Dissemination, outreach and communication of scientific knowledge are becoming more and more important in today’s society, where social inclusion is an integral part of environmental protection and sustainable development. This is particularly true for the world of ocean research, a world that is largely hidden from our view, representing an added challenge to the communication of marine research. From its inception, the Ocean Literacy movement has advocated closer interaction between marine scientists, educators and other stakeholders (the public, policy-makers, private sector), and inspired new events and networks all over the world. Both the EMSEA (European Marine Science Educators Association) annual conferences and CommOCEAN are prime examples of such new initiatives. CommOCEAN as the International Marine Science Communication Conference, was launched by the European Marine Board Communications Panel (EMBCP) and organized in the first instance by its Portuguese partners (CIIMAR, Ciencia Viva) in Porto in 2014, and a second was held in Belgium in 2016 (Bruges-Ostend) and organized by VLIZ, EMB, EMBCP and UNESCO/IOC/IODE. CommOCEAN focuses on a target audience of young marine scientists and communicators who want to be trained in science communication skills. The third event, in Southampton, UK, is being arranged and hosted by the National Oceanography Centre (NOC) and will see some of the programme split for marine scientists and professional communicators ensuring the programme is relevant, challenging and inspiring.
