GEOHAB Synthesis Open Science Meeting Report
GEOHAB Open Science Meeting
UNESCO, Paris, France
24-26 April 2013
The Global Ecology and Oceanography of Harmful Algal Blooms (GEOHAB) Programme held a synthesis Open Science Meeting (OSM) in Paris, France, on 24-26 April 2013. This meeting had special relevance not only for the GEOHAB programme, but also for the entire international scientific community of researchers and managers engaged in the advance in harmful algal bloom research and mitigation of impacts.
This synthesis OSM had two objectives. The first was to review the scientific advances accomplished under GEOHAB since its inception. The second is to identify a near-future roadmap of GEOHAB-like activities to be pursued beyond 2013.
To achieve these objectives, active involvement of meeting participants, representing the global HAB community, was essential. For this reason, the OSM was structured somewhat differently from a typical science meeting, in four main axes:
1. Invited presentations that cover:
- Review of GEOHAB’s past and present through its 5 Core Research Projects, Regional Programmes and Targeted Activities.
- Some relevant topics that can provide a general framework for future research on HABs.
2. Concept papers: Participants are encouraged to provide 2-page concept papers (i.e., proposals for specific activities, such as research projects, training sessions, or comparisons among ecosystems) that could be implemented between 2014 and 2018. The papers should be based on GEOHAB planning documents, such as the GEOHAB Science and Implementation Plans, and the Core Research Project reports (www.geohab.info). The GEOHAB SSC will evaluate the concept papers to determine how they might be used for presentation/discussion.
3. Poster sessions will broaden the number of topics that can be considered during the meeting and encourage the widest possible scientific participation. We encourage submission of abstracts for posters following the guidelines on the conference registration site.
4. Breakout discussion sessions among the participants based on both the invited presentations and the concept papers. Three breakout sessions are planned:
#1: What has GEOHAB accomplished and how was it done? What did and didn't work and why?
#2: Which scientific objectives can effectively be implemented in the coming years and what are the best mechanisms to accomplish them?
#3: Based on the previous session’s outcomes, how should GEOHAB be structured to most effectively move forward in the future?
We hope that with this diverse approach, a synthesis document regarding a near-future international collaboration on HABs research will arise from this OSM. The results of the OSM discussions and recommendations will be presented to the IOC’s Intergovernmental Panel on Harmful Algal Blooms, one of the GEOHAB sponsors, at its 11th Session, immediately following the OSM.
The Scientific Steering Committee for GEOHAB