The second webinar in the Connecting People and Ocean series, organized by the Ocean Decade Coordination Office (DCO) on Challenge 10 – Restoring Society’s Relationship with the Ocean – will take place on 6 May 2025.

Launched in February 2025, the series aims to deepen our understanding of the multidisciplinary nature of ocean literacy, while fostering new partnerships, initiatives, and activities aligned with the objectives of the Ocean Decade—particularly those related to Challenge 10.

This session will feature two distinguished speakers from the DCO. Building on themes from the first webinar—such as mental maps and emotional connection with the ocean—they will explore how philosophy and cognitive science can inform our relationship with the ocean. The discussion will also highlight alternative ways of relating to the sea, including the worldview of the Orang Laut (Sea People), often described as sea gypsies or nomads.

Together, our speakers will cross disciplinary perspectives to help us reflect on how we might “restore society’s relationship with the ocean”—by recognizing our own cultural frameworks as well as those of others, and by drawing inspiration to reimagine how we engage with the ocean.

Speakers

Roberto Casati is Director of the Institut Nicod (CNRS/EHESS) and a specialist in spatial cognition, perception, and navigation. He is the author of Philosophie de l’océan (PUF, 2022) and teaches the interdisciplinary course Global Change: Climate, Ocean and Behavior (EHESS/ENS). He contributes to several EU-funded projects, including Mediverseaty (on biodiversity perception) and BiOcean5D (on European coastlines), and has co-authored policy briefs such as the Plankton Manifesto, the Venice Declaration on Sea Literacy, and Dynamic Oceans, Dynamic Solutions.

Jarina Mohd Jani is a researcher at the Faculty of Science and Marine Environment, Universiti Malaysia Terengganu. A member of the Biodiversity Conservation and Management Programme, her work examines the interactions between society and nature. Her current projects focus on human–sea turtle interactions in the South China Sea and natural resource-based livelihoods in the Setiu Wetlands.