EurOcean Portal Relaunched

EurOcean – the European Centre for Information on Marine Science and Technology – has up-graded and relaunched its Portal websitewww.eurocean.org to provide a wealth of information (Infobases) on Specialist Marine Research Infrastructures and Collaborative Research Projects.

 Core Infobases include:  

 

 

Specialist Marine Research Infrastructures including: Research Vessels (EurOcean_RV), Underwater Vehicles (EurOcean_UV) and Large Exchangeable Instruments (EurOcean_LEXI). 

These Infobases provide access to information on the 231 Research Vessels currently operating in the European Area, plus data on five new vessels at the design/construction stage. Information is also provided on 69 underwater vehicles and on some 89 large exchangeable instruments, including bottom seismic profilers, towed camera systems, autonomous surface craft, etc.  

EU and National Marine Research Projects: two linked and searchable databases provide access to information on 751 collaborative EU funded marine research projects (funded under FP6, INTERREG-III, Life, EuroCORES, etc.) and 917 nationally funded marine research projects (from 13 partner countries). These databases are continually being up-dated and improved to include, for example, new information on FP7 and INTERREG-IV marine projects.  

The EurOcean Portal is currently in the process of developing new Infobases to provide information on, or access to information on, a range of marine science and technology initiatives in Europe, including policy developments, higher education and training opportunities and public outreach information  

According to Geoffrey O’Sullivan, the Marine Institute’s representative on the EurOcean Board, “the EurOcean portal aims to provide a one-stop-shop for those in search of information on marine science and technology in Europe."

 

 

 

The three Infobases on Specialist Infrastructures are invaluable to those seeking information on large items of equipment, such as research vessels, underwater vehicles and exchangeable equipment, which they may require for current or planned research projects.

The Research Projects Infobases, while still at an early stage of development, help identify current research and research interests. They are extremely useful to those planning future research applications, particularly to EU funded Programmes. Accessing the database, a research can see who is doing what, what has or is being done and who might be a valuable partner in a future research grant application. Publications tell you what has been done, it is only by attending Conferences or accessing databases such as those hosted by EurOcean that one can find out what is being done.  

The EurOcean project, which is based in Lisbon, Portugal, welcomes information from researchers on current projects and feedback to improve the services/infobases it can provide.