Europe's next ocean literacy conference is to be hosted by the University of Malta this coming October. 

The European Marine Science Educators Association event will focus on promoting a greater greater awareness of the sea and the role it plays in human lives as laid down in the seven principles of ocean literacy. 

It will be held on October 9 and 10, with a teachers' seminar to be held on October 7 at the Malta National Aquarium. The conference has been timed to follow the European Commission's Our Mare conference, which will take place on October 5 and 6. 

Alan Deidun from the Department of Geosciences is leading the University’s organising committee, which also features Director of the Centre for Environmental Education and Research (CEER) Paul J Pace.

The conference website will be launched by March and will feature a call for abstracts, the major thematics of the conference as well as logistical details for prospective participants.

The University of Malta has been organising an annual ocean literacy day on World Oceans Day (June 8) for the past two years. It has also co-organised an ocean literacy seminar last December as part of the annual International Ocean Institute Ocean Governance course.

EMSEA, a registered non-profit organisation acting as a platform for ocean education, was founded by three leading marine science institutions in Europe – VLIZ (Bruges, Belgium), University of Gothenburg (Sweden) and the Plymouth Marine Station (UK). 

Private entities interested in sponsoring the event can contact the Lucienne Bugeja from the University of Malta conferences unit on lucienne.m.bugeja@um.edu.mt