It’s been an extremely busy few weeks with the One Ocean Science Congress and the third UN Ocean Conference taking place in Nice, France (from 3-13 June 2025).
Prior to these events, the ECOP Programme issued a short survey to those in our global community who were planning to attend. We asked the 445 respondents for three words to describe how they felt about the upcoming events.
As you can see:
- Hopeful
- Excited
- Inspired
were the top answers.
And this is exactly how we have felt since returning home (along with exhausted of course!).
During our 2 weeks in Nice, we attended, curated, co-organised and presented at numerous side events, sharing our collective voice across the topics of capacity development, ocean literacy and navigating ocean science and sustainability as Early Career Ocean Professionals. We hope many more people know about the ECOP Programme now, and can see the work we have done to raise the profile, representation and inclusion of ECOPs at high-level events and within decision-making processes.
Whilst we compile our post-event survey and impact report to give a true reflection of the attendance and engagement of ECOPs at the OOSC and UNOC3, here’s just a few of our highlights:
On June 3, Evgeniia Kostianaia, Laura Khatib and Joshua Baghdady curated and hosted a full day of inspiring sessions exploring how citizen science, digital tools, ocean literacy, and global networks—driven by diverse initiatives, youth, and early career voices—are advancing ocean knowledge, sustainability, and inclusive action. The “Voices from the Ocean” day in the European Digital Ocean Pavilion featured many ECOP Programme node and project coordinators, as well as European Commission Active Senior Advisor and member of the ECOP Programme Advisory Board Sigi Gruber who encouraged all ECOPs to organise and strategise, and then reach out to ask to have our needs met – whether it’s for funding or securing a seat at the table.
On June 4, we hosted a townhall during the One Ocean Science Congress, which focused on capacity development and inclusion, with speakers: Evgeniia Kostianaia, Anabel von Jackowski, Xochitl Édua Elías Ilosvay, Talen Rimmer and Sophia Laarissa. This session highlighted ongoing barriers—visa issues, funding gaps, and language challenges—while also proposing practical strategies to address them, contributing valuable insights and recommendations for the lead-up to UNOC3.
On June 9-11, we were part of V.ECOP Days – an incredible programme of two and a half days of live (and recorded) broadcasting to ECOPs around the World. The agenda was set by ECOPs, for ECOPs and proceeded to follow the 10 Ocean Action panels (of the UN Ocean Conference agenda), engaging participants in the discussions and inviting them #AboardtheMeteor, into conference rooms, the Green Zone’s La Baleine and onto the streets of Nice to really get a feel for the conference, whilst online. With 423 registered persons, the V.ECOP legacy continues!
On June 11, we attended the Ocean Decade Forum, with ECOP Programme Global Coordinator Evgeniia Kostianaia sharing some of the milestones and achievements of the last 4 years of the ECOP Programme, highlighting why it’s imperative to support and create pathways to exchange with Early Career Ocean Professionals.
We joined EU4Ocean, and MENA Oceans to present a joint side-event on June 12, showcasing Ocean Literacy Practices through three engaging panels: Knowing, Feeling, and Acting. This event in the Beyond Borders Pavilion featured 10 diverse speakers plus audience interaction, and highlighted ocean literacy projects from around the world to explore how knowledge, creativity, and inclusive partnerships can foster deeper connections and inspire collective action for ocean sustainability.
On June 12, we hosted our own special side-event in “La Baleine” with ECOP Programme coordinators and task team leads: Maria de los Angeles Schoenbeck Yanes, Evgeniia Kostianaia, Laura Khatib, Raphael Roman, Maeva Tesan and Laura Elsler, who presented key tools and approaches developed since 2021, including our global network of 7,200+ members, 60+ nodes, task teams, databases, stakeholders’ map for Japan, and the Ocean Literacy Series.
We joined Towards IPOS on June 12 in La Baleine to present a timely and inspiring gathering that brought together the right people in the right place to explore how to expand the reach and impact of Ocean Literacy—highlighting the need for more inclusive, engaging, and connected approaches across all levels of decision-making and cultural contexts.
On June 12, our partner SOI Foundation hosted TWO back-to-back side events to give a crucial platform to Youth voices in La Baleine. “1 Ocean, 7 Voices, 7 Continents: Collective Youth Action for SDG 14″ featured many organisations as well as ECOP Programme node coordinators and members from: Canada, Asia, Europe, Australia and Colombia, and were a call for more youth-led, culturally connected solutions for the ocean we share.
Karina Higa, from the Ocean Literacy Task Team, presented the “Ocean Literacy for Blue Citizenship” hackathon on multiple days, which centred on raising awareness of the BBNJ Agreement and engaging new audiences and stakeholders in urging their governments to ratify the Treaty. The winners were announced on June 13 in a special ceremony in the Beyond Borders Pavilion.
On June 13, the European Digital Ocean Pavilion also invited us back for a dynamic panel moderated by Audrey Hasson to wrap up and reflect on all the event proceedings in Nice, featuring Natalie Fox along with Jihyun Li and Nikita Gooding.
We also joined the Coalition of Emerging Ocean Leaders (CEOL), which was officially launched at UNOC3 during official side events in both the blue and green zones, and actively provided guidance and support for the inclusion of young people at UNOC, in collaboration with member networks. Learn more and join the manifesto here: https://linktr.ee/CoalitionCEOL
We had the pleasure of visiting the different boats moored in Port Lympia and thoroughly enjoyed the red zone as a way to learn, participate and connect across different ocean disciplines – sailing, education, research, cutting-edge science, art, advocacy and policy. In the Green Zone we are especially grateful to the Beyond Borders Pavilion and the European Digital Ocean Pavilion for supporting our proposals and events, and of course, to IOC-UNESCO for funding support for our coordinators.
And finally, we brought together about 70 ECOPs for each of our two social events on June 3 and 9 to build bonds, encourage collaboration and strengthen peer-to-peer networking (special thanks to Tara Mascarenhas, Astrid Delorme and Natalie Fox for their invaluable support with organizing this).
There are also many, many people to thank, but that would make this article far too long, instead just know that we are forever grateful for your support and collaboration, and if we did cross paths, we hope to stay in touch and make sure this momentum of ocean action continues throughout next 5 years of the UN Ocean Decade, and beyond.