The EU-funded Horizon Europe project, GuardIAS (Guarding European Waters from Invasive Alien Species), has opened registration for its second free Massive Online Open Course (MOOC) focused on Early Detection and Monitoring. Following the successful rollout of the project’s introductory course on prevention, this second module in a planned five-part series moves to the next critical line of defence: spotting and tracking aquatic invaders before they can firmly establish themselves and disrupt native ecosystems.
Managing the Post-Prevention Window
While prevention is always the most effective strategy, human activity and global trade mean that alien species can occasionally breach biosecurity barriers. Once a non-native species enters a marine or freshwater environment, environmental managers are in a race against time. Identifying these species at the very start of an invasion—when populations are still small, localised, and difficult to find—is crucial to stopping a widespread ecological impact.
MOOC 2 addresses this specific challenge, providing participants with the practical framework needed to design sensitive surveillance systems, trigger timely alerts, and coordinate prompt response actions.
What the Course Covers
The programme is split into three concise teaching units that bridge the gap between academic theory and field reality.
- The strategic firewall: Explore the fundamental differences between general biodiversity monitoring and risk-driven surveillance. You will also look at how regional sea conventions and EU directives—such as the Water Framework and Marine Strategy Framework Directives—shape international compliance and reporting.
- Field approaches and campaign design: Learn how to plan practical monitoring campaigns, select the right sampling tools for different aquatic environments, and properly evaluate survey uncertainty and performance.
- Real-world limitations and data sharing: Examine how monitoring data functions within long-term management strategies, whilst confronting everyday challenges like technical limitations, resource constraints, and data-sharing barriers.
Course structure and enrolment
The course is fully interactive, featuring expert video insights, practical case studies, and self-assessments that allow you to study entirely at your own pace.
- Workload: Approximately 25 hours of study, equivalent to 1 CFU (academic credit).
- Assessment: A flexible final quiz with three attempts allowed.
- Certification: An official certificate of completion is automatically issued upon passing.
To enrol for free, visit the digital learning platform and search the course registry.
For more information on accessing and completing the course, please see the GuardIAS MOOC Guidelines.
A New Series of Online Courses
This launch is part of five planned MOOCs, each created to provide accessible and interactive learning. The complete series will build a comprehensive toolkit for managing aquatic IAS, covering topics from early detection and monitoring to eradication, control, and mitigating impacts on threatened species.
The GuardIAS Project
Guarding European Waters from Invasive Alien Species (GuardIAS) is a HORIZON Europe project with a crucial mission: to safeguard Europe’s marine and freshwater ecosystems. The project develops innovative methods for detecting and preventing the spread of IAS while also aiming to bridge the gap between the scientific community and society through targeted education and public awareness initiatives.
