Bringing Ocean to the Heart of the City

As MeteOcean, we had the pleasure of participating in the World Ocean Day celebrations in our city, Genoa. It was an experience that reminded us exactly why we do what we do. We set up a booth which brought the waves into Piazza de Ferrari, and we invited visitors of all ages to explore one of the cornerstones of coastal engineering: How coastal protection structures work, and how different types of those offer different levels of effectiveness in defending our shorelines.

Through hands-on experiments and live demonstrations, we aimed to make the complex ocean science visual, tangible, and fun. Adults paused to ask questions to get some more technical insights, families gathered around us with curiosity. However, what filled us with the greatest sense of pride was the reaction of the children. Watching young people light up with curiosity and genuinely engaging with the science behind the waves and the structures we build to work with them was a powerful outreach.

Inspiring the next generation of marine scientists, engineers, and ocean advocates is just as meaningful to us as the research we publish. World Ocean Day is a global celebration, but this year, it was also a deeply local and personal one for us. We look forward to many more opportunities to bring our science out of the lab and into the community, because the ocean belongs to all of us.