Dear ERC member,

The corona virus is still with us including the lockdown measures such as working from home and the 1.5 meter social distance. Our ERC team now meets virtual and as a personal note I would like to add that well developed ICT enables us to do so much better than say 10 years ago. This brings me to the ‘meat of the meeting’: our community meetings. Following the Government rules and advices there will be no large face-to-face events until 1st September, we are looking after virtual formulas – also reflecting our members’ preferences. We now plan for a ‘talk show’ as a plenary for our members on 15th June morning. The topic is ‘energy transition in a post-corona world’ – restauration first or accelerated transition in a ‘new normal’ world and presented by our moderator Jan Douwe Kroeske. STT will then present alternative scenarios for a post-corona world, which by the way doesn’t mean a corona-free world: the Spanish flue of 1918/19 lasted until 1958! 

We are looking forward to an interactive event with stimulating reflections and your ideas in return. The working group chairs also have indicated to organizing virtual working sessions at various dates to make it possible to join several sessions if you like.

Looking further down the road, 8th October is planned for the next community meeting. Although we don’t exclude a face-to-face meeting yet (I guess many of us are looking forward to, provided organized safely :-) we anticipate virtual attendance if social distancing is still high priority in our society, e.g. public transport, shops and restaurants, offices, etcetera.

The various working groups have ambitious plans, to mention Off-shore energy and Community engagement specifically. In the afternoon of 15th June the North Sea Energy program will organize a webinar for which you will be invited. Our Community engagement working group has been working on a proposal towards presenting a white paper early 2021. And last but not least to mention our ERC support to the initiative of cleaning up the North Sea of fishing gear by a crowd funding activity by publishing an English version of the book ‘In de diepte’. We hope for positive responses of all of our North Sea partners to support this great initiative through purchasing a number of books in advance.

So as an ERC team we are energized and fully charged to go ahead despite the challenges corona brings to us. I hope you will stay safe and healthy, wishing you a beautiful Spring season at home as I have seen and enjoyed many new words to express our ‘holiday @ home’ positively.

Best regards on behalf of the ERC steering committee,

Ewald Breunesse
Jan Prins
Barthold Schroot
René Peters