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This document describes the work carried out by the EUROqCHARM partners ILVO, NIVA and SALT in order to be compliant with WP5, Task 5.1 to develop and launch a brand identity, a dedicated multilingual website and social media to inform stakeholders on the progress of the project. The main objective of Deliverable 5.1 is to report on activities undertaken to effectively share information and make available research results, guidelines and products which will be developed throughout the lifetime of the project. This is of great importance for keeping stakeholders up to date on events and progress. The EUROqCHARM website will provide general and detailed technical information on the project progress, as well as regular updates about events and open dialogue forums between project partners and stakeholder representatives. EUROqCHARM has a multi-stakeholder approach at its core, therefore the target audiences cover a wide range of stakeholders including representatives from research, academia, NGOs, industries, standardisation and policy making bodies (including intergovernmental bodies), expert working groups and networks, end users and civil society. The EUROqCHARM website is public and was launched on the 25th February 2021. The website will be actively maintained and updated throughout the duration of the project’s life. A comprehensive overview of the website, its content and the strategy for its maintenance are provided in Section 3. The two other important components of the EUROqCHARM project are its brand identity (Section 2) and social media strategy (Section 4). EUROqCHARM will also collect statistics related to the research of the project (Section 5).

Communication, dissemination and networking is an integral component of the EUROqCHARM project. A Communication and Dissemination Strategy was developed by the Communication and Coordination Committee. This forms the foundations of EUROqCHARM’s work surrounding communicating within and outside of the project, dissemination and networking. All of the activities surrounding dissemination and networking fall under Work Package 5 – Knowledge transfer and dissemination The first-year report on communication, dissemination and networking provides an overview of all the dissemination, communication and networking activities carried out by the project partners during the first year of the project. It outlines the communication and dissemination framework and presents the tools and activities that were undertaken to accomplish the set objectives. The document is subdivided into 3 sections: The first section on “Communication and Dissemination Framework” provides relevant background information about the project and the role of communication and dissemination in achieving the project goals. This includes a description of the targeted audience and the project organs and groups that are most relevant. The second section on “Communication, Dissemination and Networking Activities” provides a report, structured following the Communication Strategy and Dissemination Plan, on the activities carried out during the first project year. This chapter provides information on how the communication and dissemination is organised within the project, and what procedures are in place to achieve a continued and quality-controlled operation. Additionally, the plan for activities in the different areas during the second project year is provided. The concluding section highlights the major achievements during the first project year and provides a summary of the activities planned for the following year. The structure of this deliverable will be maintained across the analogous deliverables to be prepared at the end of the second and third year of the project. These three yearly reports together with Deliverable 5.1 on the “Launch and Management of Dedicated Website and Social Media” conform the reporting deliverables due for WP5. Deliverable 5.1 includes, as an annex, the working version of the “Communication Strategy and Dissemination Plan”. Deliverable 5.1 thus provides detailed information that is relevant for readers of the present document that wish to deepen their understanding on some of the elements referred here.

Presentation about Dissemination in EUROqCHARM, presented at the project's second annual meeting held in September 2022.

A systematic review of research on marine macrolitter densities in the past five years (2015–2020) revealed considerable knowledge gaps in the field. Nearly half he reviewed studies were on stranded litter. Data are scarce from many of the regions estimated to mismanage the largest amounts of plastic waste. In regions where data are available these are typically from coastal areas with few data from the high and deep seas; 57% and 87% of studies on pelagic and seafloor litter, respectively, took place within 100 km from shore. Data on pelagic litter are generally constrained to the sea surface and only two of 30 pelagic studies have measured macrolitter deeper in the water column. Reported litter densities are generally highest for stranded litter, although seafloor litter densities by weight are high in some areas. Reported densities of floating litter are several orders of magnitude lower. However, a lack of standardisation of methods makes it difficult both to assess and to compare litter densities within and across the different environmental compartments in time and space. The review illustrates a great need for survey design development within the field of macroplastics and point to some long-established considerations from ecological research pertaining to independence of data points, spatial autocorrelation, sampling scale, and plot size and shape which are highly relevant also for marine litter research. These considerations are relevant both for global standardisation efforts and for independent studies. Furthermore, the knowledge gaps created by geographic and compartment biases in research needs to be addressed to identify further research needs, validate models and inform policy.