CoMaDe
The CoMaDe (Coastal and Marine Development through collaboration and interdisciplinary learning) project aims to raise awareness about the sustainability challenges of the coastal areas of the Baltic Sea and build knowledge on how to tackle them with interdisciplinary measures.
This project was born from the knowledge and know-how gathered from two fruitful editions of the summer school 'Science and Sail' in Lithuania. CoMaDe aims to grow the summer/winter schools with the knowledge gained to increase the input by adding partners from Latvia, Poland, Lithuania and Sweden.
The work for the 1,5 year long project started in September 2025. The first winter school, scheduled for February 2026, will take place at Hel Marine Station in collaboration with our partner, Gdańsk University. This will be followed by a summer school in August 2026, hosted in Klaipėda and Liepāja with our partners Klaipėda University and Riga Technical University, Campus Liepāja. The final winter school will be held in January 2027 in Visby at Uppsala University’s Campus Gotland. The individual events are accompanied by online sessions during which students will receive an introduction to the region’s sustainability challenges and introduced measures to prepare for their time on site during an event.
This project strives to contribute to building networks and forming a long-lasting bond between universities, researchers, educators and students in the Baltic Sea Region. It aims to deepen students' understanding of sustainability challenges along the Baltic Sea coastline and explore local strategies to counteract those.
The events being offered as a part of the project welcome bachelor, master and PhD students completing their studies at a BUP participating university to take part.
Each summer and winter school will host a new cohort of students, ultimately allowing a minimum of 90 students and 12 PhD students to participate in the project.
Photo: Pontus Ambros
Winter school Science by the Coast
This winter school will be held in collaboration with the University of Gdansk at Hel Marine Station and focus on coastal and marine development in the Baltic Sea Region. The event will take place from 2-6 February 2026.
Participants will explore local strategies to address challenges along the Baltic Sea coastline and gain insights they can apply in their home countries. Additionally, students will enhance their research skills, while PhD students will gain valuable experience supervising student projects.
The winter school will consist of workshops, excursions, and lectures exploring the following topics:
Introduction to the Hel Peninsula and the Puck Bay
Societal Development vs. Biodiversity
Environmental aspects of area management
Socio-economic aspects of area management
Offshore activities – Marine Spatial Planning
Read more about the event on the winter school Science by the Coast event page.
Photo: Krzysztof Kowalik
Project partners
The CoMaDe project is jointly organised by the following BUP partners:
- Uppsala University (Sweden)
- University of Gdansk (Poland)
- Klaipeda University (Lithiania)
- Riga Technical University (Latvia)
Questions and more information
For questions and more information regarding this project in general, please contact Project coordinators Pontus Ambros or Lara Kerschl via pontus.ambros@balticuniv.uu.se and lara.kerschl@balticuniv.uu.se.
