Strategic marine research programme of the UK Natural Environment Research Council (OCEANS 2025)

Summary of the project

The Oceans 2025 programme is funded by the UK Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) to deliver key strategic goals in marine science through a partnership of seven leading UK marine centres. Starting in 2007, this five-year programme will improve our understanding of how the ocean behaves, how it is changing, and what this means for society.

The seven Oceans 2025 partners are: National Oceanography Centre, Southampton (NOCS); Proudman Oceanographic Laboratory, Liverpool (POL); Plymouth Marine Laboratory (PML); Scottish Association for Marine Science, Oban (SAMS); Sea Mammal Research Unit, St Andrews (SMRU); Marine Biological Association of the UK, Plymouth (MBA); and Sir Alister Hardy Foundation for Ocean Science, Plymouth (SAHFOS).

Three national facilities are also supported through Oceans 2025, providing services to the wider UK marine community as well as to the programme: British Oceanographic Data Centre (BODC); Permanent Service for Mean Sea Level (PSMSL); and Culture Collection of Algae and Protozoa (CCAP).

Oceans 2025 will increase our knowledge of the size, nature and impacts of marine environmental change. The coordinated approach from the marine centres, together with complementary work by university researchers and close liaison with governmental bodies and other stakeholders, will be critical to developing sustainable solutions for the management of marine resources for future generations.

Area of study

UK and European estuaries, coastal waters and shelf seas; also worldwide fieldwork and modelling interests (particularly North and South Atlantic, Arctic Ocean and Southern Ocean).

TimeTable for activities

Formal programme funding: April 2007 – March 2012