08/09/2021 | The new research consortium sea4soCiety will meet for the first time at its official kick-off on September 8 and 9. The hybrid event will see around 20 members of the consortium attending the meeting in person at ZMT while another 15 members and guests from the funding-administration agency, ministries and the research mission, as well as partners from Colombia and Indonesia, will be joining online.
The two-day get-together, headed by consortium coordinator Prof Martin Zimmer from ZMT, is an opportunity for members to get to know each other and be introduced to the research mission “Marine carbon sinks in decarbonization pathways” of the German Marine Research alliance (DAM) that sea4soCiety is part of.
The first day will focus on the seven work packages within the project as well as structural and procedural matters. In addition, sampling campaigns will be planned to quantify and analyse the storage capacity for "blue carbon" in ecosystems on the German North Sea and Baltic Sea coasts, in the Caribbean and the Indonesian Sea. On the second day programme for early career researcher with the consortium will be discussed.
About the research consortium sea4soCiety
Developing innovative and socially accepted approaches to improve the natural potential for carbon storage in vegetation-rich coastal ecosystems: that is the goal of the new research consortium sea4soCiety, coordinated by the Leibniz Centre for Tropical Marine Research (ZMT) in Bremen. Germany’s Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) is funding the consortium with 5.3 million euros as part of the first research mission “Marine carbon sinks in decarbonization pathways” – in short: CDRmare – of the German Marine Research Alliance (DAM).
As one of a total of six research consortia in the mission "Marine carbon sinks in decarbonization pathways", sea4soCiety will bring together almost 40 scientists from nine northern German universities and research institutes. Over the course of the three-year funding phase, they will quantify and analyse the storage capacity for "blue carbon" in four different types of coastal ecosystems on the German North Sea and Baltic Sea coasts, in the Caribbean and the Indonesian Sea. Martin Zimmer, Head of the Department of Ecology at ZMT and Professor of Mangrove Ecology at the University of Bremen, is responsible for coordinating the research project.
Members of the sea4soCiety consortium:
Professor Dr Martin Zimmer (coordinator), Leibniz Centre for Tropical Marine Research (ZMT), Bremen
Professor Dr Kai Bischof, Faculty 2 Biology/Chemistry, University of Bremen
Dr Annette Breckwoldt, Leibniz Centre for Tropical Marine Research (ZMT), Bremen
Professor Dr Thorsten Dittmar, Institute for Chemistry and Biology of the Marine Environment (ICBM), Carl von Ossietzky University of Oldenburg
Dr Mar Fernandez-Mendez, Alfred Wegener Institute Helmholtz Centre for Polar and Marine Research, Bremerhaven
Professor Dr Jan-Hendrik Hehemann, MARUM – Center for Marine Environmental Sciences at the University of Bremen
Professor Dr Kai Jensen, Center for Earth System Research and Sustainability (CEN), University of Hamburg
Dr David Keller, GEOMAR Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research Kiel
Dr Ketil Koops-Jakobsen, Alfred Wegener Institute Helmholtz Centre for Polar and Marine Research, Sylt
Dr Manuel Liebeke, Max Planck Institute for Marine Microbiology, Bremen
Professor Dr Nele Matz-Lück, Kiel Marine Science, Kiel University (CAU)
Dr Peter Müller, University of Hamburg
Professor Dr Natascha Oppelt, Kiel Marine Science, Kiel University (CAU)
Dr Maike Paul, Leibniz University Hanover
Professor Dr Beate Ratter, Center for Earth System Research and Sustainability (CEN), University of Hamburg
Professor Dr Katrin Rehdanz, Kiel Marine Science, Kiel University (CAU)
Dr. Jens Schneider von Deimling, Kiel Marine Science, Kiel University (CAU)
Dr Joscha Schmiedt, Leibniz Centre for Tropical Marine Research (ZMT), Bremen
Dr Michael Seidel, Institute for Chemistry and Biology of the Marine Environment (ICBM), Carl von Ossietzky University of Oldenburg
Professor Dr Klaus Wallmann, GEOMAR Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research Kiel
Contacts 
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