Wednesday, April 19, 2023
(preliminary timetable – times may still change slightly)

09.00
Reception open

10.00
Greetings and Organizational Remarks
Ruth Schilling (Managing Director of German Maritime Museum/DSM); Representative of Alfred-Wegener-Institute

10.30
Keynote I
Guilherme Lotufo (US Army Engineer Research and Development Center): “Underwater Munitions as an Environmental Hazard”, Chair: Edmund Maser (UKSH)

11.15
Short Coffee Break

11.30
Keynote II
Jacek Bełdowski (Institute of Oceanology, Polish Academy of Sciences): “A Decade of Chemical Munitions Studies in the Baltic Sea and New Perspectives”, Chair: Sven Bergmann (DSM)

12.15
Lunch Break

13:45
North Sea Wrecks (NSW) – Presentation of the central topics and results of the project, led by the experts of the NSW project, moderated by Welmoed van der Velde (NHL Stenden):

- Overview and Conceptual Approach of NSW
- From the Archive to the Wreck Site: Research and Data Collection
- Biomonitoring, Toxicological Analyses and First Results
- Risk Assessment and Policy Recommendations
- Follow-up, Transnational Cooperation and Raising Public Awareness

15.45
Coffee Break & Exhibition Space (on-site and online):
- Demonstration of Wreck Risk Assessment Tool (north.io)
- Data Repository/Uxo Warehouse (Periplus Consultancy)
- Travelling exhibition “Toxic Legacies of War – North Sea Wrecks” (DSM)
- Travelling exhibition on-line session (DSM)
- Breakout-Sessions for networking among online participants

16:45
Round Table Discussion:
(Different) European Perspectives on Munition at Seas and Transnational Efforts, with:
- Andrea Klomp (Dutch Ministry of Education, Culture and Science, Cultural Heritage Agency)
- Polly Hill/Matthew Skelhorn (UK Ministry of Defence)
- Anita Künitzer (German Environment Agency)
- Marnix Pieters (Flanders Heritage Agency) moderated by Jens Sternheim (NSW Advisory Board)

18.00
End of first day

Thursday, April 20, 2023

Scientific Workshops (preliminary timetable – times may still change slightly)

09.00
Workshop Session 1: Alterations of Wrecks on the Seafloor, Chair: Jennifer Strehse (UKSH):
- Effects of Geological/Seafloor Processes and Risks for War Wrecks – Insights From Two Wrecks in the Danish North Sea (Katrine Juul Andresen, Aarhus University)
- The Corrosion Rate of Steel Wrecks in the Belgian North Sea, an In Situ Research (Kris De Baere, Antwerp Maritime Academy)

09.40
Workshop Session 2: Effects on Organisms, Chair: Sven Bergmann (DSM)

- Long-term Blue Mussel Samples From the German Environmental Specimen Bank Show First Evidence of Munition Contaminants Uptake (Jennifer Strehse, Tobias Bünning, Edmund Maser, UKSH)
- Microbial Community Responses to a Wartime Wreck: the John Mahn Case Study (Maarten De Rijcke, VLIZ)
- Measuring Biological Effects in the Field and Laboratory and Translating Them into Risk Monitoring (Matthias Brenner, AWI; Simon van der Wulp, north.io)

10:40
Coffee Break

11.10
Workshop Session 3: Consequences and Dealing with Disaster, Chair: Matthias Brenner (AWI)

- Communicating Slow Disasters as a Matter of Concern in Transdisciplinary Research – Experiences in NSW and Other Projects (Sven Bergmann, DSM)
- Consequences from a Total Collapse of a Shipwreck in Skagerrak Filled with Chemical Ammunition (John Aa. Tørnes, FFI)
- Munitions in the Sea – Chemical Analyses Alongside (Underwater) Blast in Place Operations (Edmund Maser, Tobias Bünning, Jennifer Strehse, UKSH)

12:10
Lunch Break

13.30
Keynote III
Alex Souchen (University of Guelph, Canada): “What Can History Tell Us About Underwater Munitions? Methods, Meaning, and Missing Records”, Chair: Sven Bergmann (DSM)

14:15
Final plenary discussion:
How to communicate environmental problems and research: experiences, success and limits – With experts in museum, public awareness, science communication and project management

15:30
Coffee & Farewells

16.00
End of Symposium