Over 200 stakeholders gathered in Kerry and West Cork from 26 to 28 May 2026 for the PHAROS Ireland Mega Event — three days that left behind a community-led Living Lab, deepened relationships on Marine Protected Area management, a classroom-ready citizen science programme, and a glimpse of what end-of-life fishing gear can become.
On a sunny evening on the Maharees coast, a large crowd gathered on the shoreline — local volunteers, schoolchildren, fishers, researchers from twelve countries — for the official launch of the MINKA Living Lab. The image captured the week: a European marine research event delivered in Ireland’s Southwest, with the community standing at the centre of it.
Hosted by Munster Technological University in partnership with Bantry Marine Research Station, the PHAROS Ireland Mega Event brought over 200 stakeholders to Kerry and West Cork from 26 to 28 May 2026. Researchers and educators, citizen science networks, fishers, policymakers and the National Parks and Wildlife Service joined international delegates from across the PHAROS consortium — a €9.5 million Horizon Europe Mission Ocean and Waters project involving 24 institutions from 12 countries.
This was the first of two flagship Irish PHAROS mega events. The second, larger event has already been confirmed for 2028, when the impact of the next 24 months of work will be showcased.
Maharees and Fenit: Coastal Communities at the Heart of the Story
If the week had a defining theme, it was the role of coastal communities themselves — not as bystanders to research, but as its custodians and its leaders. Two of the three days played out within communities who have long held that role on this coast, and PHAROS arrived to meet them on their own shores.
On the Maharees, the official launch of the MINKA Living Lab put a citizen science platform directly into the hands of the people who will use it. The community-led platform allows schools, residents and visitors to feed into the observation, categorisation and monitoring of biodiversity along one of Ireland’s most ecologically sensitive coastlines, and the Maharees community has already committed to building on it — extending its reach to coastal erosion, dune protection and marine plastics. Local community leader Martha Farrell, the named lead on the Maharees side, has been central to bringing the Living Lab to launch and to shaping its long-term ambitions for the community.
In Fenit, attention turned to the guardianship of Tralee Bay’s native oyster beds — believed to be Europe’s last remaining. The Tralee Bay Oyster Fisheries Society, represented by Denis O’Shea and Alan Browne, came together with researchers and PHAROS partners to share the community stewardship work under way to protect and restore the beds — a rare marine asset of European significance held in trust by the local fishing community.
The Fenit visit also showcased the wider conservation and heritage work being carried out in the area through a remarkable network of dedicated local volunteers. Mary Browne, heritage expert and recognised “Woman of the Sea”, led delegates through the preservation, conservation and promotional activities under way in the Fenit area — work that has placed the community at the forefront of coastal heritage protection in Kerry. Delegates were then taken out to Fenit Island — one of the Discovery Points on the Wild Atlantic Way and a place of deep seafaring heritage — for a tangible sense of why this stretch of coast matters, and why the people who live and work along it remain its most important custodians.
“What’s stayed with me from this week is how completely the conversation moved from the page into the room. We had fishers in Fenit, teachers in classrooms-to-be, researchers from twelve countries, families on the beach at Maharees and policymakers around the table on Marine Protected Areas — all in the same three days, all engaging with the same questions about Ireland’s marine future. The MINKA Living Lab launch was a particular highlight, because it gives the Maharees and Fenit communities a real platform to keep doing the work long after the visiting delegates have gone home. That, for me, is what success looks like — research that leaves something behind in the community that hosted it.”
— Eve Savage, Programme Manager — PHAROS Ireland, Circular Bioeconomy Research Group, MTU
Twenty Teachers, One Citizen Science Pipeline
Running parallel to MINKA, over 20 primary and secondary school teachers attended a dedicated EU Blue Schools workshop and were introduced to MINKA as a vehicle for engaging their own students in citizen science. The link is a deliberate one — the Living Lab becomes a curriculum-ready tool, and the teachers become its first network of in-classroom champions across Kerry and beyond.
Earlier in the programme, local primary and secondary school students presented hands-on projects on biodiversity, sand dune protection and marine plastics directly to European PHAROS experts — a generational handover happening visibly, in real time.
Marine Plastics and Fishing Gear, Reimagined
Among the most striking sessions of the three days was the Waste to Worth showcase at MTU Kerry, which set out a series of remarkable developments in transforming marine plastics and end-of-life fishing gear into valuable new materials and products.
Colum Gibson of the Clean Technology Centre at MTU outlined the technical and commercial progress being made in characterising, recovering and reprocessing marine plastics — turning a long-standing industry headache into a feedstock of real value. Liz Maher of the INSPIRED charity, supported by Shane Hassett of 3D printing company WAZP, then set out the ambition for the next phase of the work — to transform marine waste into new products and applications. The partnership is at the beginning of its journey, but the direction is a hopeful one: turning end-of-life fishing gear from a disposal challenge into a circular economy opportunity for fishers, processors and coastal communities right along the Atlantic seaboard.
Building European Best Practice into Ireland's MPA Future
Day One opened at MTU Kerry’s €20 million An Cuan STEM Building in Tralee with a Policy Round Table on the future of Marine Protected Area management in Ireland — bringing together speakers from the Department of Climate, Energy and Environment, University College Dublin and University of Galway, alongside European partners.
A significant outcome was the deepening of relationships between MTU Kerry and partners of the LIFE MPA Networks project. MTU Kerry has signalled its intent to act as a supporting actor in the triad between European best practice in MPA management, Ireland’s plans for MPA designation, and the citizen and stakeholder engagement work needed to make designation meaningful on the ground.
“The PHAROS Ireland Mega Event has shown the calibre of work being delivered from this region, and how that work connects directly to European priorities. We saw genuine progress this week — partnerships deepened with the LIFE MPA Networks team, over twenty teachers engaged through the EU Blue Schools workshop, real innovation showcased in transforming marine plastics and end-of-life fishing gear into valuable new products, and a Living Lab handed over to its community. Hosting 24 institutions from 12 countries here in Kerry and West Cork demonstrates the trust placed in MTU Kerry as a partner — and the ambition we now hold for the next 24 months of work leading into the 2028 PHAROS Ireland Mega Event.”
— Dr Helena McMahon, Director, Circular Bioeconomy Research Group, MTU
Bantry Bay — Nature-Based Solutions at the Demonstration Site
The programme closed in Bantry Bay, where Bantry Marine Research Station hosted delegates at the PHAROS demonstration site. A working kelp farm cultivating Winged Kelp (Alaria esculenta) and Sugar Kelp (Saccharina latissima), the live PHAROS research demonstration on kelp growth near a salmon farm, and the station’s state-of-the-art seaweed and fish hatchery offered a hands-on encounter with nature-based solutions for marine ecosystem restoration.
“It was a great opportunity for us to showcase our work in PHAROS and to demonstrate the benefits that Integrated Multi-Trophic Aquaculture can bring”
— Dr Julie Maguire, Director, Bantry Marine Research Station
European Reach, Local Roots
The event drew together institutional voices from across the PHAROS consortium and from the host region itself, reflecting the dual character of the week — European in scale, rooted in the Southwest.
Twenty-Four Months to 2028
The PHAROS Ireland Mega Event marks the start of a significant 24-month phase for the Irish strand of the project — growing the MINKA Living Lab community, deepening MPA partnerships, taking the marine plastics work to scale, and continuing the kelp and ecosystem restoration research at Bantry Bay. A second, larger PHAROS Mega Event will return to Ireland in 2028 to demonstrate the impact and outcomes of that work.
For Kerry and West Cork, the message is clear — the Southwest is an active hub in European marine research, and the next two years will see that role grow further.
