Kick-off for the DAM in Berlin

On 3 March, the German Marine Research Alliance (DAM), of which the Max Planck Institute for Marine Microbiology is a member, introduced itself to some 200 guests in the FUTURIUM – House of Futures and outlined its tasks and objectives. These center on promoting the sustainable management of coasts, seas and oceans through research, data management and digitalisation, infrastructure and knowledge transfer, as stated in its mission statement.

Following introductory words by Michael Meister, parliamentary state secretary at the Federal Ministry of Education and Research, and Björn Thümler, the Minister for Science and Culture of the State of Lower Saxony, the Deputy Chairman of the DAM, Michael Schulz, outlined the goals and objectives of the Alliance. He emphasized the importance of the stakeholder forum, which the DAM is setting up and which will be its “actual topic generator”. This will include policymakers as well as representatives of business and civil society.

Stakeholders and marine scientists then took part in a panel discussion entitled “A Sea of Sustainability – From Knowledge to Action”, which was moderated by meteorologist and science journalist Karsten Schwanke. Norbert Brackmann, the Federal Government Coordinator for the Maritime Industry, Kim Detloff, Head of Marine Protection at Naturschutzbund Deutschland e.V., Nicole Dubilier, Director of the Max Planck Institute for Marine Microbiology, Nele Matz-Lück, spokeswoman for the Future Ocean Network at Kiel University, and Ulrich Schnabel, science editor of DIE ZEIT, discussed transdisciplinary research and described their expectations towards the DAM.

The musicians Amoy Ribas, Tal Arditi and Tino Derado took the guests of the inaugural event on a musical journey. First they went downriver (“descendo o rio”) to the sea, then to the “Krumme Lanke” – a lake that Berliners are very familiar with. This was followed by a reception at which guests had a chance to exchange ideas and to network until late in the evening.