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Marine centres receive major funding

27 January 2006

The National Centre for Ocean Forecasting, based at the Met Office, has been awarded £568,000 to further research into forecasting the weather in the oceans.

NCOF was one of 29 innovative British projects awarded a share of the Department of Trade & Industry's £25m Public Sector Research Exploitation (PSRE) fund, designed to help public sector projects market their cutting edge research.

Dr Mike Bell, Head of NCOF, said, "This funding is very welcome. It provides an excellent opportunity for us to further develop web-based services and will also help us to both develop and strengthen links with businesses throughout the marine industry."

Professor Alan Thorpe, Chief Executive of the Natural Environment Research Council, also welcomed the award.

He said, "NCOF's work - in helping to predict coastal flooding, for example - provides valuable knowledge that could save a lot of effort and expense if the predictions are accurate. It is critically important to use research for economic benefit and the new funds will help our scientists to do that."

The centre is collaboration between the Met Office, Plymouth Marine Laboratory, Proudman Oceanographic Laboratory, the National Oceanography Centre, Southampton, and NERC's Environmental Systems Science Centre. It focuses on short-range (5-10 days) predictions of surface waves, storm surges, sea ice, ocean temperatures, salinities and currents and ocean ecosystems for both the deep ocean and shelf and coastal seas. The funding will be used to further the centre's commercial activities.

A further award of almost £800,000 has been made to a consortium led by the Plymouth Marine Laboratory. The money will help to convert its research into cutting-edge services in key sectors such as healthcare and tourism, and marine and environmental technologies that will benefit both science and the economy.

David Robins, Head of Corporate & External Affairs at PML, said, "We are delighted with the news of this award which is further evidence that South West England's marine and environmental science base is among the most innovative in Europe. We must use the funding from the DTI to engage with businesses across the region, to ensure our world-class knowledge is transferred to developing companies in South West England for the benefit of the wider UK economy."

Another NERC collaborative centre has also been awarded a share of the PSRE funds.

The Sea Mammal Research Unit (SMRU) at the University of St Andrews won £381,000 to develop new commercial applications for scientific instruments used to track marine animals and to provide scientific services to the marine industry.

Professor Ian Boyd, Director of SMRU said, "This funding provides us with an opportunity to find broader applications for the kinds of methods and technologies we have been developing in our research. Studying marine mammals is difficult because they occupy a remote, hostile world which is very difficult to observe. SMRU has developed methods to observe marine mammals and to assess their distribution and abundance. These methods, and the data we collect, are of increasing interest to industries that use the marine environment or exploit marine resources. We want to be able to provide these industries with the information and methods they need to use the marine environment in a sustainable way."

Further information

NERC Press Office
Natural Environment Research Council
Polaris House, North Star Avenue
Swindon, SN2 1EU
Tel: 01793 411561
Mob: 07917 557215

Met Office press office
Tel: 01392 884629

University of St. Andrews press office
Tel: 01334 462530

Press release: 3/06

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