Collaborator of the Week: Dr. Cornelia E. Nauen

Dr. Cornelia E. Nauen is one of the scientist advocates for ocean restoration, conservation and its sustainable use [3]. She is known for her involvement in policy development and support to various research projects concerning aquatic biodiversity and marine pollution [2]. For 6 years, she worked at the Department of Fisheries of FAO in Rome. In 1985, she joined the Development Directorate General of the European Commission in Brussels. In that function, she oversaw the funding of the first years of FishBase development combined with capacity building in 50 African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) countries. In 2000, she moved to the EU's International Science Cooperation [1,2]. 

Today, she is the president of Mundus maris – Sciences and Arts for Sustainability, a non-profit organization aiming to save the ocean [1,3]. The organization promotes critically engaged science, facilitates access of citizens to research results and seeks to combine this with “other ways of making sense of the world” in the arts and traditional knowledge systems. Many activities aim at instilling curiosity and love for the ocean in young people and schools to realize their dreams of healthy oceans and being the architects of their futures [3].

CE Nauen has been a FishBase collaborator from the early days and has published about the importance of FishBase as a shining example of open access knowledge repositories that empower the public [4,5] now followed by SeaLifeBase. In 2013, FishBase and SeaLifeBase databases collaborated with Mundus maris in order to increase public awareness about marine biodiversity and important issues in fisheries [6]. This collaboration helped to develop the knowledge and understanding of different people for the advocacy in fisheries management and regulation. MM Information materials emphasize FishBase and SeaLifeBase.

Mundus maris is currently collaborating with FIN and several other organizations to celebrate World Oceans Day 2015, June 08, through a youth story telling contest and events in different countries on the day itself.

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[1] Cornelia E. Nauen. https://be.linkedin.com/pub/cornelia-e-nauen/97/259/480 [Accessed 02/20/2015].

[2] Initiative on Science and Technology for Sustainability. http://www.hks.harvard.edu/sustsci/ists/TWAS_0202/participants/Nauen_bio.htm [Accessed 02/23/2015].

[3] MM Self presentation. http://www.mundusmaris.org/index.php/en/about/self [Accessed 02/23/2015].

[4] Nauen, C.E. (ed.) in collaboration with C. Bogliotti, N. Fenzl, J. Francis, J. Kakule, K. Kastrissianakis, L. Michael, N. Reeve, D. Reyntjens, V. Shiva, J.H. Spangenberg, 2005. Increasing impact of the EU’s international S&T cooperation for the transition towards sustainable development. Luxembourg, Office for Official Publications of the European Communities, 26 p.

[5] Nauen, C.E., 2006. Implementing the WSSD decision of restoring marine ecosystems by 2015 – Scientific information support in the public domain. Marine Policy, 30:455-461.

[6] FishBase, SeaLifeBase and Mundus maris: Science and art combined! http://sealifebaseproject.blogspot.com/2013/09/fishbase-sealifebase-and-mundus-maris.html [Accessed 02/23/2015].

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Edited by: Cornelia E. Nauen