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The Book of Abstracts compiles nearly seventy research proposals focused on the sustainable harnessing of the Blue Economy. The submissions are organized into four primary thematic areas: sustainable use of resources, climate action resilience, global connectivity and transportation, and blue economy and sustainable cities, with an additional focus on human resource capacity. The abstracts cover a diverse range of topics, including marine spatial planning, aquaculture development in Africa and Asia, the economic impacts of ocean acidification, and the role of scientific research in informing policy and investment. Geographically, the research spans global contexts with specific case studies from Kenya, Canada, Ireland, Bangladesh, Israel, China, and various Small Island Developing States (SIDS).

The document investigates the shift from institutional 'journals of record' to 'globital' memory, where digital tools allow individuals to archive and share personal narratives. It analyzes the role of mobile technology in documenting gendered experiences and human rights abuses, the use of new media by asylum seekers to challenge state narratives, and the capacity of video games and virtual museums to engage with historical atrocities and marginalized identities. Additionally, it discusses the impact of digital connectivity on local community memory in Australia and the influence of religious fundamentalist actors in international human rights spaces.

The author examines the tension between the Israeli legal system and religious nationalist settlers, highlighting the evacuation of the Amona outpost and the introduction of the 'regulation law' to legalize settlements on private Palestinian land. The text argues that these actions, supported by politicians like Binyamin Netanyahu and Naftali Bennett, challenge the rule of law and contradict international law, which views all civilian settlements in Palestinian territory as illegal. It further critiques the Trump administration's perceived lack of knowledge and weak stance on settlements and anti-Semitism during its early interactions with Netanyahu.

The research paper examines the likelihood of Donald Trump implementing his campaign promises and the resulting implications for Africa. It suggests that while Trump's focus is domestic, his approach to the Paris Climate Change Agreement, the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA), and US aid programmes could vary from total withdrawal to minimal impact due to institutional constraints and bipartisan support in Congress. The author concludes that Africa may be overlooked by the administration, making it necessary for African nations to be united in their engagement with the US and to diversify relations with other global players.

The author contends that the EU's approach to Turkey is overly focused on refugees and civil liberties, ignoring critical security dynamics in Syria. The text details Turkey's shifting relationship with the Assad regime, its conflict with the PKK, and the role of the Turkish 'deep state' in collaborating with various militants. It highlights the strategic importance of 'Operation Euphrates Shield' in closing IS communication lines and urges the EU to collaborate with Turkey on the liberation of Raqqa and the peace process with Kurdish separatists.

The document describes how nuclear weapons generate energy through fission (splitting heavy nuclei) and fusion (combining light nuclei). It details the transition from early 'gun-type' fission weapons to modern thermonuclear weapons that use a primary fission stage to trigger a secondary fusion stage. It also outlines the technical challenges of uranium enrichment and plutonium reprocessing, and provides estimated warhead counts for nuclear-armed states as of 2025.

The study utilizes a high-resolution model of Israel's water supply to determine that current desalination capacity significantly exceeds optimal levels, even under climate-change-induced recharge declines. It further finds that the 'Balanced Budget Water Economy' legislation imposes a welfare cost exceeding USD 100 million annually due to the gap between average and marginal costs.

The fact sheet advocates for a binding international treaty to regulate transnational corporations (TNCs), highlighting the inadequacy of voluntary corporate policies. It presents evidence of corporate-linked harms, including deforestation and forest fires in Indonesia caused by palm oil and paper companies, hazardous shipbreaking practices in Bangladesh, water rights violations by Mekorot in Palestine, and a chemical disaster in South Korea involving Reckitt Benckiser's humidifier sterilisers. The document emphasizes that TNCs often operate across jurisdictions to escape accountability, necessitating a legal framework supported by the UN Human Rights Council and various global governments.

The report analyzes armed conflict trends using Uppsala Conflict Data Program (UCDP) statistics, noting a recent upsurge in both the number of conflicts and battle casualties in 2014. While long-term trends since the 1950s show a decline in warfare deaths and a shift from interstate to internal conflicts, 2014 saw 40 conflicts and over 100,000 deaths. The authors attribute the recent rise to nationalism and religious extremism, while predicting that long-term democratization and development will eventually lead to the waning of war.

The document analyzes the scarcity of agricultural financing in developing countries, where risks like natural hazards and high transaction costs deter lenders. It categorizes financial needs into four groups: farmers/entrepreneurs, value chain actors, rural infrastructure, and R&D. The brief details a range of instruments from informal savings and micro-finance to complex value-chain and infrastructure financing. It emphasizes the government's role in risk management through credit guarantees and insurance subsidies, and the importance of flexible regulatory frameworks to attract investment while protecting savings.

