IMBER OPEN SCIENCE CONFERENCE 2014: FUTURE OCEANS- Research for marine sustainability

This five and a half-day open science conference (OSC) expects to gather about 400 scientists and graduate students from the marine biogeochemistry and ecosystem research community, as well as those researching the human dimension of global change and the ocean around the world. The meeting will feature plenary keynote and invited talks, seven parallel topical sessions, nine workshops and two poster sessions. The plenaries will cover IMBER´s main achievements and ambitions to provide the basis for planni ng future initiatives, e.g. research strategy and implementation of the project´s next phase. The workshops and topical sessions will focus on integration across research themes, results from IMBER´s Working Groups and Regional Programmes, and project-rel evant research at the interface of natural and human sciences. In addition, there will be pre-conference workshops on new research challenges, capacity building and data management. Innovative formats that promote strategic thinking and new ideas will be used. Planned workshop outputs include: research papers, a special issue in a leading journal, or a position paper as well as a White Paper that outlines the research plan for IMBER´s next phase. The conference will provide an opportunity to expose the i nternational IMBER community to the marine research community in the Bergen region, which is closely linked to the management of marine resources and the environment through industry and the public and private sectors. This interaction will take place thr ough exhibition stands at the conference venue and the organisation of side events, e.g. public lecture/panel debate, on relevant topics such as marine food security. The meeting will also provide the opportunity for Norwegian scientists to contribute to IMBER´s White Paper on future marine ecosystem and biogeochemistry research in the context of the new international science initiative Future Earth.