The acronyms PERSEUS respond to 'Policy-oriented marine Environmental Research in the Southern European Seas' (Studies of conservation of the marine environment in the southern seas of Europe aimed at developing environmental action policies), a large-scale research project funded by the European Commission within the 7th Framework Research Program.

From 22 to 25 January 2013, the Faculty of Geology of the University of Barcelona and the Polytechnic University of Catalonia host the general assembly and the preparatory meeting of PERSEUS, the most important marine conservation project that has been developed so far the EU and that acts both in the Mediterranean Sea and in the Black Sea. The scientific summit, which brings together nearly 200 experts from around the world, opens on Thursday, January 24, at the Aula Magna of the Faculty of Geology of the UB; In a ceremony in which they participate: the vice president of Research, Innovation and Transfer of the UB, Dr. Jordi Alberch; Dean of the Faculty of Geology, Dr. Lluís Cabrera; the vice president of Research at UPC, Dr. Xavier Gil; the coordinator of the PERSEUS project, Dr. Evangelos Papathanassiou, and Dr. Miquel Canals, head of the GRC Marine Geosciences of the UB, and Dr. Rosa Mari Darbra (UPC); which lead participating groups in this European project.