The ATLAS consortium of 24 beneficiaries consists of 12 universities, 5 small and medium-sized enterprises (SMES), 3 government agencies and 4 national research centres. Beneficiaries are drawn from Denmark, Belgium, France, Germany, Ireland, Netherlands, Norway, Portugal (incl. Azores), Spain, the UK and USA and have been carefully selected to give ATLAS the transatlantic reach and vision it needs to deliver its objectives. The Canadian Government's Department of Fisheries and Oceans act as a third party providing in-kind contributions across the project.
ATLAS has also created a network of 15 Associate Partners to give it additional depth and breadth across sectors from research to industry and policy-making in Europe and North America.
ATLAS Beneficiaries
As of summer 2018, ATLAS has a total of 110 participants, with an equal gender balance. More information can be found here
University of Edinburgh
The University of Edinburgh is one of the largest and most successful universities in the UK with an international reputation as a centre of academic excellence. Its international character is reflected in its student population, which comprises of 4,500 European students and 10,000 International students (out of a total population of around 36,000 students) from over 130 different countries worldwide. It can also be found in its truly international staff and in its joint research and other links with overseas universities, institutes, companies and governments. The University of Edinburgh is the leading research university in Scotland and is one of Britain’s leading research universities. The recent Research Excellence Framework (REF 2014) results ranked Edinburgh 4th in the UK. Website
Aarhus University
Aarhus University (AU) is an academically diverse and strongly research-oriented institution that creates and shares knowledge. It covers the entire research spectrum including basic research, applied research, strategic research and research based advice to the authorities. AU is a top ten university among universities founded within the past 100 years. It has a long tradition of partnerships with some of the world's best research institutions and university networks. It has a strong commitment to the development of society that is realised through its collaboration with government agencies and institutions and the business community. The activities of the Department of Bioscience cover both fundamental and applied research in very diverse fields of biology and oceanography. The department has excellent research facilities and laboratories, including a new interdisciplinary Arctic Research Centre (ARC). The department is an integrated part of the National Centre of Environment and Energy acting as a major advisor for the national government and other agencies. The department hosts a staff of 500, including 275 scientists, 23 full professors, 30 postdocs, 100 PhD students, and 72 technical and administrative employees. Website
IMAR - University of the Azores
IMAR-UAz is involved in the study of open-ocean and deep-sea ecosystems, with a special focus on the Atlantic but with extensions to other ocean basins. IMAR-UAz has a strong expertise in ecology, fisheries, and ecosystem based management of open ocean and deep-water marine ecosystems including seamount, cold-water coral ecosystems, and hydrothermal vents. Emphasis has also been given to the study of the anthropogenic impacts in the deep sea. In the last two decades IMAR-UAz got involved in large international research consortia, most of them within EU framework projects (e.g. partner in 8 FP7 projects and partner in two H2020) but many others with a global focus (e.g. Census of Marine Life programs, the Ocean Tracking Network). It also performs research activities with governmental and private research organisations, including services for industry and public administration. Website
Regional Directorate of Sea Affairs, Azores Regional Government
The Regional Directorate for Sea Affairs (Direção Regional dos Assuntos do Mar –DRAM) is a service of the Government of the Azores, which depends on the Regional Secretariat for Sea, Science and Technology, and has authority, in the Azores, on the marine issues with relevance for the present call. DRAM is also the service responsible for the implementation of the MSFD in the Azores Website
NERC-British Geological Survey (NERC)
The British Geological Survey is a component organisation of the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC), which is the UK's leading body for basic, strategic and applied research and monitoring in the environmental sciences. The British Geological Survey (BGS) itself was founded in 1835 and is the world’s longest established national geological survey. BGS seeks to advance the understanding of the structure, properties and processes of the solid Earth system through interdisciplinary surveys, monitoring and research for the benefit of society. BGS is a public sector organisation responsible for advising the UK government on all aspects of geosciences, as well as providing impartial geological advice to industry, academia and the public. It is the UK's premier provider of objective and authoritative geoscientific data, information and knowledge for sustainable use of natural resources, reducing risk and living with the impacts of environmental change. Website
Gianni Consultancy
Gianni Consultancy is a sole proprietor consultancy specialising in marine policy, in particular in relation to the management of activities in the deep sea. Matthew Gianni of Gianni Consultancy has provided technical, legal and policy advice to a wide variety of governments, NGOs, and EU institutions.
