This course is developed within the framework of the HORIZON Europe project GuardIAS, “Guarding European Waters from Invasive Alien Species (IAS)”. GuardIAS focuses on aquatic invasive alien species, aiming to improve the detection and prevent the spread of invasive alien species in both marine and freshwater habitats using a range of novel methods. Moreover, the project works also to increase the knowledge transfer between the scientific community and the society. 

For this purpose, GuardIAS has dedicated objectives and tasks directed to education and training, public engagement and raising awareness.
This course falls within the objective of education and knowledge transfer. It is the first of a series of five Massive Online Open Courses (MOOCs) tackling the issue aquatic IAS and covering relevant aspects for their effective management. The GuardIAS MOOCs deal with the following topics: (i) IAS prevention, (ii) early detection and monitoring, (iii) predicting and prioritizing for management, (iv) eradication and control of aquatic IAS, (v) mitigating IAS impacts to threatened species.
This first MOOC is, therefore, focused on the prevention of IAS. The course opens with baseline information on bioinvasions and the risks of biological introductions, providing a solid background relevant to the field. It then covers the aspect of introduction mechanisms and the impacts of alien species, ultimately leading to the last module specifically dealing with prevention approaches.
Enrol in this MOOC, get the certificate and become, you too, a Guardian!