Syke will organise the 14th Baltic Sea Science Congress

Finnish Environment Institute (Syke) and Finnish Meteorological Institute (FMI) will organize the 14th Baltic Sea Science Congress (BSSC) in 2023. This serie of congresses have been organised since 1996.

BSSC2023 will take place in the scenic harbour in the city center of Helsinki. We are expecting some 400 participants from about 15 countries.

The Venue of the Congress is Marina Congress Center. The event is funded by the Finnish Ministry for Foreign Affairs and supervised by the Prime Minister’s Office. BSSC2023 is also a part of Finnish Presidency program (2023–2024) of the Council of the Baltic Sea States (CBSS).

The purpose of the Congress is to bring together scientists working on issues related to the Baltic Sea Region to present the most recent research and to discuss status, trends and the future of the Baltic Sea as well as future research needs. The topics cover a wide range starting from basic naturla sciences ending up to socioecenomics. We also invite the sharing of research from other coastal seas that is of general relevance to the topic of the Congress.

The specific focus of the BSSC 2023 is on the UN Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development. The topics of the scientifc sessions have been chose accordingly. The Congress is a part of the Finnish National Implementation Plan for the UN Decade of Ocean.

The congress includes:

A 5 day full scientific program including top-level keynote talks from Baltic Sea community and outside of it.

There will be a high-level Opening session with top-level speakers. An open panel discussion with political decision-makers, leading researchers and media representatives will be held. A press conference takes place in connection with the Opening session, for which background documents are prepared about BSSC's goals and results. Interviews of the speakers will take place.

The Finnish Research Vessel Aranda will be visited by the Congress participants. The facilities of Aranda will be introduced by local experts.

An open session for the public, where key speakers from the Decade of Ocean Science process have been invited to introduce the main goals of the decade. Additionally there will be discussions on the state of the Baltic Sea.

The Congress will end up with summary sessions. The main results of the BSSC2023 will be put together by the key scientists.