The global crisis of the oceans, which has been a tangible and palpable problem in other parts of the world for many years, is increasingly becoming an issue in this country as well. The natural and technical sciences, in particular, have contributed to raising societal awareness about the state of the world's oceans in large-scale research initiatives. However, expert reports and scenarios alone do not bring about radical social action. For this, cooperation between the large disciplinary groups of the natural and technical sciences on the one hand, and the social sciences on the other, must be intensified.

This cooperation needs structural support and a strategically sustainable implementation in research and education. Against the backdrop of the ongoing UN Decade of Oceans (2021-2030), an interdisciplinary marine "scoping workshop" took place at Herrenhausen Palace in Hannover from 7 until 9 June 2023. The exchange, which was funded by the VW Foundation, aimed to develop cross-disciplinary transformative research approaches for the protection and sustainable use of the ocean. With the format of the "Scoping Workshop", the VW Foundation promotes events for scientists who are thinking beyond their current research about the future of their research field and the practical implementation of research results.

30 established marine scientists exchanged ideas on three main topics (interdisciplinary empirical data acquisition, marine science policy and collaborative research) with the aim of raising the profile of German marine research. Dr. Grit Martinez represented Ecologic Institute in this exchange and presented her experiences from interdisciplinary marine collaboration in the EU research project RISC-KIT. As a follow-up to the workshop, a position paper is being developed that will project strategies and development paths for future interdisciplinary marine collaboration and put them up for discussion.