French Research Institute for Exploitation of the Sea (Ifremer)
Ifremer (French Research Institute for the sustainable Exploitation of the Sea) is a public research institute of industrial and commercial nature. IFREMER develops basic and applied research, conducts expert activities and industrial and technological development actions aimed at the identification, evaluation, forecasting and sustainable exploitation of marine resources, the protection and enhancement of marine and coastal environments, and the encouragement of economic development of maritime activity. Website
Marine Scotland Science
Marine Scotland’s purpose is to manage Scotland's seas for prosperity and environmental sustainability. Marine Scotland Science (MSS) plays an important part in supporting the Scottish Government's vision of marine and coastal environments which are clean, healthy, safe, productive and biologically diverse, and managed to meet the long-term needs of nature and people. MSS undertakes research and monitoring to provide scientific and technical advice on a wide range of marine and fisheries issues. The nature of the work is diverse and includes ship and shore-based monitoring, laboratory work and the use of state-of-the-art computer technology and GIS systems to analyse, plot and present the information produced from the research. Website
MARUM, University of Bremen
The University of Bremen (UniHB) is accredited as a German ‘University of Excellence’, notably in the fields of Ocean and Climate Research, Materials Science, Information-Cognition-Communication, Social Sciences, Health Science, and Logistics. UniHB’s success is based on joint ventures with several independent research institutes and the technology park around its campus, creating a nationally recognised hub of high technology. The Centre for Marine Environmental Sciences (MARUM) at the University of Bremen (UniHB), is a central research facility offering a number of technical and scientific services in the field of ocean research and furthermore developing innovative technology in support for scientific operations. Within the last decade MARUM became one of the leading institutions in Germany and Europe to develop and operate sophisticated equipment for marine science applications. Website
Royal Netherlands Institute for Sea Research (NIOZ)
The Royal Netherlands Institute for Sea Research (NIOZ) is the National Oceanographic Institute of the Netherlands and part of the Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research (NWO). Since January 2012 the former Centre for Estuarine and Marine Ecology (CEME) of the Netherlands Institute of Ecology (NIOO-KNAW) has officially merged with the NIOZ. As a result, the NIOZ now has a division located in Texel and one in Yerseke, it employs around 300 people and has an annual budget of approximately €40 million. The mission of NIOZ is to gain and communicate scientific knowledge on seas and oceans for the understanding and sustainability of our planet, and to facilitate and support marine research and education in the Netherlands and Europe. Performing frontier-applied research is an upcoming activity of NIOZ. Website
Dynamic Earth
Dynamic Earth is a science centre based in the UK dedicated to communicating Earth and environmental science in an immersive and interactive way. It attracts 230,000 visitors per annum, including 85,000 school children, with approximately 10% of visitors coming from overseas. The exhibition tells the story of how the Earth works, starting with the historical aspects of the evolution of Earth science in Edinburgh and how this produced the foundations for the models of today. The story then takes visitors from our origins as part of an expanding Universe through to the evolution of continents by moving tectonics plates and how the landscape is shaped by glacial processes. This holistic story continues with the evolution of life and the rich diversity of environments formed by these processes such as the rainforest and polar regions and includes two galleries that explain the importance and variety of habitats found within the oceans. The concluding part of the story uses a 360 degree full dome presentation to show immersive films related to the themes of the centre. Website
University of Oxford
Oxford is a collegiate university, consisting of the central University and colleges. The central University is composed of academic departments and research centres, administrative departments, libraries and museums. The Department of Zoology has research strengths spanning from evolution to ecology, behaviour to biomechanics, and development to disease, and despite its traditional name includes research on animals, environments, plants, bacteria and viruses. Website
University College Dublin
The UCD School of Biology and Environmental Science is the largest School of its type in Ireland. The School provides integrated science to underpin environmental policy and sustainable management and in support of industries that depend on natural resources, including marine fisheries. The research interests of the UCD team (Area 52) include conservation, ecological and population genetics, and evolutionary biology. The team employ genetic tools at population and individual levels to study genetic questions (gene flow, genetic drift, effective population size and selection) and to couple genetics with behaviours (kin-biased behaviours, reproductive success, mate choice, migratory behaviour and life-history). Research in Area 52 is primarily focused on aquatic organisms including fishes, shellfish and hydrothermal vent and methane seep fauna. The team collaborate widely both nationally and internationally with a number of academic and research institutes and also industry. Website
University College London
University College London (UCL) is London’s leading multi-disciplinary university, with 11000 staff, 35,000 students and an annual income of over £1bn. It is the top-rated university in the UK for research strength (REF2014). UCL’s Department of Geography is one of the largest and most distinguished in the country, ranked consistently in the highest category for research excellence in all UK national research assessments to date. Its mission is to produce world-leading research and to translate this into impact in all its forms (scholarly, pedagogical, enterprise, public engagement, policy). Research is centered around six clusters, including Past Climates’, ‘Recent Environmental Change and Biodiversity’ and ‘Science, Politics and Government’. Website
