The European Marine Biological Resource Centre
In short: the European Marine Biological Resource Centre (EMBRC) is a Distributed Research Infrastructure providing services to support research on marine biological resources. Its end users are researchers and technological engineers from academia, universities, and from the private sector.
The European Marine Biological Resource Centre (EMBRC) is a distributed Research Infrastructure (RI) composed of marine biological stations and institutes across the European Research Area (ERA). Teams of scientists in EMBRC engage in interdisciplinary research and technological development in marine biology and ecology. The RI is equipped with state-of-the-art research platforms and instruments organized into scientific services. External users from academia and industry can access this stimulating scientific ecosystem to pursue fundamental and applied research on marine bioresources. In particular, EMBRC aims to drive forward the development of blue biotechnologies.
The distributed nature of EMBRC enables it to provide access to the entire marine biodiversity along the European coast, far beyond what each station in isolation can offer. Each of the stations specializes in particular sets of model species, permitting EMBRC as a whole to offer a broad array of models for innovative scientific and technological applications. EMBRC gives its users unprecedented access not only to its interconnected research infrastructure but also to its background knowledge and expertise, thereby greatly facilitating the research endeavors of its external users. The integration of resources and knowledge on such a large scale over the decades to come will enhance the efficiency of training, knowledge transfer, international collaboration and EU global positioning in marine biological sciences. It will foster the development of key enabling technologies, in particular blue biotechnologies. Developments in these fields will, in their turn, stimulate blue growth, economic development and human wellbeing across the ERA. In conclusion, the RI will have an enormous potential in fostering research, education and innovation in marine biology. It will contribute to creation of excellence needed to achieve the goals established in the "Europe 2020 Strategy" and the "2010 ESFRI Roadmap".
EMBRC constitutes one of thirteen Research Infrastructures (RI) on the Biological and Medical Sciences (BMS) group and it forms a bridge towards the Environmental Sciences RIs.
EMBRC obtained three years funding from the European Commission to prepare itself. At the close of this preparatory phase, January 2014, an EMBRC Business Plan and a ready-to-sign Memorandum of Understanding was delivered, inviting countries to express their willingness to set up the EMBRC as a European Research Infrastructure Consortium (ERIC). The signatories, France, Norway, the UK, Belgium, Spain, Portugal, Italy, Greece and Israel, established an EMBRC Implementation Board with the overarching tasks to set up EMBRC and apply for the ERIC status. The Board appointed a General Director, which has commenced her work for EMBRC. France was selected by the partners to host the statutory seat and therefore, the EMBRC core office is located at the UPMC in Paris. Each of the signatory countries has established a national node staffed by a node director and a liaison officer to guarantee optimal collaboration with the core office.
Central Core Office: UPMC, Paris, France
Executive Director: Nicolas Pade
Web: www.EMBRC.eu
Head Quarter secretariat: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. - This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
