The United Nations Ocean Conference (UNOC) will take place from 9 to 13 June 2025 and is a high-level global event focused on accelerating action towards Sustainable Development Goal 14: Life Below Water. The One Ocean Science Congress (OOSC), held from 3 to 6 June 2025, is the official science side event of UNOC, ensuring that the latest Ocean science informs and supports the policy decisions made at UNOC. Both UNOC and OOSC will have two differentiated areas: the official conference area accessible to accredited participants (Blue Zone) on the Quai Infernet at Port Lympia, and an area open to the wider public offering a space for civil society, academia, youth, and the private sector to showcase initiatives, innovations, and projects related to Ocean sustainability (Green Zone or “La Baleine”) at Palais des Expos de Nice.
On Tuesday, 3 June at 16:30, EMB Young Ambassador Virginia Morejon will speak on a panel at the session Youth and ECR networks: highlights, benefits, ways to cooperate and participate in the INSPIRE zone of the EU Digital Ocean Pavilion, located in “La Baleine”. This session brings together representatives from global leading youth and early career researcher (ECR) networks to share insights, opportunities, and collaboration pathways. Right afterwards at 17:30, EMB Executive Director Sheila Heymans will speak at the session On a Mission to restore the Ocean and Waters – Towards the deployment at scale of innovative solutions for Ocean restoration and resilience of coastal communities at the Blue Zone. The session will discuss how research and innovation can accelerate the protection and restoration of the Ocean and the implementation of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework and the High Seas Treaty in particular.
On Wednesday, 4 June at 16:30, Sheila Heymans will speak at the session Observing the Ocean : The role of France with the French Ocean Observing System (Fr-OOS), also in the INSPIRE zone of the EU Digital Ocean Pavilion. Her talk will highlight the challenges for achieving long-term Ocean Observation. That same day at 14:00, at the Blue Zone, Sylvia Sander, Chair of the EMB Working Group on Deep-Sea Research, will present the recently launched Future Science Brief on Deep Sea Research and Management Needs during a session titled “One Ocean, many deep-seas: what human uses?”.
On Thursday, 5 June at 09:00, Ángel Muñiz Piniella, Science Officer at EMB, will present at the Blue Zone during the "Open session: Knowledge of the deep ocean and ways to enable its sustainable use" one of the key recommendations from the Future Science Brief on Deep-Sea Research and Management Needs, highlighting the need for standardized environmental impact assessment methodologies to understand and manage human impacts and their associated risks for the deep sea.
In addition, during the OOSC, EMB will also showcase posters on two key strategic documents: one of the EMB’s flagship foresight document Navigating the Future VI, and one on the recommendations from the EMB Future Science Briefs on Coastal Resilience and Marine Habitat Mapping. These will be displayed in “La Baleine” exhibition area until 6 June, providing a visual insight into EMB's latest outputs and recommendations.
On Monday, 9 June at 15:00, Professor Sheila Heymans will moderate the session Towards a fit-for-purpose European Ocean Observing System (EOOS) for a successful EU Ocean Pact. This session, also held at INSPIRE zone of the EU Digital Ocean Pavilion located in “La Baleine”, will explore how to better coordinate Ocean observations in Europe and ensure that the future European Ocean Observing System (EOOS) effectively supports the implementation of the EU Ocean Pact.
On Tuesday, 10 June at 07:45, EMB is supporting an off-site side event on Teamwork to save our Ocean: Benefits for human health and well-being, which will take place at Université Côte d'Azur, Institut Méditerranéen du risque, de l'Environment et du Developpement Durable (IMREDD), Room 1-170, Technopole Nice Meridia 9, Avenue Julien Laupretre, 06 200 Nice. Later, at 12:15, EMB Young Ambassador Virginia Morejon will speak at the Mobilizing Youth for Ocean Climate Action: harnessing Citizen Science and Capacity-Building session in the Blue Zone, focusing on the importance of Early Career Ocean Professionals (ECOPs) in Ocean governance.
On Wednesday, 11 June at 11:30, the EMB Communication Panel (EMBCP) is also supporting the event Challenges for effective communication of the UN Ocean Decade at the Campus Saint-Jean d'Angély of the University of Cote d'Azur, where communication experts will share and discuss their experience and work with different stakeholders, with the aim to compile a list of good practices for effective Ocean communication.
On Friday, 13 June at 10:00, the EMB ECOP Network will host a “Morning Tide” event at the Beyond Borders Pavilion in “La Baleine”. As part of a series of events organized by the Coalition of Emerging Ocean Leaders (CEOL), the different networks involved will present the CEOL, their insights of UNOC and will discuss their manifesto (to be launched on 9 June).
Finally, former grantees of the EMBracing the Ocean programme will showcase their arts through artistic contributions:
- Ruwanthi Gajadeera will exhibit her work from her EMBracing the Ocean residency project “Save our Seas” at the Engage area of the European Digital Ocean Pavilion.
Sonia Levy will feature work from her EMBracing the Ocean project in the “Becoming Ocean: a social conversation about the Ocean”, an exhibition at the Villa Arson in Nice that addresses the challenges facing the Ocean through the diverse voices of more than 20 international artists, underlining the essential role of collaboration and the conviction that art and culture are drivers of social and environmental change.
Former EMB Ambassador Juliette Aminian Biquet is also attending both events thanks to generous support from EMB member Universites Marines.
EMB’s active participation in both the UN Ocean Conference and the One Ocean Science Congress reflects its ongoing commitment to bridging science and policy, supporting sustainable Ocean governance, and amplifying the voice of the European marine research community on the global stage.