National University of Ireland Galway
The National University of Ireland, Galway (NUIG) is the largest and oldest university based in the west of Ireland, employing in excess of 2,000 staff with a 17,000 strong student population. NUIG is a research-led University and has an overall ranking of 284th in the QS world university rankings for 2013 and 314th in the Times Higher Education world rankings for 2013/2014. Its research and teaching infrastructure is well established, of world calibre and strongly supported. In the past ten years alone, the University invested in excess of €400 million. In 2013, University income exceeded €220 million of which over €50 million was from externally funded research - in excess of €40 million from FP7 including successes in ERC, Marie Curie, Cooperation and Capacities programmes. NUIG has traditionally played a major role in marine research in Ireland due to its strategic location as a gateway to the North Atlantic and has a long history of involvement in European marine research. NUIG is unique in Ireland and much of Europe in that it has under the one academic roof, marine scientists, social scientists and science educationists (formal and informal) working on ocean related research. Website
University of Liverpool
The University of Liverpool (ULIV) is an academic institution delivering undergraduate and postgraduate degree programmes and internationally leading and excellent research, and a member of the Russell Group of UK Universities. Professor Wolff’s expertise in organic biogeochemistry will underpin the characterisation of organic matter thus allowing identification of its sources, including phytodetritus and zooplankton and the biogeochemical activity of Atlantic seafloor ecosystems. Website
Syddansk Universitet
Syddansk Universitet (University of Southern Denmark) is a university with a strong record in teaching, applied and basic research. In the present context USD is represented by the research group of Ronnie N Glud “Biogeochemistry & Climate Change” At the Department of Biology. The group has special expertise in the development, production and application of in situ technology, electrochemical and optical microsensors. These “state-of-the art” measuring approaches are used to characterise and investigate biogeochemical processing in the laboratory and directly in the environment, from sea-ice to the deepest trenches on Earth using sophisticated underwater technology. The focus of his work is to understand how the cycling of essential bio-elements like carbon and nitrogen responds and interrelates with climatic and anthropogenic changes at the micro-, regional and global scales. Website
University of Tromsø – The Arctic University of Norway | UiT
The Norwegian College of Fisheries Science (NFH), an institute at the Faculty of Biosciences, Fisheries and Economics at the University of Tromsø, Norway (UIT), is responsible for development of scientific knowledge within all areas of marine research in Norway. NFH has systematically developed competence, facilities and equipment related to marine and fishery biology, including population structure and dynamics. In the last 30 years NFH has developed knowledge in bio-economic modelling, and more recently knowledge about ecosystem services and their valuation. Teaching and research are primarily focused on the fields of biological oceanography, fisheries biology, assessment, resource management and marine governance and aquaculture. The faculty hosts competence in multidisciplinary studies and on implementing results. The profile of the partner is perfectly suited to the multidisciplinary nature of ATLAS. Website
Scottish Association for Marine Science
SAMS, founded in 1884, is one of the UK’s leading marine laboratories. It employs about 150 staff members and students, and is a multidisciplinary research institute and a collaborative centre of the UK NERC. It runs an undergraduate honours degree course in Marine Science and trains PhD students as an academic partner of the University of the Highlands and Islands. SAMS has been a partner in about 70 EU projects and coordinated at least six. SAMS’ Physics and Technology Department employs 18 people and has long-standing interest in monitoring the circulation in the northern North Atlantic. This interest is maintained with i) annual cruises between Scotland and Iceland (the Ellett Line); ii) annual seaglider deployments between Scotland and Iceland iii) a multidisciplinary mooring at Kongsfjord, Svalbard; and iv) supporting Marine Scotland Science with monitoring transport in the Faroe-Shetland Channel (FSC). SAMS has developed an international reputation for long endurance underwater glider missions in the northern North Atlantic, is a partner in the EU GROOM glider infrastructure project; EU NACLIM project and hosts the North Atlantic Glider Base in Oban. Website
Seascape Consultants
Seascape Consultants Ltd (SC) was established in 2010 to provide solutions and high-level advice to the marine sector, with expertise in the fields of seafloor geological processes, marine biodiversity, ecosystems and habitat mapping, marine data, governance and legislative advice. SC specialise in marine research programme coordination, and currently coordinate the international Global Ocean Biodiversity Initiative (GOBI; www.gobi.org) and provides the Secretariat for the European Marine Observation and Data Network (EMODnet), as well as participating in a range of H2020 projects focused on the marine environment. Website
Spanish Institute of Oceanography
