Due to the current challenging situation, CONTRA has conducted its partner meeting on the 25th and 26th of March online via video-conferencing instead of meeting in person in Odense, Denmark as originally planned. For cooperation projects, such as CONTRA, COVID-19 means that all of a sudden undertakings planned and scheduled with great care and commitment cannot be realized as planned including partner meetings. In order to keep the project going within these difficult times, and to keep every partner updated on progress made within the partnership, the online partnermeeting has prooven to be an effective method.

Partners compared the status quo within each work package and set up smaller groups for specific project tasks. Thus, in addition to joint sessions, which informed all project partners about general project issues, the smaller working groups enabled to work more efficiently on specific tasks and to find solutions. Topics covered were e.g. the transnational and cross-discipline stakeholder network to be initiated within the project, field work to be conducted in 2020, regulations for beach wrack management and technologies for beach wrack handling tested within CONTRA´s case studies. The working groups discussed actions taken so far, and jointly worked on planning future activites.

All in all, CONTRA has mastered the challenge of conducting its first meeting with the whole partnership online successfully and we are looking forward to progress further and fill the project with life!