The report contends that the UK's Trident nuclear weapons system poses an unacceptable risk to human civilisation, arguing that its use would be 'both genocidal and suicidal'. It highlights that a single Trident submarine carries enough firepower to cause over 10 million civilian casualties and trigger a 'nuclear winter' that could threaten 2 billion people with starvation. The authors argue that the probability of unintentional use is 'not negligible' and that the system's cost—estimated up to £100bn over its lifetime—diverts essential funds from health, welfare, and climate change mitigation. The document concludes that the UK should cancel Trident replacement, remove weapons from continuous patrol, and support an international treaty to ban nuclear weapons.

The report argues that the discharge of antibiotic active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) into the environment during production, primarily in China and India, accelerates the development of superbugs. It highlights a lack of transparency in pharmaceutical supply chains, linking major global companies like Pfizer, Teva, and McKesson to polluting factories. The document calls for the integration of environmental protection criteria into Good Manufacturing Practices (GMP) and greater corporate transparency to mitigate this global health threat.

The briefing examines the correlation between climate and political violence, noting that while conflicts cluster in dry and tropical zones, there is little evidence that climatic variability directly causes state-based violent conflict. Instead, the authors argue that climate change may increase conflict risk indirectly through three primary causal mechanisms: forced migration, food insecurity, and economic shocks. These effects are not universal but depend on 'scope conditions' such as poverty, poor governance, and political instability. The document concludes that the security challenges posed by climate change are essentially development challenges, and that investing in adaptation and good governance is critical to preventing a growing gap between stable, wealthy societies and those caught in a poverty and instability trap.

The document is a collection of articles examining 'Invisible Walls and Barriers' to communication. It analyzes the use of exclusionary narratives in Spanish populism, the ethical challenges of academic research in Brazilian favelas, the sustainability of community media in Mexico, and the severe political and religious restrictions on media in Afghanistan. It also discusses the impact of austerity on European press freedom, the boundaries of legitimate discourse in Israel, and the role of indigenous community media in Canada's reconciliation process. Finally, it reflects on the paradoxical nature of technological development driven by military interests.

The author advocates for the use of federalism as a long-term political framework to manage ethnically divided states, arguing that the international community can and should impose such structures even without the initial volition of local elites. Using Bosnia and Herzegovina as a primary example, the text contrasts federalism with the historical approach of creating ethnically homogeneous nation-states through population transfers. The author suggests that a federal solution, involving power-sharing among moderate elites and international oversight, could be applied to conflicts in Israel/Palestine and Ukraine, provided there is sufficient international political will and a commitment to transitional justice.

The document examines the ideological shift within European Green parties regarding the use of force, moving from 1980s antimilitarism and anti-nuclear activism toward a complex debate between strict pacifism and humanitarian interventionism based on international law.

The document defines a Green foreign policy as a holistic approach that prioritizes human rights, democracy, and environmental sustainability over narrow economic interests. It advocates for the reform of international organizations like the UN and the Bretton Woods Institutions to increase transparency and representation for the Global South. The framework emphasizes the strengthening of international law, specifically the International Criminal Court, and supports restrictive weapons export policies and UN-mandated military interventions. It also calls for a development agenda that links environmental sustainability with social inclusion and conflict prevention through the 'Responsibilities to Protect' (R2P) framework.

The document examines the challenges European Green parties face in reconciling non-violence with the need to protect human rights in conflict zones. It argues for a shift in EU foreign policy from reactive crisis management to a proactive, multilateral approach that prioritizes ecological justice, nuclear disarmament, and the empowerment of civil society. Specific analyses cover the conflicts in Ukraine, Syria, and the Maghreb, as well as the strategic importance of South East Asia.

The author contends that while concerns about double standards in terrorism and the targeting of Islam by publications like Charlie Hebdo are legitimate, the solution lies in upholding liberal values and the rule of law. The text argues that Islamic fanaticism fuels anti-immigrant bigotry and that the 'Je Suis Charlie' movement represented a genuine expression of solidarity and a defense of civil liberties. It concludes that the state must protect citizens from terrorism without succumbing to authoritarian 'national security state' measures, emphasizing the need for minority participation and transparency.

The document examines the strategic realignment in the Eastern Mediterranean involving the Republic of Cyprus (RoC), Israel, and Turkey. It argues that while the RoC, Israel, and Greece have formed a new security bloc to balance Turkey's naval ambitions, a structural need to contain Iranian influence is driving a rapprochement between Israel and Turkey. This shift is further incentivized by commercial imperatives, as the discovery of Egypt's Zohr gas field makes Turkey a more viable export market for Israeli natural gas. The author contends that these twin dynamics—the Turkey-Israel rapprochement and the RoC-Israel-Greece security formation—provide a new balance of incentives and guarantees that could facilitate a resolution to the Cyprus conflict.