What Place Does the Ocean Have in Our Collective Future?

A look back at the transatlantic dialogue held on 16 October in New York

On 16 October 2025, the Fondation Maison des Sciences de l’Homme (FMSH), in partnership with La Maison Française at New York University, organised a discussion in New York bringing together a palaeo-oceanographer and a political scientist to share their perspectives on contemporary ocean issues.

Hosted by La Maison Française at NYU, this transatlantic dialogue, titled The Ocean: Common Heritage, Shared Challenges, featured Natalia Frozel-Barros, political scientist at Sciences Po Fontainebleau, and Jerry McManus, palaeo-oceanographer at Columbia University. The discussion was moderated by Salomé Montoriol, a doctoral student in literature at NYU.

‘Oceans’: a central theme for the FMSH

Opening the event, Antonin Cohen, President of the FMSH Executive Board, reaffirmed the importance of the theme ‘Oceans’, chosen for this third edition of the transatlantic dialogues launched in 2023. The FMSH was accredited at the UNOC conference in Nice last June to represent the humanities and social sciences on ocean-related issues. The ocean also figures as one of the key thematic priorities in the Foundation’s 2025–2030 programme.

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Bridging disciplines and time scales

The round table brought together emerging scientific fields—such as marine ecosystem analysis, economics, and the “blue humanities”—with national and transnational regulatory frameworks, particularly those of the United Nations. The ocean emerged as both a focal point and a connecting thread linking these diverse areas.

Jerry McManus presented the example of the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC), a crucial driver of the Earth’s current climate, explaining the major transformations that would result from any disruption of this system.

Natalia Frozel-Barros shared insights from her research into the political and social dimensions of the ocean, particularly the international governance structures that have gradually developed over the past fifty years.

From their respective disciplinary and temporal perspectives, the two speakers offered complementary ways of rethinking our collective understanding of the ocean.

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The discussion concluded with questions from the audience, followed by an informal reception with the speakers and organisers in the library of La Maison Française.