About CCMS
Center for Coastal & Marine Studies - CCMS
Center for Coastal and Marine Studies – CCMS is a research foundation, non-governmental and non-profit organization established in March 2018 in Varna, Bulgaria on the Black Sea coast. The CCMS has the fundamental goal of developing and promoting science, research, knowledge transfer and innovation technologies in the Black Sea and the World Ocean by bringing together science, environment, expertise, stakeholders and policy making. The CCMS is directly advised by Advisory Committee, which currently involves seventeen distinguished members from other institutes, universities and organizations all around the World.
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Advisory Committee




He is a specialist in the environmental applications of geospatial technologies with interests in geographical information systems, remote sensing (terrestrial and bathymetric), cartography/digital mapping, Internet and mobile GIS, coastal and marine resource management, hydrography, marine spatial planning (MSP), and UAV technology.
He has published a number of books on Coastal Zone Management and Geographical Information Systems (GIS). David is also Editor in Chief of the Journal of Coastal Conservation, Planning and Management (Springer).
AICSM: www.abdn.ac.uk/aicsm
UCEMM: www.abdn.ac.uk/research/ucemm
MSc in GIS: www.abdn.ac.uk/gis




Co-operation between sectors and the different governmental levels continue to be central in her work. In addition, spatial planning is an important topic, and in particular the link and interaction between land and sea is essential at the coast.
Kathy was appointed by the federal government to act as the Integrated Coastal Management (ICM) & Land-sea-interaction (LSI) expert, and most recently she was involved as LSI expert in the process of developing a vision for the Belgian part of the North Sea in 2050.
Key themes:
- Integrated Coastal Management (ICM)
- Spatial planning (on land as well as at sea)
- Stakeholder participation
- Long term planning and vision formation at the coast
- Administrative cooperation (with municipalities, Flanders, federal level) regarding ICM











• Prize diploma "Best Project for 2007-2013" for cooperation in the Black Sea region under the project "REEFS", Ministry of Regional Development and Public Works of Bulgaria, September 2015
• First prize – "Green Innovations for Sustainable Business", Norway grants, Innovation Norway, CEED Bulgaria, Sofia, Bulgaria, April 2016
• First prize at the "Forum Youth Entrepreneurship – StartUp 2016 – Go to Market", Varna, May 2016
• National Finalist "Climate Launch Pad" Winner for Bulgaria, CleanTech Bulgaria, Sofia, September 2017
• First prize, Theme award: "Sustainable food production systems", link Climate Launch Pad, Limassol (105 International finalists out of 964 projects, Climate KIC, the EU's biggest main climate innovation initiative), Cyprus, October 2017
• Blue Invest 2019. One of the 20 best Star Up Companies in the Blue sector in EU, Valletta, Malta, January 2019
• Solar Impulse Foundation - ORTO and Sea Harmony is a member in the 1000 solutions for sustainable development.
The CCMS will play an active role to achieve the following aims:
- Carry out scientific, research, publicity, educational, expert, project and consultancy activities in the field of coastal zone and marine space of the Black Sea Basin.
- Contribute to exploration and protection of the Bulgarian Black Sea coast, marine space of the Black Sea, living and non-living resources.
- Work to protect geodiversity and biodiversity of the Black Sea Basin and World Ocean.
- Work to study and protect Black Sea Basin natural and historical heritage.
- Promote sustainable and Integrated Coastal Zone Management (ICZM) and Marine Spatial Planning (MSP) of the Black Sea Basin.
- Conduct research and assessment of natural and human-induced risks in the coastal and marine zones, such as coastal erosion, landslides, collapses, sea level rise, flooding, technogenoius impacts, environmental risks and other human-induced activities to rise the public awareness.
- Carry out activities for conservation and restoration of the environment.
- Explore trends of marine and coastal tourism and their impact on sustainable coastal zone development and economy of the Black Sea and the World Ocean.
- Conduct exchange, partnership and training between institutions, universities, scientific organizations, non-governmental organizations, establish international cooperation.
Subcategories
- Our activities
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Our Team
WHO WE ARE AND WHAT WE DO
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Advisory Committee
Our research program and projects require close collaboration with coastal and marine scientific and research community and the support of different institutions, external experts, consultants, etc. The Foundation is directly advised by an Advisory Committee (AC), which is part of the governance structure of CCMS. The AC members are distinguished, world-classb scientists, researchers and experts from other institutions having significant experience in both coastal/marine science and management. The membership in the Advisory Committee of CCMS is honourable, without management functions and featuring collaboration and partnership activities with particular contributions to the CCMS, such as research projects, publications, expert advises, outreach activities, etc.
- Our Documents