On May 8, 2026, from 1:00 to 2:00 PM UTC+0, we will host a special session with Dr Amy Freestone focusing on the Bridge program. Biological invasions by non-native species can harm local economies, food security, and human health and well-being. Non-native species continue to spread rapidly in all biomes – on land, in freshwater, and in our oceans. Knowledge of the extent of current invasions in our oceans is limited, however, creating gaps in knowledge that weaken biosecurity efforts aimed at the prevention and management of marine invasions. Clear communication pathways for consolidating information on known marine invasions across international stakeholders, and widely adopted standardised protocols for detecting new or undocumented invasions, are needed to bridge these gaps and minimise impacts on society. Harnessing complementary expertise across highly invested regional and global networks, we are launching the BRIDGE program: Bioinvasion Research Integration across Dynamic Global Ecosystems.  

BRIDGE will advance key fundamental science at scales needed to support and inform effective biosecurity policy and contribute to training a skilled workforce, poised to leverage international team science to engage with this challenge.  The program will provide a platform for collaboration and communication, to establish the standardised framework, protocols, and capacity to address critical knowledge gaps at scale that limit invasion science. BRIDGE will establish formal lines of communication and a community of practice among data-generators for increased coordination on best practices and quality control. Working groups will develop co-designed methods for standardised, efficient non-native marine species detection, and increase capacity and expand available tools for data sharing and management, including robust pipelines for rapid delivery to existing data repositories. Focused activities will develop integrated measures of vector dynamics to estimate propagule supply across scales and identify key opportunities for collaborative experiments to diagnose underlying mechanisms that shape invasion outcomes and improve detection efforts. Through virtual meetings and annual in-person workshops, trainings, and scientific exchanges, the BRIDGE program will catalyse research in marine invasion science and mobilise this science to improve biosecurity management and policy. We welcome partners who are interested in engaging with this vision to accelerate biosecurity science and impacts.