Marta Musso, with her project Possea, is the Woman of the Sea 2022

Genoese, marine biologist, twenty-three-year-old Marta Musso wins the first edition of the 2022 Woman of the Sea Award with Possea, a project that starts from a passion for the sea, scientific research and a German postal van that transforms into a sea laboratory/library

Possea – but also Post from the sea, Posta dal mare, Pos(sea)ble, possible – is a travelling project of scientific dissemination and Ocean Education that aims to tell the story of the sea from the point of view of plankton.

“I wanted to start from the small, the invisible, the microscopic to tell the story of our sea and bridge the gap between us and the environment. Among the plankton there are all the ‘puppies’ of the main marine invertebrates that before growing up wander in the sea pushed by winds and currents. The project can be carried out both in the field in first person and on social media, creating a large community”

Marta Musso, Woman of the Sea 2022

The concept of the award created by Bianca Biamonti, founder of Buonvento Pottery, is “female sperm whale”: the female sperm whale has an important role in her species by creating a support network with other females. Care, responsibility, weight, depth, passion: these are the emotions that Bianca wanted to convey through the award she shaped in her laboratory in Genoa.

I chose a refractory clay to which I added sand because I felt the need to create a prize with a texture and material volumes, I wanted a prize that had considerable weight, on which attention had to be paid. I hope that Marta can achieve her goals for the sea and join forces with those who have the same goal of living and preserving the sea.

Bianca Biamonti, Buonvento Pottery

The award ceremony of the competition took place at the Acquario Romano in Rome during the event “March 8: the Women of the Ocean Generation”, in the presence of Caterina Balivo, godmother of the Ocean, Francesca Santoro, Program Specialist of the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission of UNESCO and promoter in Italy of the Decade of the Sea (2021-2030), Anna Cogo, co-founder of B Women Italy and Daniela Addis, Founder and Director of the Addis “Ambiente&Mare” Law Firm and representative of the Women of the Sea association.

Now the winner of the Woman of the Sea 2022 Award will be accompanied in the realization of her project thanks to a mentorship program led by Francesca Santoro and which will involve Anna Cogo and Daniela Addis, promoters of the award together with the Decade.

We are very proud of this first edition: many young women from North to South participated in the call, proposing innovative ideas on how to protect and study the sea from different points of view as research activities or innovative business, in the form of educational, artistic or communication-related projects. Among UNESCO’s priorities are precisely the promotion of plurality of experiences and skills and gender equality.

Articles about the Woman of the Sea 2022