The Black Sea was in the spotlight for the last of our regional brokerage events as our team engaged with scientists at the MARBLUE 2024 conference in Constanta, Romania. With both a presentation and a poster, our colleagues from the Marine Institute, Bernadette Ni Chonghaile and Frank Armstrong, highlighted the upcoming Transnational Access Funding Call and research infrastructure catalogue and were on hand to answer questions.
The conference, co-organized by AQUARIUS partner, GeoEcoMar, focused on protecting the Black Sea by supporting sustainable development through multidisciplinary approaches, bringing together scientists and innovators to discuss both fundamental research and technological advancements.
Research infrastructures are central to enabling these advancements, and the event provided an excellent opportunity to engage with marine researchers from academia and blue economy sectors. AQUARIUS research infrastructures in the Black Sea and Danube River were highlighted and scientists were reminded that AQUARIUS was enabling transnational access to research infrastructures from across Europe’s regional sea-basins (and primary catchments) by supporting them to travel to and use research infrastructures from countries other than their own.
An example of AQUARIUS research infrastructures in action was provided by our SOCIB colleague, Nikolaos D. Zarokanellos, in a presentation showing how their ocean gliders were used to reveal restratification processes and resultant biogeochemical impact in the Black Sea. The gliders enhance our observing capabilities and can also contribute to the regional Digital Twins. These gliders and all of the 57 research infrastructures that will be made available in the first Call can be found in our catalogue.
View the research infrastructure catalogue!
To prepare for the opening of the Calls on November 11th, the team advised potential applicants to begin building their proposals as soon as the call opens, and to explore the infrastructure catalogue in advance to ensure that their proposals reflect an understanding of available resources. Early engagement with the AQUARIUS team is encouraged to seek guidance and address questions.
The event saw participants actively engaging with the AQUARIUS team. A few of the questions raised were the following:
Q: Is there a limit on the amount of funding available per Transnational Access (TA) project?
A: AQUARIUS is encouraging large super-integrated ambitious projects, all proposals received will be evaluated based on scientific excellence and then logistically evaluated to ensure ‘value for money’ for the project.
Q: Will the project provide funding for TA researchers to focus on the impact of their projects?
A: AQUARIUS funding is in the form of access to the available research infrastructures, however AQUARIUS Work Package 7 is dedicated to disseminating and communicating not just the AQUARIUS project activities but the funded TA projects also.
For all the information you need to prepare a winning proposal, check out our TA calls page.
