A key concept throughout the conference is the MEeting of Scientists, Educators and Artists (ME-SEA). The idea is to bring together small groups of three individuals that include a researcher from (or affiliated with) the Charney School of Marine Sciences, educators and artists who deal with similar topics in their daily practice, but from very different perspectives. These meetings, or their subject matter, will form the core topical sessions of the 8th Haifa Conference on the Mediterranean Sea Research (see below). The meetings themselves will take place before the conference in non-standard venues, such as onboard a research vessel, the Scanning Electron Microscope, underwater, etc… The conversations will be filmed, edited and shown during the conference and at various venues. Each group will then be invited to present their findings (in whatever format they wish) during the first day and to hold a workshop during the second day, should they wish to do so. The final team will comprise an experimental filmmaker, a student with a passion for science communication and an expert on science communication, who will speak about how to communicate complex messages to diverse audiences.