Paper short abstract:

This contribution explores how deep sea science futures are brought into being by ocean researchers in the context of the development of a European science policy brief, which will outline a future for research on the deep sea and ocean health.

Paper long abstract:

Early 2023 the Working Group on Deep Sea and Ocean Health kicked off their attempt to write a ‘Future Science Brief.’ The working group is initiated by the European Marine Board and consists of selected ocean scientists from different European marine research institutions. The Working Group is asked to take stock on present knowledge of the deep sea, identify knowledge gaps and propose future steps for sustainable ocean science and governance for the deep sea. Through ethnographic observations, interviews with working group members and a document analysis, we attend to how certain kinds of futures, e.g., environmental, societal or articulated, as being desirable or unattractive in the making of this policy brief, and how particular roles and values are being ascribed to ocean science, including by ocean scientists themselves, for this future making project. Our contribution also reflects on how this future is situated in a larger socio-ecological, political, and material context of deep sea exploration and potential extraction in which scientists, governments and industry are tightly interacting.