Black Sea Universities Network

The Black Sea Universities Network (BSUN) is an international organization, established in 1998 and representing more than 100 universities from the Black Sea Region. More information about the BSUN activities may be found at https://bsun.org/. Since 2017, BSUN has been invited to take part, and has been actively involved, in the process of shaping the Strategic Research and Innovation Agenda on Blue Economy.

Since 2019, BSUN has been involved in the implementation of the project “The Blue Growth Initiative for Research and Innovation in the Black Sea”, Black Sea Connect, grant no. 860055, financed by European Union’s Horizon 2020, Research and Innovation Programme and since 2022, coordinated the implementation of the “4BIZ – Boosting Black Sea Blue Biz”, grant no. 101077576, financed by European Climate, Infrastructure and Environment Executive Agency (CINEA).

The achievements of BSUN in the implementation of the actions and measures to promote Blue Economy in the Black Sea Region has been recognized by the European Commission and BSUN was awarded, in 2023, as the “BEST PROJECT” at the category “Fostering Investment in the Black Sea Blue Economy”.

Since 2019, BSUN has been involved in promoting the European Maritime Day by several activities, both on the component EMD in My country and by participation to the EMD events. The last participation was in Brest, were the booth of BSUN presented the achievements and activities developed in partnerships with many different organizations.

Since 26.09.2024, BSUN is a member of the project consortium that is implementing the project JeMS BSB00189 Blue Gates– Empowering Blue and Smart Transformation of the Black Sea Basin, financed by Interreg VI-B Black Sea Basin Programme.

At the EMD event planned to take part in Cork, Ireland, BSUN is preparing to organize a booth were there will be presented the achievements in the field of scientific research and education for promoting Blue Economy in the Black Sea Region. The booth will include virtual reality technologies, offering the possibility of an interactive and immersive experience for the visitors and connection live with remote sites from different aquaculture, mariculture and coastal activities from Romania, Bulgaria, Turkey and Ukraine.