The International Seabed Authority (ISA) has announced the successful conclusion of its Data Management Review and Reporting Template Training Sessions. Held over a series of five one-week sessions at the ISA headquarters in Kingston, Jamaica, these sessions brought together data managers and scientific experts from various contractor organizations to enhance their understanding and utilization of the DeepData platform and reporting templates.

The training sessions that took place between April and June 2024 aligned with the ISA Data Management Strategic Roadmap, recently endorsed by the Legal and Technical Commission. The objective of this training is to improve the quantity and quality of the data hosted on DeepData, a critical step towards achieving the ISA’s strategic research priorities outlined in its Action Plan for Marine Scientific Research in support of the United Nations Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development adopted by the Assembly in 2020.

Participants engaged in comprehensive training sessions covering various topics, including DeepData features and functionality, reporting template guidelines, metadata usage and data submission procedures. The sessions also focused on reviewing and cleaning environmental, geological and unstructured data submitted to ISA to ensure accuracy and completeness.

Attendees represented a diverse group of contractor organizations such as Deep Ocean Resources Development Co. Ltd., Federal Institute for Geosciences and Natural Resources of the Federal Republic of Germany, Japan Oil, Gas and Metals National Corporation, Nauru Ocean Resources Inc. and Tonga Offshore Mining Limited.

Reflecting on the initiative’s success and positive engagement of all participants, H. E. Mr. Michael W. Lodge, ISA Secretary-General, underscored the efforts engaged by ISA to translate the significant amount of data collected into precise and concrete information to support an efficient science-policy interface. “Through these series of tailored training sessions, significant progress has been made to further our collective efforts to leverage unique and much-needed data towards informed decision-making processes and enhanced knowledge and understanding of the deep-sea environment and ecosystems of the Area.”