The EU is gradually building a coherent set of ocean policies, but the knowledge base required to support them is not yet secure, according to the bloc’s ocean researchers. A dedicated budget line in the next Horizon Europe would go a long way to filling this gap.

“There are four policy windows now being looked at for the European Competitiveness Fund and Pillar 2 of the proposal for the next Horizon Europe programme, but there’s no obvious home for ocean,” said Niall McDonough, director of policy, innovation and research services at the Marine Institute in Ireland. “We would worry as a community that it gets lost in there without a heading or a part of the programme where it’s specifically supported,” he told Science|Business.

One option would be for ocean research to become “a horizontal priority area, with a specific budget allocation” in the next Horizon Europe, he went on. There is a…

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