A University of Liverpool ocean scientist stars alongside Liverpool Football Club's Mo Salah and Dominik Szoboszlai and LFC Women's team players Jenna Clark, Faye Kirby, and Jasmine Matthews in a new short promotional video from LFC's official global training partner AXA.
Professor Alessandro Tagliabue, from the University's School of Environmental Sciences, plays a central role in the video which was filmed aboard the Tara research schooner during its recent visit to Liverpool.
The video features LFC stars Mo Salah and Dominik Szoboszlai and local schoolchildren as they undertake a series of fun, educational challenges designed to highlight the importance of protecting the world's oceans. The workshop showed how the collective work operating on the football pitch is the same in the Ocean where the numerous interactions between species allows energy to go through all the trophic web.
Professor Tagliabue, who helped design the activities featured in the film, has a long-standing relationship with Tara. In 2022, he served as chief scientist for the schooner's Antarctic 'Mission Microbiomes' expedition.
Despite being an Everton supporter, Professor Tagliabue embraced the opportunity to work with the Reds for a good cause. He said:
"Although I'm a Blue, I enjoyed working with the film team and LFC players on board Tara as well as getting involved in the activities with the school children.
"I spent many weeks on Tara in the Southern Ocean in 2022, so it was a pleasure to be back on board-this time closer to home and in a much warmer climate.
"It was fantastic to continue our collaborate with the Tara Foundation and help promote the excitement and relevance of ocean science to young people and professional sports stars alike."
The Tara Ocean Foundation and the University of Liverpool also co-hosted an international workshop during the visit, bringing together experts from various fields to discuss the future of ocean and Antarctic conservation.
A key outcome of the event was the launch of a new policy brief outlining strategies to protect Antarctica's fragile marine ecosystems in response to evolving global ocean policies.
"A lot of work is already being done to protect Antarctic biodiversity, notably through the proposal of new Antarctic Marine Protected Area projects under CCAMLR, the convention in charge of protecting marine resources in the Southern Ocean."
"The aim of this event was therefore to assess how the results obtained during the schooner tara's past and future expeditions can improve our understanding of Antarctica's unique ecosystems, and how this understanding can reinforce existing conservation efforts."
The Tara schooner is a 36-meter research vessel operated by the nonprofit Tara Ocean Foundation. It conducts vital global expeditions examining the effects of climate change on marine ecosystems and connects its scientific results to society by raising awareness and advocating for societal change and better Ocean protection.
Tara's visit to Liverpool forms part of a broader campaign to raise awareness of marine protection ahead of the UN Ocean Conference taking place this June in Nice.
