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Activity Funded

Centre for Marine and Environmental Research (CIMA)

Centro de Investigação Marinha e Ambiental (CIMA)

Reference
UIDB/00350/2020
Project Start Date
2020-01-01
Project End Date
2024-12-31
Principal Investigator
Scientific Area
Exact sciences
Funding Program
Concurso de avaliação no âmbito do Programa Plurianual de Financiamento de Unidades de I&D (2017/2018) - Financiamento Base

Abstract

10.2 Summary in English for general dissemination purposes The new structure of CIMA results in the constitution of two research domains, namely "Ocean and Coastal Dynamics" and "Environmental Systems and Resources" representing the expertise of CIMA members. Accordingly,the new strategic program is built on this new integrated structure following a Research-Tools-Management-Dissemination (RTMD) approach aiming to identify research challenges in the areas of Ocean and Coastal Dynamics and Environmental Systems and Resources, and to address the European Commission Societal Challenges and United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, namely at issues linked to Environmental Systems and their resources and/or Ocean and Coastal Dynamics. The project integrates four trans-disciplinary objectives into a cutting-edge cohesive research program that address significant fundamental and applied scientific questions and respond to changing research priorities and societal needs, including the digital revolution and open science for and to society. The first main objective is “Understanding the dynamics of oceans (from the coast to the open ocean)” and aims to holistically approach the complex interactions between coastal and marine subsystems applying interdisciplinary methods in operational systems, remote sensing and modelling. The second main objective is “Developing sustainable resource exploitation” and aims to provide the bases for assessment and development of activities related to eco-design and eco-efficiency with a special emphasis on: sustainable waste management and bioprocess engineering, mineral resources assessment, marine energy, seafood quality indicators and microbial molecular ecology. The third objective is “Assessing and mitigating global changes and risks” and refers to the assessment of the impact of global change and human activities over marine and terrestrial environments as well as derived risks for ecosystems and human health, well-being or safety. Finally, the fourth objective “Capitalizing knowledge towards a sustainable and resilient society” emerges from the need of capitalizing the knowledge produced within the other objectives and intends to promote the transfer of acquired knowledge to the general public to support either personal, community or society decision-making. CIMA supports decision-makers regarding environmental, coastal and marine strategies, planning and management, as well as SMEs and institutions being more efficient and user-friendly, in an effort to preserve the environment. The PhD and MSc students, as well as undergraduates, that are part of the CIMA research team benefit from this approach to society needs and challenges, that also reflect the quality of the research and CIMA building capacity. CIMA is engaged in Open Science politics, fostering and applying the 3O's (Open Innovation, Open Science and Open to the World), as a way of supporting the priority areas of smart specialization and CIMAs international recognition. 10.3 Summary in English for evaluation During the former multiannual Funding Program (2013-2017), CIMA was structured according to four thematic research nodes, each of which addressing a mixture of fundamental, strategic and applied research, spread across several tasks, being evaluated as Very Good program but with no programmatic funding. This lack of funding might be one of the reasons of the difficulty to develop CIMA structure and of the decrease in the research indicators during the two last years, when no national project funding program has been available to maintain the research team, that managed however to raise an important international and European funding over this period (around 6 Meuros) and maintain the high quality in research, and even the leadership in some areas. During this period, five researcher grants (IF) funded by FCT integrated the center that allowed the initiation of new innovative research domains into the digital revolution. However, the former structure turned out to have some redundancies and lack of integration between tasks, as also pointed out in the reports from the external advisory board. Therefore, a new structure proposal was discussed among CIMA members and with external advisory board andcivil society advisory panel, resulting in the constitution of two research domains, namely “Ocean and Coastal Dynamics ” and “Environmental Systems and Resources”, representing the expertise of CIMA members. Accordingly, the new strategic program for 2018-2022 was built on this new integrated structure following a Research-Tools-Management-Dissemination (RTMD) approach aiming to identify research challenges in the areas of Ocean and Coastal Dynamics and Environmental Systems and Resources, and to address the European Commission Societal Challenges and United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, namely at issues linked to Environmental Systems and their resources and/or Ocean and Coastal Dynamics. The resulting 2018-2022 project integrates four trans-disciplinary objectives into a cutting-edge cohesive research program that address significant fundamental and applied scientific questions and respond to changing research priorities and societal needs, including the digital revolution and open science for and to society. The first main objective is “Understanding the dynamics of oceans (from the coast to the open ocean)” and aims to holistically approach the complex interactions between coastal and marine subsystems applying interdisciplinary methods in operational systems, remote sensing and modelling. This objective will include the development of multidisciplinary observatories in coastal waters and allow increasing the understanding of marine (physico-biogeochemical) processes. The second main objective is “Developing sustainable resource exploitation” and aims to provide the bases for assessment and development of activities related to eco-design and eco-efficiency with a special emphasis on: sustainable waste management and bioprocess engineering, alternative fuels and energy efficiency in bioprocessing, mineral resources assessment, marine energy, seafood quality indicators and microbial molecular ecology. The third objective is “Assessing and mitigating global changes and risks” and refers to the characterization of the paleoenvironment from geological archives, the assessment of the impact of global change and human activities over marine and terrestrial environments as well as derived risks for ecosystems and human health, well-being or safety. Finally, the fourth objective “Capitalizing knowledge towards a sustainable and resilient society” emerges from the need of capitalizing the knowledge produced within the other objectives intends to promote the transfer of acquired knowledge to the general public to support either personal, community or society decision-making. Several actions will be designed in order to promote sustainable anthropogenic activities, develop environmental assessment and monitoring guidelines and provide information for a sustainable society (public, management and policy making). Since the four objectives have their main targets linked to regional and national priorities, CIMA will continue to support decision-makers regarding environmental, coastal and marine strategies, planning and management, as well as SMEs and institutions being more efficient and user-friendly, in an effort to preserve the environment. The PhD and MSc students, as well as undergraduates, that will be part of the CIMA research team will benefit from this approach to society needs and challenges, that also reflect the quality of the research and CIMA building capacity. Besides the existing consolidated expertise, CIMA will hire young and dynamic researchers to develop new forefront scientific areas relevant to the main objectives and to finally establish a more stable research organization. By strengthening its engagement in Open Science politics, fostering and applying the 3O's (Open Innovation, Open Science and Open to the World), as a way of supporting the Regional, National and European priority areas of smart specialization (EREI and RIS), CIMA will also extend its visibility to an already established internationalrecognition. Indeed, CIMA already demonstrated a strong and international relevant portfolio of marine and environmental science, in the past years, that will be enhanced in the future, as already revealed by the incorporation of CIMA Members in high quality international scientific networks and EU H2020 projects. Finally, CIMA will also continue to reinforce the internal discussion across the groups to develop new expertise, new ideas and innovative approaches, organizing workshops and seminars, in which students will also be encouraged to participate and share ideas.

Institutions

Main Institutions

  • Centro de Investigacao Marinha e Ambiental (CIMA UALG/FCMA/UAlg)
  • Universidade do Algarve (UALg)

Funding 843.750,00 €

Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (FCT) - Portugal

843.750,00 €