, embedding emerging technologies and societal needs (T4.3); (iii) harmonise SOPs, interoperability protocols and FAIR/AI-ready workflows in concert with other RIs (T4.4); and (iv) prototype cross-infrastructure data integration to close basin gaps (T4.5).

Lead participant: IFREMER (M1–M48)

Objectives

Objective: strengthen EMSO’s end-to-end e-infrastructure—from data owner to user, by consolidating FAIR implementation and expanding virtual access across the European RI landscape. Work: six tasks, leveraging WP2–WP4: (1) strategic IT architecture upgrade; (2) enhanced upstream/downstream processing; (3) modern data-visualisation tools; (4) a standards-aligned data & services catalogue for users and stakeholders; (5) a platform enabling open, equitable access; (6) governance per the updated Data Management Plan (D5.1). Outcome: a consolidated, sustainable digital ecosystem, fit for long-term evolution and seamless integration with European research infrastructures.

Lead participant: CCMAR (M1–M48)

Objectives

EMSO Academy Management and Coordination: to ensure task integration and communication between work packages

Establish EMSO Academy Digital Infrastructure: Develop/adapt a sustainable online training platform that integrates with existing RI training resources.

Map Skills and Expertise: Conduct a comprehensive assessment of current capabilities and gaps across EMSO facilities

Implement Strategic Training Programme: Deliver targeted capacity building through multiple modalities (online, hybrid, in-person)

Impact and sustainability assessment: Provide service for feedback and for continuing engagement

Lead participant: EMSO ERIC (M1–M48)

Objectives

Ensure task integration and communication between work packages: translate project results into targeted messages, case studies and campaigns for scientific, policy and industrial audiences, and coordinate cross-WP impact communication

Deliver a Communication & Dissemination Strategy: target stakeholder groups, messaging pillars, protocols and KPIs, ensuring consistent, high-quality partner communications.

Enhance EMSO’s digital presence: to provide accessible, analytics-driven content and improve discovery and reuse of assets.

Run a structured stakeholder engagement programme: organize Workshops, webinars, major fora, tailoring materials to priority policy frameworks and supporting national nodes and regional facilities.

Leverage global partnerships: to scale WP4–WP6 outputs into joint pilots with global partners and programmes, reciprocal training and VA exchanges, culminating in an international priorities workshop and a community consensus on deep-ocean observation cooperation.