The SEADITO Costa Brava Case Study, presented at the Ocean Sciences Meeting in Glasgow, UK, and the DIGI4ECO General Assembly in Barcelona, Spain
The SEADITO Costa Brava Case Study continues to move forward in both methodology and dissemination. Building on earlier stakeholder workshops and scenario work, we are in the final stage before submitting a manuscript presenting the methodology developed in the Case Study. It has been written and revised in collaboration with Aurelija Armoskaite, Giulia Bellon, Miriam von Thenen, and Erasmia Kastanidi. The manuscript describes an AI-assisted four-stage workflow moving from stakeholder engagement and transcript-based extraction to conceptual mapping, system analysis, and qualitative scenario testing, while keeping the process transparent, evidence-anchored, and traceable.
The manuscript describes the methodology on two participatory workshops on sustainable fisheries in Catalonia and the combined analysis that followed. In the manuscript, the case study consolidates the workshop output into 43 combined themes and 243 verified relations in a joint conceptual map. This supported the identification of three major vicious-cycle systems, several focal points, twelve virtuous loops, and ten stakeholder-style scenario questions. Together, these outputs support the methodological backbone of the paper and represent the wider Case Study work.
These results were presented at the Ocean Sciences Meeting in Glasgow as a poster presentation under the title “Co-Designing a Socio-Ecological Module for an Ocean Digital Twin: Lessons from Catalonia’s coastal fisheries.” The meeting provided a valuable opportunity to share the methodological approach and discuss its relevance for Digital Twin-oriented marine research.
The same work was also presented at the DIGI4ECO General Assembly at CMIMA in Barcelona on the 10th of March 2026. Maik Neukirch contributed as an invited speaker in his role as an external collaborator, with the talk “There and Back Again: From Stakeholder Discussions Towards a DTO Tool for Stakeholders.” DIGI4ECO and SEADITO address related questions around digital approaches to marine systems, ecological monitoring, and socio-ecological decision support, which made this exchange especially relevant.
The Costa Brava Case Study is carried out by Maik Neukirch, Xavier Garcia and Elisa Berdalet (ICM-CSIC), together with Mireia Esteve and Judit Pagès (GALP-Costa Brava). We look forward to continuing the discussions initiated through these presentations and to further exchange with colleagues and partners working on related challenges.
Author & Pictures: Maik Neukirch