The UN DOSSD 2021-2030 will strengthen the international cooperation and support the decision-makers and ocean managers’ actions and will generate renewed dialogue between the different communities working across the ocean science-policy interface, fostering interdisciplinary research among scientific groups, connecting managers and decision-makers with the academia, and involving designers and innovators in the development of applied ocean technology.

This will require the engagement of many different stakeholders (scientists, governments, academics, policy makers, business, industry and civil society) to create new ideas, solutions, partnerships and applications. Successful completion of this programme will prepare the student for a leadership role in this interdisciplinary intersectoral framework at all levels of government from local to global.

Employers in the public and private sectors need people who have the ability to think through complex issues, who can analyse the marine environment through field measurements and modelling, which are capable of managing projects and programmes, and have well developed leadership and personal skills.

The MER Consortium supports career development from the very first moment in which a student is enrolled:

  • A Careers’ prospect (PDF) is provided in the MER Consortium website with guidelines, links and references to orientate the student about potential careers and professional prospects; interesting links for job seeking; and examples of real published job offers to let them know which are the requisites and conditions for different employment opportunities in the real world.
  • The tutor and the supervisor (see Section 3.1) will also advise each student on potential careers and opportunities.

MER Consortium Graduates’ Job Follow Up Survey

The MER Consortium Graduates’ Job Follow Up Survey on-line survey about employability was launched in summer 2019 as a part of the MER2030 EMJMD programme activities. It is intended to be repeated every second year until the end of the MER2030 EMJMD programme.

The outputs will be helpful to improve our support for career prospects and employability of the MER Consortium graduates. It aims at identifying needs, opportunities and improvement areas in the Joint Programme and its management in order to give our best support to the past, present and future graduates to develop a professional career and get ad hoc employments.

Through this survey we want to know, for instance: (1) suitability of their competences at the time they completed the MER MSc; (2) approach used in seeking employment; (3) rate the relevance of specific topics, subjects or knowledge areas for a career in ocean science; (4) reasons influencing their decision to accept their first job as postgraduate; (5) descriptors of their current job; (6) work values for a person’s feeling of satisfaction in their current job; and (7) career related experience and employment situation