Three seas - one planet: Developing awareness, competence and commitment regarding sea conservation strategies by comparing practices in the Mediterranean, the Baltic, the Atlantic.

Primarily, we wanted our students to learn about the effects of climate change on our three different seas. We wanted to introduce our students to different ways of life and different cultures tha...

Primarily, we wanted our students to learn about the effects of climate change on our three different seas. We wanted to introduce our students to different ways of life and different cultures that live closely connected to the sea. We wanted to include three different cultures and expand the 'DreamTeam'. We wanted the students to learn about scientific protocols and about research being made on different aspects of the seas in our different countries. We wanted to make our students aware of both challenges and blessings of living by the seas that our countries represented; the Baltic, the Mediterranean and the Atlantic. We wanted to include both academic work and something practical, hands-on. We wanted to give the student a chance to experience sea-related activities that are typical for our different cultures. We wanted to learn about the three different seas in order to be able to teach our colleagues and other students about the differences and likenesses. We also wanted to acquaint ourselves with the Azorean and the Corsican cultures.

We implemented all the activites we had planned. As such, our programme was very successful and well planned. Everything was agreed upon together at the application stage and every partner did their best to deliver the programme activities they had agreed upon already at that stage. All the activities were clearly linked to our theme and we had a clear focus on the seas and climate change throughout the project. It was nice to see that our students took great pride in presenting and teaching the visiting students about their own cultures. The family accommodation provided excellent opportunities for language immersion and cultural baths. In order to benefit the most from our mobilities and to enable us to offer specific experience to our guests, we set the mobility in Corsica in October, in Finland in February and in Sâo Jorge in May. We were very lucky also, and everything went as planned; we could see our programme though as we had planned and wished, and our students were very satusfied.

We have learned a great deal about the three seas that were our focus. We also established valuable contacts to the universities in our regions that we can continue to collaborate with in the future. It was a project that they were more than happy to be a part of, and it provided a chance also for them to promote their fields and research. As a result. our students know more about what the work of a researcher is like, and what possibilites there are to pursue a career in natural sciences in alla three countries. the main language used was English and many students testify that they have become more confident in using English as a result of participating in the project. We have also established contacts with reliable and knowledgeable service partners that have provided content for us that we have found particularly valuable, like Fiskarförbundet or Stella Mare, partners that we will be very happy to collaborate with in the future.