Dražen Cepić, PhD is one of the authors of the scientific paper ‘Rethinking the Blue Economy: Integrating social science for sustainability and justice’

The paper is published in npj Ocean Sustainability, a journal from the Nature portfolio, which is ranked as Q1 in the Scimago classification.

The paper, based on the activities of the COST action CA22122 “Rethinking the Blue Economy: Socio-Ecological Impacts and Opportunities” (RethinkBlue), advocates for the thesis that the Blue Economy – if it is to fulfil its promise of sustainable and just exploitation of the ocean – has to include social sciences to a much greater extent. Relying on insights from concrete initiatives of scientific networking, the authors identify three key contributions of social sciences and suggest a strategy for the redefining of the Blue Economy. The strategy directs knowledge towards social challenges, while emphasizing the importance of co-creation, connectedness of science and politics, integration of knowledge and the values of responsibility and care.

The paper is available in open access at the following link: https://doi.org/10.1038/s44183-025-00138-1

Penca, J., Ertör, I., Ballesteros, M., Briguglio, M., Kowalewski, M., Pauksztat, B., Cepić, D., Piñeiro-Corbeira, C., Vaidianu, N., Villasante, S. & Pascual-Fernández, J.J. (2025). Rethinking the Blue Economy: Integrating social science for sustainability and justice. npj Ocean Sustainability, 4, 40.