Anniversary Interviews: Kathrine Angell-Hansen

"It’s all about being at the right place, at the right time, with the right people." Sometimes, it takes one of those defining moments for an initiative to be born. Katherine Angell-Hansen was involved with JPI Oceans since its creation. She was on the European Commission's task force for the EU's first Integrated Maritime Policy when the idea for a Joint Programming Initiative on oceans first made it into writing, back in 2008. She then served JPI Oceans as Executive Director and later as Strategic Director until 2020. During our conversation, she took us back to the organisation’s founding logic, still reflected in its name: though implemented first as a Coordination and Support Action, JPI Oceans was created at the request of the European Council and remains inextricably tied to the Member States, because, as Katherine puts it, international research cooperation carries challenges that only countries can choose to take on together.