Project description
Can exploring past seaweed use help find the foods of the future?
Global concerns about climate change and its impact on food systems have been steadily increasing over the past decades. Seaweeds may be one solution to help solve such impending crises. However, in Europe the potential for the seaweed industry is constrained by a lack of cultural knowledge about past seaweed use. Supported by the Marie Sklodowska-Curie Actions program, the SEARCH project will analyse microscopic traces of seaweeds from archaeological assemblages to better understand how Northern European communities in the past harvested, cultivated and used seaweed as a resource. This approach will provide palaeoecological data and cultural context to support sustainable approaches to modern seaweed use and production.
Objective
Current global concerns about food security and the impacts of climate change on our existing food systems require innovative and sustainable solutions. Seaweeds are poised to become a sustainable food of the future and will be central to solving impending food crises, mitigating effects of global climate change, and re-invigorating human-ocean relationships. However, a significant barrier to successful uptake of the seaweed industry in Europe is a lack of cultural awareness on local seaweed consumption in human foodways. Human relationships with seaweed and aquatic coastal plants (e.g. seagrass) are historically understudied in archaeology and underappreciated culturally despite the likelihood that these relationships have been central components for past coastal societies, as evidenced by historic and ethnographic research. Understanding past human-algae/plant relationships and cultivation strategies provides key frameworks for contemporary and future strategies involving coastal plant and seaweed foraging, cultivation, and consumption. Such frameworks are urgently needed to build ecologically and culturally sound strategies and to prevent problematic over exploitation of these resources and damage to ecological systems. This project will provide important global advances in environmental archaeology by investigating archaeological seaweed residues and retrieve critical data at a local scale for the future of Northern Europe's seaweed and coastal industries. Past human relationships with seaweeds and coastal plants will be investigated using innovative archaeological science approaches that target microbotanical and micro-algae residues. Through accessing these microremains this project will compile paleoecological data to create a scientifically informed environmental baseline and trace ancient human-plant/algae relationships in northern Europe.
Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
This project's classification has been human-validated.
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
This project's classification has been human-validated.
Keywords
Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Programme(s)
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
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HORIZON.1.2 - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA)
MAIN PROGRAMME
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Topic(s)
Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
Funding Scheme
Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
HORIZON-TMA-MSCA-PF-EF - HORIZON TMA MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
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Call for proposal
Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
(opens in new window) HORIZON-MSCA-2024-PF-01
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Net EU financial contribution. The sum of money that the participant receives, deducted by the EU contribution to its linked third party. It considers the distribution of the EU financial contribution between direct beneficiaries of the project and other types of participants, like third-party participants.
4021 Stavanger
Norway
The total costs incurred by this organisation to participate in the project, including direct and indirect costs. This amount is a subset of the overall project budget.