Our biannual project meeting was arranged in Trondheim 14-15th November in combination with the SIG Seaweed conference 15-16th November.
During the meeting, the activities and results obtained under the first year of the SusKelpFood project were summarized. Important inputs from the industrial partners of the project were also given, mostly related to the difficulties encountered this year during the commercial production for conserving large volumes of cultivated kelp biomass. The main topics discussed included the need to develop robust and reliable protocols for the fermentation of kelp. These valuable inputs are important to keep our research activities in line with the needs of the developing kelp farming industry and will be followed up over the coming weeks to design the experimental plans for next year.
As part of the meeting, a 3-hours workshop focusing on dynamic decision making and responsible research and innovation (RRI) was arranged by Céline Rebours (leader of work package 5 on sustainability). The aim of this workshop was to take a step back from our activities to reassess the common understanding of the goals and priorities within the SusKelpFood project, as seen from the perspective of collaborating researchers and industrial partners. Group work sessions gave rise to dynamic discussions regarding priorities and definition of our criteria of success. The information from this workshop was collected by Céline and will be followed up during future group sessions focusing on RRI principles to ensure our project answers environmental and societal sustainability aspects.
Researcher and co-project leader Arne Duinker (IMR), PhD candidate Randi Sund (Nofima/DTU), researcher Bjørn Tore Nystrand (Møreforsking) and Kim Kristensen (Arctic Seaweed) listing categories and criteria of success for the SusKelpFood project. (Photo: Sanna Matsson)
Céline Rebours (Møreforsking) collecting the data obtained under group discussions. (Photo: Pierrick Stévant)
Following the successful project meeting, many of the project participants stayed for additional inputs from the 7th SIG (special interest group) Seaweed Conference. This annual conference brings together researchers and private stakeholders from Norway and abroad to provide insight into academic research and industrial developments on a broad range of topics related to seaweeds, including sustainability, industrial kelp cultivation, and processing and uses of seaweed biomass in food and feed applications. Both Pierrick Stévant (project leader, Møreforsking) and Dagbjørn Skipnes (Nofima) presented results from the SusKelpFood project.
Project leader Pierrick Stévant (Møreforsking) presenting results from SusKelpFood. (Photo: Sanna Matsson)
