On June 7th we started our first in-person meeting at the Institute of Oceanology in Sopot. The day was filled with presentations and discussions. It was great to finally meet and summarize all of our work.

First day agenda:

• 10:00 Opening remarks by Jan Pawlowski
• 10:20 Joanna Pawłowska – overview of the NEEDED project
• 10:40 Margit Simon – age model and Mg/Ca of KH04 core: preliminary results and future plans
• 11:00 Magdalena Łącka – biomarkers from KH04 core (N Svalbard)
• 11:20 Dhanuskha Devendra – Multiproxy study of the core HR07 (SW Svalbard)
• 12:00-14:00 Lunch
• 14:20 Ngoc-Loi Nguyen - Arctic foraminifera diversity based on metabarcoding of sediment DNA samples collected in fjords and open sea areas in the Svalbard Archipelago
• 14:40 Mattia Greco – Molecular record of GR02 core (NE Greenland)
• 15:00 Joanna Pawłowska – 140,000-year-old molecular record of Yermak Plateau core (N Svalbard)
• 15:20 Jan Pawlowski – Assigned or not assigned: possibilities and limitations of the new DNA proxies
• 16:00 Discussion

The second day of our meeting was filled with discussions. We debated the projects future plans, publications and public outreach. After the official part was over, we visited the old town of Gdansk for some sightseeing. We hope to meet again as the NEEDED team soon!