About
BiodivOcean project
BiodivOcean is an Erasmus+ project that fosters ocean literacy and awareness of marine biodiversity through innovative education and citizen science. It aims to highlight the importance of marine biodiversity and the threats it faces—such as invasive species and microplastics—within the educational community, by co-creating educational resources and communication strategies.
Building on the legacy of the VIRTUE project, BiodivOcean equips teachers, marine educators and students with tools to explore marine ecosystems and their conservation, combining inclusive hands-on and digital learning in both formal and non-formal settings.
The project uses the phenomenon of colonisation throw the ecological succession as a starting point for learning about the ocean. Through the use of VIRTUE racks, specially designed to observe this process, participants interact directly with marine life, encouraging active learning, critical thinking, and a deeper emotional connection with the ocean.
In addition to using the VIRTUE racks, the project will also offer training for educators and co-develop a wide range of educational materials. Through collaboration between educational institutions, scientific partners, and conservation organisations across Europe, the project will develop innovative learning resources, such as teaching units, digital tools, and a MOOC, adapted to different ages and learning environments. These materials will be implemented in schools and learning centres to promote experiential learning and citizen participation.
The ultimate goal of BiodivOcean is to build an international network of educators and students engaged in marine conservation, providing accessible and engaging tools to teach about ocean biodiversity and its threats, and inspiring new generations to connect with nature and the marine environment
Work Packages
The project is divided into the following work packages:
Meet the team
Björn Källström
Björn Källström is a marine biology researcher who did his PhD thesis on genetic diversity in small populations. Björ runs the Gothenburg Marine Biology Laboratory in Gothenburg, Sweden. Björn's research is about marine invasive alien species and biodiversity. Björn is also involved in outreach activities such as BiodivOcean. Björn has been involved in developing the VIRTUE method for many years.
Anna-Lisa Wrange
Anna-Lisa is a marine ecologist working at the University of Gothenburg in Sweden. She has a broad research background working on barnacle evolution, antifouling practices, aquaculture, invasive species and marine pollution in coastal areas. She is also passionate about science communication and outreach. She is the coordinator of the BiodivOcean project.
Juanita Zorrilla
She is a biologist who completed her PhD thesis on environmental education for conservation in Colombia's National Parks. Juanita serves as head of projects at SUBMON, leading Ocean Literacy initiatives at local, national, and international levels. Science communication is one of her main interests. She loves to create and promote synergies and networks among institutions and initiatives to support marine conservation, as exemplified by the BiodivOcean Project.
Adam Frederick
Adam Frederick is the Assistant Director for Education at Maryland Sea Grant College (MDSG) and holds an MS in Environmental Biology. In his 30th year with MDSG, he serves as a collaborator with the Institute of Marine and Environmental Technology (IMET) in Baltimore, MD. With colleagues at MDSG and IMET, Mr. Frederick develops interactive lessons for the MDSG website and is the co-editor of educational materials on the web including 5e instructional strategies and interactive lessons. Signature education programs include a variety of teacher professional learning programs that focus on enhancing project-based learning as a model for teaching science content. He collaborates on the BiodivOcean Project with partners in Sweden, Spain, and Norway that engages teachers and students in monitoring local marine biodiversity and sharing data within a network of partners and schools. More recently, the biodiversity monitoring has shifted to include investigations in isolating and observing microplastics in partnership with Dr. Jesser Meiller, Georgetown University. Mr. Frederick has been a collaborator on the VIRTUE Project since its inception in 1997 with Gothenburg University.
Jesse Meiller
Jesse Meiller is a marine ecologist and toxicologist, the Co-Director of the Environment & Sustainability Program, and a Teaching Professor in the Earth Commons Institute at Georgetown University in Washington, DC. She helped to start an environmental education not-for-profit organization, was awarded an American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) fellowship in Environmental Science Policy at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), then worked at the EPA as an expert in aquatic and invertebrate biology and toxicology, science policy, and regulatory issues. Throughout her career, she has researched and investigated various forms of pollution and contaminants in marine and aquatic environments and she has continuously focused on science, experiential, and environmental education at each institution. Currently, Jesse investigates microplastics in water, sediment, and biological communities and works to increase awareness and understanding about the environmental and health effects of pollution.
Mireia Corbera
Mireia is a biologist and project technician at SUBMON. She is an Erasmus Mundus graduate in Tropical Biodiversity and Ecosystems, which allowed her to develop ecological research on a wide variety of ecosystems, from Caribbean seagrass meadows to the Amazonian forest. She has always been involved in environmental education projects and deeply enjoys sharing her knowledge about nature with others. Her passion for the ocean and communication has guided her work in ocean literacy initiatives that bridge science and society and support more sustainable ways of understanding the natural world. She hopes that BiodivOcean will serve as a platform to keep inspiring stakeholders to connect and work together towards bringing more hands-on education to our communities.
Elina Hutton
Elina is a researcher at SALT with a PhD in social sciences in Arctic in the Changing World programme. She is an expert on the interplay between human activity, environmental change, and sustainable nature recreation. Her work centers on community resilience, visitor monitoring in protected areas, and knowledge-based management that supports both ecological integrity and local well-being. Elina specializes in nature interpretation in tourism and outdoor recreation, using research to show how deeper environmental knowledge strengthens human-nature connections. Her research has shown that nature interpretation and citizen science can help people better understand and care for the natural environments we share with the other-than-human world.