Course Announcement
As academic courses are further boosting qualified professionals
to fit the challenges of a knowledge-based society that is
relying more extensively on our sustainable relationship with
the earth and oceans, there is a growing need to qualify the
skills of students in the efficient handling of data. This
is the evolving scenario that elevates the value of data, in
particular that related to the sea, and its transformation
into information and knowledge in the context of the digital
age, spearheading the evolution of marine services to match
stakeholder demands, and boosting research and innovation
applications, such as within the ambit of Blue Growth and
Mission Ocean – the European Commission’s initiatives to further
harness the potential of Europe’s oceans, seas and coasts, for
sustainable development, jobs and value.
This is the background against which SEA-EU is offering a joint
intensive course engaging some of its best expert academics
from its six universities to deliver a training programme
dedicated to data harvesting and harnessing. If you are a
student pursuing to complete your undergraduate studies or
to do research (MSc or PhD) based on the specialised use of
data, this is your opportunity to sharpen your talents and
learn in one spot how to search, understand, handle and exploit
data in one single dedicated formative intensive course. Through
this course, SEA-EU is showcasing the benefit of merging academic
excellence across the alliance universities to offer students
a unique setting for a cross-university experience, through
a joint delivery, with exchange and teamwork between students
from different European countries in a common shared academic
environment.
The course tackles the full range of data types, covering the
different data acquisition and generation platforms (e.g.
observations and models), and including the merging of data
of diverse nature (e.g. socio-economic and ecological) including
non-scientific and qualitative data (eg resource tracking and
mapping, demography, performance statistics, etc).
The course adopts a practical and hands-on approach throughout
so that concepts and methods are delivered through examples
and real applications, especially those related to the marine
and maritime contexts. The delivery of the course is expected
to apply a blended approach where students would be offered
options with a mix of online and physical delivery. The course
is planned in three linked but distinct components (introductory,
intensive and project phases), for a total of 50 hours spread
over a period of two months, October/November each year.
The execution of the course is done jointly by the partner
universities and coordinated by a
Board of Studies
which is this year led by the University of Malta (Prof. Aldo Drago,
aldo.drago@um.edu.mt).
The hosting and organisation of the intensive practical week
will be done on a roster basis, with the host/lead university
rotating every year between the participating universities.
For 2021, a fully online delivery is being planned. Once the
COVID19 restrictions are over, the course can follow the
structured components as outlined above.
For more info on the course please follow the details in the
course concept
or contact the members of the
Board of Studies.
The detailed programme and timetable will be issued in September.