The EU’s Nature Restoration Regulation requires restoration measures on at least 20 per cent of the EU’s land and sea areas by 2030, and Member States had to submit their draft national restoration plans by 1 September 2026. Delivering those plans takes people who can plan, carry out and finance restoration projects, and capacity is limited: in the European Commission’s blue economy skills survey, 58 per cent of respondents found it hard to attract and retain talent. The Academy was built so that early-career professionals could practise restoration with the people who do it.
What was the Nature Restoration Academy?
The Academy is a free training programme in marine and freshwater restoration for students and early-career professionals, hosted by SUBMARINER Network and funded by EIT Water, with support from the Poul Due Jensen Foundation (Grundfos Foundation | PDJF). It began with an online session on 6 October, which 183 people registered for and 101 joined live from 39 countries, including applicants without a place in Berlin. You can read about the call in our earlier article on the Academy.
Day one: marine habitats and policy
Speakers from nine organisations led the two days, and each was asked to split their slot between a short lecture and an interactive part, so more than six of the 13 programme hours were hands-on. Jonne Kotta of the University of Tartu opened with how nature-based solutions can restore marine habitats. Andreu Dalmau Elorza of SUBMON then showed how seagrass meadows are restored together with local communities, and Nadja Ziebarth of the Kompetenzzentrum Natürlicher Klimaschutz (KNK) explained how Germany funds nature-based solutions through its national action plan. The day ended with the MPA Game, run by the MPA Community Network, in which participants played sea users and authorities negotiating a marine protected area.
Day two: rivers, reefs, offshore wind and business
The second day started with Giulia Carboni of CINEA and Natascha Jaspert on gender and skills in blue careers. Mieke Eggermont and Molly Hughes of Ghent University presented native oyster reef restoration in the Belgian North Sea, Eva Strothotte of F&E GmbH discussed restoration in offshore wind parks, and Mikołaj Piniewski of the Warsaw University of Life Sciences (SGGW) showed how models assess nature-based solutions across a whole river catchment. Kevin Kessler of BRYCK Startup Alliance closed the programme, and in the final workshop teams turned a restoration idea into a business model and pitched it.
How the two days went
Of the 40 selected participants, 38 attended the first day and 36 the second, and those who attended both days received a certificate. Participants rated the Academy 4.4 out of 5 overall and valued the hands-on parts most, from the MPA Game to the case work and group exercises. Several praised a well-built programme and a warm, welcoming atmosphere. The days made clear that “land and sea are one connected system”.
Learn more from the lectures
Eight lectures recorded during the Academy are being added to Integrated Ocean Planning: Marine Protected Areas, Multi-Use and Business Pathways, Course 4 of the Blue Bio Techpreneurs MOOC on FutureLearn, so anyone who joins the free course can follow them. Enrol in the MOOC and watch for the new materials.
Build your own academy
We have also written up how the Academy was built, from the first idea to keeping the knowledge in use after the event. The Replication Playbook sets out ten steps, a timeline and checklist, and the lessons we learned, for anyone who runs training or capacity building, whether in a university, a public body, an NGO or an EU project.
