JERICO-NEXT Malta Summer School 2018: Operational Oceanography for Blue Growth

Day 1

Ocean economic trends in Europe with focus on the regional seas; impact of technological development on Blue Growth; the perspective from the European Commission on the future of the oceans through its Integrated Maritime Policy and the Blue Growth initiative; focus on the BlueMed Initiative and the Western Mediterranean Initiative. Introduction to the mini-hackathon.

Day 2

Coastal ocean observatories and showcase of the JERICO-NEXT programme; digital age in Operational Oceanography.

Day 3 and Day 4

Briefing on the COPERNICUS Marine Environment Monitoring Service (CMEMS); introduction to the CMEMS portal; Practical hands-on session on CMEMS.

Briefing on EMODnet; Introduction to EMODnet portals; Practical hands-on session on EMODnet.

Day 5

Introduction to the mini-hackathon, overview of potential ‘blue growth’ challenges, expected outcomes

Mini hackathon – problem focussed session making best use of on-line data (JERICO Virtual Access Services, EMODnet, CMEMS) to develop smart products and services.

Day 6

Visit to HF radar site

Considering the multi-disciplinary nature of the summer course, we expect to encompass a cross sector range of participants including operational oceanographers, ocean modellers, domain experts, computer scientists, data scientists, data managers, graphics artists/data visualisers, software developers, commercially based students, and environmental managers. The challenge will be to offer a programme that brings together these participants with different skills to achieve a common understanding of team capabilities, and how to work together to achieve outcomes not possible by working alone. The course aims to showcase the way to facilitate blue growth, namely by breeding a new culture of professionals that can work as part of a team and exploit individual competences for applications and service provision. 

The last day of the course will take the form of a mini-hackathon, giving the opportunity to participants to work in groups where each group would propose, plan and develop a prototype solution to an agreed blue growth ‘challenge’. This may take the form of a visualisation, software application or other tool developed within a larger application (e.g. MATLAB, R etc) that makes use of the data and information resources available through the JERICO-NEXT Virtual Access capabilities alongside EMODnet and CMEMS. To ensure each group has access to the relevant ICT expertise, we plan to sponsor at least four participants with skills in software development to participate in each of the four anticipated groups which will compete for the best smart and innovative application.

Applicants who are in a position to disseminate the experience gained from the school to others will be favoured.

Applications are accepted from both JERICO-NEXT partner and non-partner institutions.

General knowledge of oceanography; experience with computer programming languages will be an advantage.

Preference will be given to participants who are already engaged in (or have the potential to participate in) public or private endeavours favouring research, innovation and value addition in smart marine downstream services. Applicants who are in a position to disseminate the experience gained from the school to others will be favoured. This is in line with the major target of the course to develop a new culture of professionals that can spread their knowledge and skills through the scientific community to achieve excellent performance in favour of Blue Growth. 

Please fill in the Application Form and upload the supporting documents (listed below) by 7th June 2018. Applications need to be supported by:

1. A letter of recommendation signed by a senior official of the nominating entity, university, institution, national or regional organisation,
2. A curriculum vitae,
3. A covering letter describing the applicant’s motivation for applying and stating their ability to disseminate the knowledge and experience gained at the summer school to colleagues. If the applicant is seeking help with costs (see Financial conditions, below) their reasons should be clearly stated and justified.

Participants that require a Visa letter should email Prof. Aldo Drago (aldo.drago@um.edu.mt) and Dr. Adam Gauci (adam.gauci@um.edu.mt). Information on who requires a Visa can be found HERE.

The selection will be based on the CV, the motivation for application and its relevance to the JERICO-NEXT course objectives. The selection will be done by the members of the project Steering Committee and the candidates will be notified about the final results by e-mail. The list of the successful candidates will be also posted on the dedicated school web-site.

There are no fees or bench charges to be paid for participation. Participants will be expected to cover their own travel, accommodation and meal costs. Guidance on approximate costs for accommodation can be provided on request. 

Financial support will be available for a limited number of participants to cover expenses (e.g. air fare ticket, accommodation and meals) to attend the school.

The travel arrangements will be a responsibility of the participant. Sponsored participants will be reimbursed upon arrival provided that costs are the lowest fares available, are supported by receipts and are approved by the organizers.

The course will be held at the IT services building of the University of Malta. Details on the facilities can be viewed here.

Deadline for Application: 7^th June 2018

Notification of Successful candidates: 21^th June 2018

Course dates: 9^th to 14^th July 2018

Download the full course announcement here