The University of Algarve (UAlg) hosted two days of meetings that brought together researchers from the Algarve Centre of Marine Sciences (CCMAR), Iceland and those responsible for projects funded by EEA Grants, connecting the scientific community and the population.

Organized by the project BridgingAll, funded by EEA Grants, the first workshop brought together, on the morning of November 21, researchers from CCMAR and the University of Akureyri, Iceland, in a meeting of scientific partnerships. 

The researchers and professors from both institutions presented their lines of research, and identified areas of common interest, opening doors for the establishment of scientific partnerships in future applications.

On 22 November a partnership mobilisation meeting was held between the University of Akureyri and the University of Algarve, where the two institutions presented their educational offerings, scientific areas and infrastructures.

As a result, it opened the possibility to implement "collaborations in research projects and the establishment of a mobility network of researchers and students between the two institutions in the near future", says the person in charge of the project BridgingAll.

For the UAlg-CCMAR researcher, Rute Martins, in this meeting it was possible to "get a global notion of all the training offer that this Blue Growth funding framework provided for the Algarve region", but also "extend this offer to all partner institutions of the donor states (Norway, Iceland and Liechtenstein), regardless of the project to which they are associated".

In a third moment, the project BridgingAll organized a workshop that brought together 5 projects funded in the Algarve by the EEA grants in the Blue Growth area and that have the partnership of scientific institutions and companies from the donor states of this funding, Iceland, Norway and Liechtenstein. 

In this meeting, the projects coordinated by the University of Algarve (Blue Route and BridgingAll), CCMAR (Blue Forests Education), the Portuguese Institute of Sea and Atmosphere - IPMA - (EduCoast) and Centro Ciência Viva de Lagos (Ver para Querer) were able to share the work that is being developed and disclose the training offer that they are developing not only for teachers and students of schools in the Algarve but also for the academic community of the partner institutions in the donor countries.

The two days of meetings also served to exchange ideas and experiences between the partners of the project BridgingAll with the aim of establishing standard lines both for the dissemination of content to the general population and for the implementation of summer courses for the school community of the 3rd cycle of schooling.

The BridgingAll project is funded by Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway through the EEA Grants and the Portuguese Directorate-General for Maritime Policy, Ministry of the Sea, promoted by the Faculty of Science and Technology, University of Algarve and has as partners the Algarve Centre of Marine Sciences (CCMAR) and the University of Akureyri (Iceland).

About the EEA Grants:
Through the Agreement on the European Economic Area (EEA), Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway are partners in the internal market with the Member States of the European Union. As a means of promoting a continued and balanced strengthening of economic and trade relations, the parties to the EEA Agreement have established a multi-annual financial mechanism, known as EEA Grants. EEA Grants are aimed at reducing social and economic disparities in Europe and strengthening bilateral relations between these three countries and the beneficiary countries. For the period 2014-2021, a total contribution of €2.8 billion has been agreed for 15 beneficiary countries. Portugal will benefit from a sum of €102.7 million. Find out more at eeagrants.gov.pt