On September 10, it’s “Cast off!” for a special student research project: ten students from Germany, Lithuania, and Croatia will sail together with the Academic Sailing Club of Rostock (ASVzR) aboard the UNIVERSITAS to Klaipėda. During the journey, they will study hydrographic changes in the Baltic Sea and collect valuable environmental data.
A specially developed measurement device from the Leibniz Institute for Baltic Sea Research Warnemünde (IOW) will be used. Along the route, it records parameters such as water temperature, salinity, and oxygen content. This allows current changes in the Baltic Sea to be documented and long-term developments to be better understood.
The sailing trip originated from the students’ own initiative: they developed the project idea and submitted it to the 2nd Call for Student Projects. The 2nd Call focused on sports projects, with an emphasis on sustainable activities in coastal regions and on strengthening the EU-CONEXUS student community through team sports and cultural exchange. Selected from several proposals, the project is now being funded. It is an example of how students actively shape the European university alliance EU-CONEXUS with their own ideas.
Among the participants is Theobald Goltz, a student at the University of Rostock. Over the past few years, he has been actively involved in EU-CONEXUS, including as a long-standing member of the Student Board and most recently as its president.
Prof. Dr. Bettina Eichler-Löbermann, EU-CONEXUS project leader at the University of Rostock, explains:
"The sailing project combines practical research on the Baltic Sea with international and interdisciplinary collaboration. It is an example of how our students contribute to shaping the alliance with their own ideas while simultaneously making concrete research contributions."
After arriving in Klaipėda on September 14, the crew will participate in the Annual Science Conference (ICES), an important forum for marine research.
The data collected during the journey will be analyzed together with the IOW after returning to Rostock and incorporated into further research projects. We will keep you updated on the results the students bring back from their research project.
Through the EU-CONEXUS channel, exclusive insights into the voyage and life aboard the ship will also be shared in September.