The European elections are just over a week away. Some 373 million voters in the 27 member states will be able to decide who will sit in the European Parliament until 2029. An election that will set the course in many respects – including for European research, as Helmholtz President Otmar D. Wiestler explains in the Point of View. Also: Helmholtz was represented at re:publica, Europe‘s largest digital conference. Artificial intelligence in all its forms was one of the dominant topics. Also: A new study shows why jellyfish are benefiting from climate change and spreading further north.

In the future, jellyfish and other gelatinous zooplankton could be some of the few organism groups to benefit from climate change. As numerous studies have confirmed, the transparent cnidarians, ctenophores and pelagic tunicates thrive on rising water temperatures, but also on nutrient contamination and overfishing. When combined, these factors could produce a major shift in the ocean – from a productive, fish-dominated food chain to a far less productive ocean full of jellyfish. As such, many researchers are already warning of an impending ‘ocean jellification’, i.e., a worldwide rise in jellyfish populations. 

Despite their importance for all marine organisms, the transparent gelatinous organisms are often forgotten or neglected in ecological studies and model-based simulations. The study just released by Dmitrii Pantiukhin and his team closes an important gap in our knowledge, while also concentrating on a hotspot for climate change. “Of all the oceans, the Arctic Ocean is warming the fastest,” says the study’s first author. “In addition, roughly ten percent of global fishing yields come from the Arctic. As such, the High North is the ideal site for our research.”

These results clearly show how dramatically climate change could affect the ecosystems of the Arctic Ocean. “The projected expansion of the jellyfish habitats could have tremendous, cascading impacts on the entire food chain,” says AWI expert Dmitrii Pantiukhin. One question that remains open is how fish stocks in the Arctic would be affected by a jellyfish expansion. “There are many indications that key Arctic fish species like the polar cod, whose larvae and eggs are frequently eaten by jellyfish, will feel the pressure even more,” says ARJEL Group Leader Charlotte Havermans. “Therefore, our study offers an important basis for further research in this field. And management plans in the fishing sector urgently need to bear in mind this dynamic development in order to avoid the collapse of commercially exploited stocks but manage them sustainably.”

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Picture: Scyphozoan Cyanea capillata (Photo: Joan J. Soto-Angel)

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Hanna Joerss is an environmental chemist and deputy head of the Department for Organic Environmental Chemistry at the Helmholtz-Zentrum Hereon. Photo: Helmholtz-Zentrum Hereon

It is exciting to take environmental samples in the most remote regions of the world to better understand the transport and behavior of organic pollutants. To do this, we go on research cruises and then analyze samples such as seawater from a depth of 3,000 meters, snow from the North Pole or ice cores from the Antarctic in the laboratory. I am particularly interested in the results for emerging pollutants on which little is known. Our work can provide initial data on the long-range transport of these substances, which is important for possible international regulation.

I would start a project on the role of certain chemicals for the triple planetary crisis – climate change, pollution and biodiversity loss. The three aspects are often considered individually at a scientific and political level, but not tackled jointly. It would be exciting to work with researchers from a wide range of disciplines in a case study region to understand links and identify options for action. An important component of the project would be a professional science communication team that involves politics and society from the beginning.

I would like to have dinner with Jutta Paulus, who is a Member of the European Parliament and an expert on chemicals policy. I would be very interested in how chemicals legislation comes about, how the various interest groups act and how we as researchers can best contribute.

The major issues of our time for science, the economy and society do not stop at borders – and it is of the utmost importance to tackle them together and at European level. Now more than ever.

In competition with other regions of the world and in the face of such immense challenges as climate change or the energy transition, no EU member state can succeed alone. In 21st century Europe, we should work together to advance the European project and not fall into the trap of prioritizing national interests.

Research can significantly contribute to the European project. Dedicated research collaborations across borders enable Europe to achieve its ambitious goals in areas such as health, energy, transport, environment, climate or digital transformation. There are enormous opportunities here.

In order to seize these opportunities, we need a democratic, effective and future-oriented European Parliament that is willing and able to act – and the same naturally applies to the European Commission and the Council, in which the Member States are represented. 

A large part of our legislation originates at European level. Thus, the European Parliament negotiates and co-decides on numerous research-related topics – including, for example, the European Health Data Space, new genomic techniques in plant breeding and the handling of Artificial Intelligence.

The European Parliament has been an important advocate for research in recent years repeatedly preventing the budget of Horizon Europe, the EU’s framework program for research and innovation, from being cut.

Horizon Europe promotes the European and international research cooperation that is so crucially important for finding answers to our complex questions. Among other things, the program brings together project partners with different expertise and methods from all over Europe and beyond. Only in this exchange can social and technological development be fostered.

Should extreme right-wing voices become louder in the European Parliament, this could also have a negative impact on research cooperation. And if the EU were to be less open, the attractiveness of Europe as a hub for research and innovation threatens to decline and deter international scientists. We cannot afford that.

Elections are democracy in action. They are also an opportunity to support and protect fundamental values such as academic freedom. The European Research Area, which is a kind of EU internal market for research, provides the essential framework for the excellent cooperation and open exchange of science outlined above. The ideas for shaping it are as diverse as its players. Often the details are disputed. In my view, the overall picture is clear:

Research and development at the highest international level are a decisive factor in shaping a sustainable future for Europe. This requires, not least, a European Parliament whose members recognize and acknowledge the value of research, actively contribute to the development of the research portfolio and base their decisions on science-based facts. Europe concerns all of us. In the elections to the European Parliament, we must set the right course.

(Photo: Helmholtz/Phil Dera)

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