Training, research and dissemination are the key elements of this new Chair, which is the result of the collaboration between UCAM Universidad Católica San Antonio de Murcia and the Spanish Maritime Institute (IME). “There is no better place than a university, cradle of knowledge and research, to work on all the areas in which we can give a contribution and develop policies, guidelines and strategies that make it possible to have a more sustainable planet and to make our sea better”, points out Manuel Carlos Ruiz, vice-chancellor of Quality and Academic Organisation of the university, and member of the Advisory Council of the Chair. Its philosophy is in the line of the UN 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and it aims at doing its part to achieve a more sustainable maritime environment, more adapted to the present time.

To achieve its objective, the Chair can count on outstanding professionals of the maritime field, committed to teaching, research, administration and the business environment, who are part of the Advisory Council of the Chair, in charge of boosting and developing it. Under the guidance of Mercedes Pardo, director of IME.

Through her, various courses, seminars and master’s degrees will be taught, “at a training level on the maritime world, and on what we are working on to be implemented during the 2019-2020 academic year”, points out Manuel Carlos Ruiz. It must be noted that this training will be also taught with an online methodology, thus allowing to reach the greatest possible number of persons, both at a national and at an international level. 

With regards to research, which also is the main focus of this collaboration, we will work on different areas through various groups, that will be complemented with the ones that the University already has in other campuses, and that will be able to collaborate in a cross-cutting manner. One of the topics that must be kept into account for this new Chair is the problem of Mar Menor sea. “It is something we have been thinking about ever since we had the idea for this Chair, especially now that we have faced tremendously daunting situations, for which we are conscious of the fact that we all have to fight to save this lagoon that is very sensitive and so significant for this Region. From the Chair, we are already working so that one of its dissemination activities can be focused on Mar Menor sea”, assures the member of the Advisory Council of the Chair.   

And dissemination stands next to training and research. For this reason, the Chair will promote conferences and congresses to analyse the situation in the field and provide innovations in this respect by involving fields such as the economic, tourist and environmental ones. Furthermore, the Chair is already working on the creation of a scientific committee that can help the administrations, both in the regional and national field.

New bachelor’s degree

Furthermore, the implementation of the Bachelor’s Degree in Nautical Science and Maritime Transportation is being promoted, and it will be a stimulus to boost and develop all those areas that strongly stand out due to their importance at an economic level.