The summary of the SEA-EU DOC project work to date, the plan for the coming months, and the preparation of a workshop for PhD students on competence enhancement and dissemination activities were the main points of the second international meeting of the SEA-EU DOC project partners held at the University of Malta.
The meeting took place from March 1-3, 2022. It was attended by representatives of the universities - project partners: University of Malta (Malta), which was the host, University of Cadiz (Spain), University of Western Brittany (France), Christian-Albrecht University of Kiel (Germany), University of Gdańsk (Poland), University of Split (Croatia).
The project partners met at the guest house of the University of Malta, Valletta campus and the congress was chaired by prof. Nicholas Vella (University of Malta) and prof. Catherine Meur-Ferec and Justine Roddier (University of Western Brittany).
During the meeting, the results of the activities carried out under the project so far were presented - including the results of a survey on potential career paths of doctoral students and graduates, focus group research, and interviews (written and video) with doctoral graduates working in the blue economy. A schedule and rules for future training of doctoral students and ways to disseminate the results of the project were also proposed. Project leaders from each university also attended a meeting with Ms Agnès von der Mühll, French Ambassador to Malta.
The project 'Beyond academia: broadening the career horizons of doctoral students in marine and maritime sciences in Europe' (SEA-EU DOC) is implemented within the framework of the Strategic Partnership for Higher Education of the Erasmus+ Programme in the European University of the Seas (SEA-EU) consortium. SEA-EU DOC aims to develop good practices based on experiences of graduates from partner universities and to offer European universities standards of education and equip doctoral students with competencies necessary for employment in the non-academic labour market in the broadly defined maritime economy. The project also aims at strengthening cooperation between partners, promoting development, testing implementation of innovative practices and developing entrepreneurship and active cooperation in various areas among doctoral students and PhD holders. The University of Gdańsk is the leader of the first task (Intellectual Output 1), which involves preparing interviews (written and video) with PhD graduates - PhD holders who work in the broadly defined maritime sector.
The University of Gdańsk during the second international SEA-EU DOC meeting was represented by prof. Barbara Pawłowska (Faculty of Economics) - the project manager on behalf of the University of Gdańsk and team members: prof. Barbara Klassa (Faculty of History), dr Anna Panasiuk (Institute of Oceanography, Faculty of Oceanography and Geography), dr Beata Czechowska-Derkacz (Institute of Media, Journalism and Social Communication, Faculty of Social Sciences) and mgr inż. Mateusz Byczkowski (Communication and Promotion Centre - Promotion Team).
The SEA-EU project is an alliance of six European and coastal universities, which pursues the vision of an international, multilingual and interdisciplinary European Coastal University. It aims to strengthen the competitiveness of European higher education, ensure the mobility of students and staff and ensure the highest quality of education. Following the launch of a competition to expand existing alliances under the European Universities Initiative, new partners from the University of Parthenope in Naples, the University of Algarve and the Nord University in Bodo will soon join the consortium.
