What is BlueLightS?
BlueLightS is a Horizon Europe project strengthening the knowledge and skills of European children and youth to deliver ‘blue’ (river and seas) resilience and sustainability. The project collaborates closely with projects such as ProBleu, SHORE, PREP4BLUE and the UN Ocean Decade.
BlueLightS is rooted in the European Union’s “Restore our Ocean and Waters by 2030” Mission, supporting its ambition to empower communities, especially younger generations, to safeguard our rivers, seas, and ocean. By strengthening the knowledge and skills of children and youth, BlueLightS advances the Mission’s goals to build resilience, protect biodiversity, and reduce pollution across aquatic ecosystems.
As part of this wider Mission ecosystem, the Mission Ocean and Waters Implementation Platform (MIP Ocean) plays a vital coordinating role. MIP Ocean supports the European Commission by facilitating knowledge-sharing, communication, and technical assistance across the Mission community. This shared platform enables projects like BlueLightS to align their efforts, exchange best practices, and amplify their impact in achieving the Mission’s goals.
Our Objectives
- To create a one-stop knowledge hub centralizing blue education resources for all actors of the education system;
- To create a dynamic ‘blue education platform’ to share, discuss and grow the blue education community;
- To support the development of a robust network of European Blue Schools;
- To test methods for mainstreaming blue education in nine European countries;
- To develop a framework recommending which conditions must be met to allow teachers across Europe to bring the blue into their classrooms, thereby shifting responsibility away from teachers and onto the education system as a whole;
- To use these opportunities to increase the visibility of blue education resources and mainstream their integration into the European education system.
Read on for more information on our experimentation work, the framework of recommendations we’re developing and other expected results!
Experimentation
In December 2024, BlueLightS launched its experimental phase in nine European countries spanning across France, Spain, Portugal, Croatia, Greece, Romania, Ireland, Finland and Sweden. Its core objectives include collecting information on the current level of implementation of blue education in these countries, and exploring and testing ways in which blue education can be upscaled and mainstreamed in each of them. This experimentation will conclude in October 2026 and will feed into the project’s practical recommendations.
Dive into our interactive map to read more about each country’s experimentation scheme!
Under construction, come back soon for more information!
The BlueLightS
Framework
The main objective of the BlueLightS framework is to demonstrate the added value of blue education and the conditions required for strengthening it within a wide range of different European educational contexts. For example, strengthening blue education can involve increasing the visibility of water literacy in national curriculums, but also mainstreaming water literacy in textbooks or teacher trainings.
Sign up to our knowledge hub to explore other resources and find out when the Framework will be published!
Learn MoreExpected results
The full list of the project’s public deliverables is available on the knowledge hub and will, in time, include a report presenting lessons learned from the experimentation countries, an interactive e-training module on blue education, a strategy book on developing bottom-up activities, and much more!
Read morePartners
BlueLightS is made up of 16 partners covering a diverse portfolio of blue education projects, spread across Europe.
Advisory Board
The role of the advisory panel
The Advisory Panel's role is to guide and steer the consortium in the implementation of the BlueLightS project by setting up bridges and synergies with key European, international and global initiatives. The Advisory Panel should also assist and facilitate the decisions made by the project’s Steering Group.
The Advisory Panel will meet twice a year, in general online, until the end of the project, in June 2027. The AP Members can be invited to participate in selected consortium public events and eventually in General Assembly meetings as observers with no voting right.
Advisory panel members
Bernard Combes
France - Specialist in education for sustainable development
Former Programme Specialist, Education for Sustainable Development at UNESCO. 20+ years of experience in Communication, Education and Public Awareness related to biodiversity, water, ocean, climate, cities and sustainable lifestyles, as well as on issues related to human rights and environment.
Cláudia Faria
Portugal - science education and marine ecology
Assistant Professor at the Institute of Education of the University of Lisbon. She is a biologist with PhDs in Ecology and Biosystematics and in Science Education. She has led research projects promoting ocean literacy in schools and collaborates in evaluating the impact of related educational initiatives.
Geraldine Fauville
Associate Professor in Education, University of Gothenburg & Affiliate, Virtual Human Interaction Lab, Stanford University - immersive technologies for marine education
Research focuses on the role that immersive technologies can play in promoting ocean and environmental literacies. Masters in Marine Biology, another in Education and Information Technology, and a PhD in Education.
Ingrid Aspelund
Norway - education for democracy
Her usual position is Deputy Director and Head of the Youth Section, responsible for EWCs work to strengthen young people’s confidence and trust in shared values and democratic institutions. Her areas of experience and expertise are youth participation, democratic resilience, and prevention of hate and extremism.
José Sanchez
Director of agenda 2030 for the Worldwide Network of Port Cities – AIVP – management of Sustainable Port-City Relationships
Architect by training, with a Master from Lisbon’s Technical University. His passion for port and urban development led him to pursue a PhD in Hamburg’s HafenCity University, completed in 2019. Currently, he leads the development of the International Association of Cities and Ports’ Agenda 2030 initiative fostering sustainable port-city relationships.
Philip Ackermann
Coordinator of the Europeanisation of Plastic Pirates, Germany - citizen science
Coordinator of Plastic Pirates – Go Europe!, a European citizen science initiative engaging young people in collecting scientific data on plastic pollution in rivers, coasts, and seas. He supports the project’s international coordination, educational outreach, and collaboration with research and policy stakeholders to address plastic pollution across Europe.
Mikkel Bohm
Director of the Astre, the national science education centre in Denmark, founding member of the EU STEM Coalition
Masters in Geography and Communication from Roskilde University with extent experience in science education and communication. He was the director of Denmark’s first national science week and has developed large-scale educational events, festivals and citizen science initiatives.
Pramod Kumar Sharma
Senior director of Education with the Foundation for Environmental Education, Denmark – promotion of environmental education
Responsible for education activities across six FEE programmes, including Eco-Schools, Young Reporters for the Environment (YRE), Eco-Campus and LEAF in 102 countries. He also leads the development of FEE Academy, an online teaching and learning platform for stakeholders in ESD and sustainable tourism
Sarah Hatimi
Head of Education and Awareness Department of Surfrider Foundation Europe, France
Holds a Master's Degree in Environment, Safety, and Quality in Business, Environmental Law from Aix-Marseille University. In charge of coordinating the activities offered across the various spaces where we will be present: exhibitions, awareness workshops, and coordinating inspiring pitches presented by partner associations.
Stéphan Vicent-Lancrin
senior analyst at Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development, France - policy advice on innovation, policy research and evidence-based practices in education
Responsible for the Future of Higher Education (University Futures) project, supporting strategic decision-making for governments and stakeholders. He also co-leads the human capital working group of the OECD Innovation Strategy and has worked on internationalization and e-learning in higher education.
Stig Johannessen
president of the Norwegian School Head Organization and president of European School Head Association, Norway – management of change in knowledge organizations, in particular schools
Master’s in Public Administration from Karlstad University and a background from the Norwegian Armed Forces’ Military College in Stockholm. Former upper secondary school principal and senior advisor, with experience supporting school leaders in complex educational contexts.
