“Common ground is just that – the soil we tread on that gently holds us together,” he said.
The conference was hosted by the new Shared Island Unit set up by the government to help maintain all-island relations post-Brexit.
Speakers, including scientists, regulators and environmental activists, said while there were strong links and shared projects between universities and environmental groups north and south, official policy was not always so closely aligned.
They raised concerns around the Brexit fall-out and what the implications may be for a Northern Ireland no longer bound by EU environmental directives or the biodiversity clauses in the EU’s Common Agricultural Policy.