The University of Cantabria (UC) is participating, together with the universities of Bologna (Italy) and Coimbra (Portugal), as well as the company Telefónica Educación Digital (TED) as a technological partner, in the European project «TRASMARES: Specialized Training on Applied Tools for Sustainable Marine Ecosystems». The Cantabrian group is led by the researcher José Antonio Juanes de la Peña from the Institute of Environmental Hydraulics (IHCantabria), in collaboration with the staff of the UC’s Training Center for New Technologies (CeFoNT).

With funding for the UC of 78,221 euros, the project started in September 2019. It will run until summer 2022 within the framework of the European Union’s Erasmus+ program, managed in our country by the Spanish Service for the Internationalization of Education (SEPIE), Ministry of Universities.

According to José Antonio Juanes, the objective of TRASMARES is to generate a «mini-certificate» of four MOOC courses aimed at the continuous training of professionals, researchers, and what is known as vocational students on the subject of sustainability in marine ecosystems. This type of training is incorporated into virtual teaching, which has acquired so much relevance in recent months, «in a specific area that is not addressed in any type of formal teaching, being something complementary and transversal».

Conservation, marine planning, risks, and climate change are some of the topics included in the teaching plan of this certificate or degree that is expected to be certified by the three academic entities involved, «all of them of recognized prestige». The company TED, for its part, provides the technological means by hosting the courses on the Miriada-X platform, in close collaboration with the staff of the CeFoNT of the University of Cantabria.

About IHCantabria

IHCantabria is a joint research center resulting from the collaboration between the University of Cantabria and the Government of Cantabria. It carries out an enormous amount of research, technology transfer, and training of specialists, placing it among the national and international elite of scientific and technological knowledge related to the water cycle in its various facets.

Formed by more than 140 researchers, the institute has among its most innovative lines of research the study of maritime climate, climate risks in coastal areas, the role of coastal ecosystems as coastal protection, and the development of solutions for adaptation to climate change on the coast based on the conservation and restoration of natural ecosystems.