ZMT - Leibniz Zentrum für Marine Tropenforschung

A major change in how projects are designed, conducted, and disseminated is envisioned for the UN Ocean Decade. Addressing complex challenges requires participatory approaches that include diverse perspectives, knowledge, and experience. Bringing together transdisciplinary teams and mediating between diverse actors is key to achieving sustainable development goals (SDGs). Co-Design is a collaborative process that brings together researchers, stakeholders, and knowledge holders to co-create knowledge and jointly develop solutions that are scientifically robust, socially relevant, and impactful. ZMT responds to the need for competencies in co-design and impact planning by providing a variety of trainings and guidances:

• ZMT developed a practical Co-Design Guide for research projects for the MeerWissen Initiative (Ferse et al 2021). Two guidance on impact planning and appraisal were developed through the Lena Shape Project (Ferse and Pfeifer, 2024a, Ferse and Pfeifer, 2024b).
• In 2022, ZMT launched its first training course on co-design for African participants together with IOC/UNESCO - “Co-Design for the Ocean Decade”. It provided participants with knowledge and tools to co-design a transdisciplinary research project and is running on a recurring basis since 2024. The curriculum and learning content have been improved based on participant feedback and experience (Zhang et al. 2024).
• Two advanced IOC trainings for participants from the Caribbean (2024) and Africa (2025) were designed to share co-design capacities and mentor participants to further develop proposals for Ocean Decade Actions.
• In August 2025, the WIOMSA-Scalable course “Building Bridges between Science, Policy, and Society” will take place in Cape Town, South Africa. In this 5-day, in-person course, participants from the Western Indian Ocean region bring their own projects and develop them together with co-design experts. (Course information)
• In collaboration with various partners and supported by the International Ocean Institute (IOI), ZMT regularly hosts the “Monsoon School” on Co-Design and Impact (2022, 2023, 2025). (Course information)

Target groups vary across courses and include a wide variety of backgrounds, including Master’s students, postdoctoral scientists, early-career ocean professionals (ECOPs), local policy makers, NGO managers, and community representatives. Participants explore project co-design through transdisciplinary collaboration, stakeholder engagement, conflict resolution, and practical application of new tools and concepts in real-world case studies of their choice. Through these trainings, ZMT supports capacity development at individual, organizational, and societal levels, contributing to the Ocean Decade’s goals of sharing capacities for societal impact and advancing equity in research partnerships and projects.