Anniversary Interviews: Willem De Moor and Lavinia Giulia Pomarico

For the first time in the series, we turn the lens inwards, to two people at the heart of the JPI Oceans Secretariat. Willem De Moor’s history with JPI Oceans goes back further than the organisation itself. In 2010, while working for the Flemish government, he helped organise a conference in Ostend that produced a declaration from the marine and maritime community calling for the creation of a Joint Programming Initiative on oceans. He has been part of this adventure ever since, first as a jack-of-all-trades piecing together the founding vision and governance structure, and today as Deputy Director. Lavinia Giulia Pomarico came into the picture a bit later. She joined in 2020 as an early-career professional. The topic of intergenerational engagement is very dear to her; she now supports it through our involvement in the All-Atlantic Ocean Research and Innovation Alliance. She has also taken the reins of Joint Actions, run with JPI Climate, including sea-level rise work and the forthcoming #AMOC in Focus report. Together, they show what it looks like to carry an organisation's history forward, with no shortage of excitement for what is still to come.