As participation in ICES expert groups is often arranged institutionally and highly focused on detailed fields of expertise, informing and consulting each other in national networks can lift countries' contribution to a higher level, ultimately also affecting the quality and effectiveness of the resulting advice.
Under the umbrella of ICES, nearly 6000 scientists from 20 member countries and beyond join forces in support of the mission to advance and share scientific understanding of marine ecosystems and the services they provide and to use this knowledge to generate state-of-the-art advice for meeting conservation, management and sustainability goals. However, participation in ICES expert groups is often arranged institutionally, and even within countries, scientists are sometimes unaware of the developments outside their field of expertise, the contributions of their compatriots and possible synergies that can be found between research lines.
To bridge the gap, some ICES member countries have started to organize consultations between participants in ICES expert groups within national networks. The aim is to offer a platform to the national ICES community to share information, improve collaboration, and to promote ICES to the wider scientific community. Policy-makers and other stakeholders can also be informed through national networks.
In this network session, national networks will demonstrate approaches, share experiences and inspire the audience, while paying attention to the added value of the initiatives for individual scientists, national coordination and ICES as a whole. Participants will learn from and be inspired by existing national networks and are invited to collaboratively reflect on the need for national linking and coordination initiatives in their respective countries. Both organizational, topical aspects, and challenges will be explored.
