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Activity Funded

Institute of Marine Sciences - OKEANOS - University of the Azores

Instituto de Investigação em Ciências do Mar - OKEANOS - Universidade dos Açores

Reference
UID/05634/2025
Project Start Date
2025-01-01
Project End Date
2029-12-31
Principal Investigator
Scientific Area
Agricultural sciences
Funding Program
Avaliação UID 2023/2024

Abstract

The IICMar–OKEANOS, a research unit of the UAc, focuses on scientific research and education in marine ecosystems, with special emphasis on coastal, open ocean, and deep-water realms. Over the past five years, it has spearheaded international projects, scientific expeditions, and technological advancements, raising over 26M€. The Unit has attracted top talent researchers and played a pivotal role in marine innovation, conservation and management, enhancing its visibility and internationalization. For the 2025-2029 period, OKEANOS intends to reinforce research and monitoring in coastal areas, driven by a major conceptual ambition to deepen the understanding of marine biodiversity, ecosystem interactions and functioning, including impacts of global changes, both climatic and anthropogenic. Some of the key subjects that will drive research include the understanding of ecological coupling between deep-sea, open ocean, and coastal ecosystems; the study of impacts and responses of a changing ocean on the ecological structure, functioning, vulnerability, and resilience, of those ecosystems; the evaluation of cumulative impacts of anthropogenic pressures and the study for the development of technology to monitor, experiment and develop restoration techniques for such ecosystems. The R&D strategy focuses on five interconnected pillars: (i) Ecological and anthropogenic processes aim to characterize ecosystems, fauna, trophic processes, services, and human pressures and impacts in the major oceanic realms (deep-sea, open ocean, and coastal). This includes studying the impacts of changing oceanographic systems, of invasive species, noise or marine litter, and exploring connections between coastal areas and the other ecosystems, (ii) Innovation and Technology, fosters scientificprogress, in collaboration with technological companies and other R&D units, for the improvement and co-development of innovative ocean research observation and sensing technologies (e.g., telemetry tags, vision technologies, acoustics, SMART cables, underwater observatories, autonomous vehicles, data integration, processing, and modelling to support research. (iii) Blue Economy, promoting applied scientific knowledge to advise and leverage diversification and sustainability of existing economic sectors and emergent blue growth opportunities. (iv) Knowledge forGovernance, aiming to advise and transfer knowledge to governmental and management entities supporting public policies for societal challenges, the blue economy, and science or conservation, at local, national, and international levels. (v) Ocean education and Literacy, which focuses on continuous support to UAc undergraduate, master's and doctoral programmes, collaborating with other universities and vocational training schools. This strategic approach leverages essential resources and collaborations with various marine research organizations, positioning OKEANOS at the forefront of marine research and conservation.

Institutions

Main Institutions

  • Okeanos - Instituto de Investigação em Ciências do Mar (Okeanos - UAc/UAçores)
  • Universidade dos Açores (UAc)

Funding 2.299.594,15 €

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

2.299.594,15 €