The last three months have seen a lot of new activities and actions going on behind the scenes for the IOLN, and we’re using that as a excuse for our lack of posting!
The IOLN membership drive began in earnest in Autumn last year, with 35 founding members stepping up to lead the way on Ocean Literacy in Ireland. With the help of Gillian Mills and ERINN Innovation, the IOLN contacted existing and new potential members to seek their support, and we would like to send a huge ‘Thank You’ to all of you who have lead the way. This Network can only survive with the support and input of its members and we plan to repay your faith in us by providing lots of opportunities for engagement in 2025. More on this will follow soon.
As their main last task on the project, Dr. Maria Vittoria organised the 2024 Annual Meeting of the Irish Ocean Literacy Network (IOLN), on December 4th in the Discovery & Learning Centre of Dublin Zoo. It was followed by the Annual General Meeting of the IOLN Company Limited by Guarantee (CLG).
The meeting was attended by 29 IOLN members and other ocean stakeholders who had the opportunity to hear what the IOLN has achieved in its first year as CLG, as well as to contribute to the discussion aimed at shaping the work plan of the Network for 2025. In addition, the meeting offered the attendees the chance to discover the stories shared by the engaging invited speakers, whose experiences range from media to blue economy, community engagement, bio-acoustics, and EU projects, as well as the inspiring ocean literacy work carried on by our IOLN members.
Speakers included Olive Heffernan, who presented a fascinating talk on her book ‘The High Seas’; Kate Burns, who is a member of the IOLN Advisory Panel, spoke about what marine innovation can mean to coastal communities. David Whyte, from MaREI, spoke about a number of projects he is currently working on, including Prep4Blue, MPA Life Ireland and Tidal Arts. Majbritt Bolton- Warberg from the Marine Institute spoke about the library campaign which was held during Bio-economy Week and Sorsha Byrne from the Maritime Area Regulatory Authority (Mara) introduced us to the newly established state agency and its role and responibilities.
Prof Chris Bean, from the Dublin Institute of Advanced Studies talked to the group about the exciting discoveries of the iMARL project, which looks at the interaction between the Ocean and solid earth below. Michael Officer, Programme Manager at Cuan Beo, presented on their Source to Sea education programme and finally Dave Wall, from the National Biodiversity Data Centre provided an update on Explore your Shore.
