26 August 2024
We congratulate Alessandra Giorgetti, Head of the National Oceanographic Data Centre at the OGS, on her appointment as a member of the EU Member States Expert Group on Ocean Observation. The Ministry of University and Research of Italy selected Giorgetti for this role because of her longstanding commitment and extensive experience in marine data management.
Since this year, the European Commission (EC) has been working to develop a common EU approach to planning observation activities. The aim is to collect data once and use them for many purposes. On this basis, an expert group has been set up to advise the Commission. The experts act as contact points for all government agencies in their countries involved in ocean observation.
"I am honoured by this nomination” says Giorgetti and continues “I will enthusiastically participate in the activities of this group, which brings together experts with whom I have worked successfully for decades to coordinate the management of marine data and metadata, as well as their transparency and accessibility. In order to fulfil this task, I will exchange views with the Italian scientific community involved in ocean observation, and I greatly value their opinions".
Giorgetti is a senior expert in marine data management. For nine years she has been deputy director of the OGS’ Oceanography Section and since 2004 she has led its Oceanographic Data Centre: the Italian hub of the UNESCO network of national oceanographic data centres. She is the national delegate for the International Oceanographic Data and Information Exchange System of UNESCO's Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission. Her activities focus on the promotion of Open Science and the development of practises and tools that enable free and easy access to validated data and products for their visualisation and analysis.
Thirty-two experts from 17 countries took part in the first hybrid meeting of the Ocean Observation Group, which was held in Brussels on 25 June. The EC presented the results of a public consultation which highlighted the obstacles to effective monitoring. These include fragmented and opaque planning, inadequate allocation of responsibilities and resources, slow innovation, uncertain funding, uneven distribution of effort and lack of standardised operating procedures. There is also broad agreement that action is needed at EU level to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of ocean observation, starting with the development of a common digital platform. The next meeting is scheduled for December this year.