The Instituto Español de Oceanografìa (IEO) is a public research organisation founded in 1914 and dedicated to multidisciplinary marine research. The IEO is the advisory body of the Spanish government in marine affairs, thanks to its wide expertise in the fields of physical, chemical oceanography, marine ecology, marine pollution and aquaculture. The IEO is responsible for providing the scientific basis for the management of marine living resources exploited by the Spanish fishing fleets. It is also responsible for part of the implementation of the Marine Strategy Framework Directive (MSFD) in Spanish waters. The IEO’s headquarters are located in Madrid, but there are 8 coastal oceanographic research centres along the Spanish coastline. The current staffs include about 600 people, with more than 350 scientists. The IEO has long experience in a wide range of ocean surveys and international experiments. Part of its core program is actively involved in the development of ocean observing systems. The IEO has also a long experience collaborating with industry, including fisheries.Website
University of North Carolina Wilmington
Univ. of NC at Wilmington (UNCW) is a major liberal arts institution in the southern USA. Its marine science branch is the Center for Marine Science (CMS) in which Dr Ross is included. UNCW and CMS main tasks are to conduct undergraduate and graduate level education, as well as conduct high level original research. UNCW has both Masters and PhD level advanced degree programs and specialises in marine science. UNCW is also very involved in public outreach on many levels. Website
AquaTT
AquaTT is an SME founded in 1992 under the EU COMETT programme as a University Enterprise Training Partnership (UETP) for the European aquaculture industry, to coordinate the training requirements of the industry through a single body. AquaTT now has more than 20 years of experience in the successful design and management of European Commission-financed projects under a number of programmes including H2020, FP7, Interreg and Leonardo da Vinci. It works in scientific fields related to the marine, food, energy, health, genomics and environment (key sectors for Europe's sustainability) and throughout all stages of the EC project cycle. Website
Iodine
Iodine sprl is a SME created in 2011 aiming to develop research and consultancy in biodiversity and environmental sciences and the development of web tools and software for improving analysis, understanding and management of biodiversity, natural resources and environmental change. IODINE is a partner in FP7 projects: IMPRESSIONS, working on economic analysis of climate adaptation under high end scenarios, and modelling adaptive and coping capacities for use in Integrated Assessment models; and OPERAs, working on development of cost-benefit and multi-criteria tools and applying these in case studies of Mediterranean agriculture and sea-grass conservation, and on policy instruments for operationalising ecosystem services frameworks. IODINE is also currently working for the Université Libre de Bruxelles on a scoping study on bioeconomic modelling for the Southern Ocean and for Economics for the Environment Consultancy (UK) on valuing the wider benefits of the Woodland Carbon Code.
Department Fisheries and Oceans, Bedford Institute of Oceanography (DFO)
The Bedford Institute of Oceanography (BIO) is a major oceanographic research facility, established in 1962 by the Government of Canada and located in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia, on the shore of Bedford Basin. It has grown to become Canada’s largest centre for ocean research. Scientists at BIO perform research mandated by the Canadian government to provide advice and support to government decision-making on a broad range of ocean issues including sovereignty, defence, environmental protection, health and safety, fisheries, and natural resources. Environmental planning and integrated coastal and oceans management are expanding activities at the Institute. Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO) is represented by five divisions within its Science Branch including the Canadian Hydrographic Service (CHS), five divisions within the Oceans, Habitat and Species at Risk Branch, the Aquaculture Coordination Office, and the Canadian Coast Guard Technical Services for technical and vessel support. Together they provide scientific knowledge and advice on issues related to climate, oceans, environment, marine and diadromous fish, marine mammals, shellfish, and marine plants. As well, they are responsible for the fish habitat management protection program, environmental assessments, integrated coastal and oceans management, species-at-risk coordination, and oceans planning initiatives. Website
Seascape Belgium
Established in 2017 as a spin-off from Seascape Consultants Ltd, Seascape Belgium provides high-level advice and sustainable solutions for key stakeholders in the rapidly developing blue economy, including from maritime industry, policymakers, regulatory bodies and civil society. Our team consists of marine science, data and policy experts providing services related to policy advice, research project management and communication, organization of workshops and conferences and stakeholder facilitation. Seascape Belgium specialists have expertise in the fields of ocean governance, maritime spatial planning, oceanography, marine biodiversity, data management and GIS, marine biotechnology, seafloor geology and ocean literacy. Programme management is a key part of our portfolio with our senior partners enjoying well-established and productive relationships with stakeholders across the EU and internationally.
Seascape Belgium staff currently coordinate the European Marine Observation and Data Network (EMODnet) as well as the development of the European Atlas of the Seas (EAS). Seascape Belgium provide input to ATLAS under WP8. Website
ATLAS Advisory Board
The Advisory Board provides expert advice to the Steering Committee (i.e. the lead scientists for 1-10 and the case study coordinator) to guide and inform their decisions to further the project and to highlight opportunities to engage with policymakers, the business community and other stakeholders. The Board consists of experts in the fields of oil and gas, blue biotechnology, fisheries and marine conservation, and is chaired by Dr Jake Rice, Scientist Emeritus of the Canadian Department of Fisheries and Oceans and a leading authority on Vulnerable Marine Ecosystems and Ecologically or Biologically Significant Area policy development.