From November 25th to 27th 2024, SUBMON participated in the CommOCEAN 2024 conference, held at the Oceanographic Centre of Malaga and organised by the Spanish Institute of Oceanography (IEO-CSIC) and the European Marine Board. The conference, which focused on marine science communication, brought together science communication professionals to explore innovative strategies and effective tools for bringing scientific knowledge about the ocean to different audiences, from local communities to policy makers.
The conference highlighted the crucial need to communicate science effectively. In a context of increasing misinformation, it is essential to ensure that scientific knowledge reaches as many people as possible. This not only fosters a better informed society, but also strengthens the ability of communities to make evidence-based decisions, from public policy to individual action. Accessible and engaging science communication is therefore a key tool to address today’s challenges, especially on globally relevant issues such as marine conservation and environmental sustainability.
In this context, our colleague Juanita Zorrilla presented the OCEAN CITIZEN project, highlighting the communication strategy and, in particular, the storytelling that has been developed for the project over the last two years. The OCEAN CITIZEN storytelling combines the advances of the project with the concept of ecological succession, allowing us to explain complex scientific ideas in an accessible and attractive way. As part of this strategy, we developed a series of comic books designed to connect with local communities, scientists and administrations. These comics explain the project and its objectives in a clear and visual way, making science not only more understandable, but also exciting and accessible to everyone.
Juanita Zorrilla presenting OCEAN CITIZEN’s storytelling.
