ESF Euromargins now secure funding of more than 12 million €

EUROMARGINS is a new activity of the European Science Foundation (ESF) that has as its principle focus the imaging, monitoring and modelling of the physical, chemical, and biological processes that are occurring in the passive continental margin.

Last year, following a process of reviewing and evaluation, a total of 14 full proposals were recommended for funding.  These covered topics ranging from the crustal “architecture” of conjugate volcanic margins, through studies of slope stability on glacier-fed and river-fed margins, to studies of carbonate mounds and deep-water coral reefs and their relationship to seafloor seepages in margins. Funding for all 14 proposals has since been secured to a level of more than 12 million euros.

The EGS-EUG-AGU meeting in Nice will provide a first opportunity for all of the people involved to meet and to celebrate the current achievements of the EUROMARGINS Programme at an official ESF reception at Agora 3 in the evening of Thursday 10 April 2003.

The Member organisations (MOs) that comprise EUROMARGINS currently include Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, The Netherlands, and the UK. Links have been established with the international programme, Inter-MARGINS, and it is hoped that other nations of Europe, especially those with long coastlines, will join EUROMARGINS in the future. Expectations are that the Programme will become fully operational in the second half of this year when the Networking, hopefully with the support of European Commission funds, will be put into place.

EUROMARGINS has already been a European success in that it has brought together research groups that had little previous history of collaboration, encouraged the support and mobility of young scientists, and promoted the sharing of expensive technologies such as ships, deep-tow and seafloor instruments.

The challenge for the future will be to use this success to address the main research themes of EUROMARGINS and, importantly, the links between them.

EUROMARGINS is part of the ESF EUROCORES programme scheme. These programmes are designed to provide an effective and efficient collaboration mechanism at the multi-national level within Europe and to mobilise national funding in basic research to tackle issues that have European-wide relevance. Participating MOs jointly define a research programme, specify the proposal call, and support the international peer review of the applications, with final funding decisions residing with participating national bodies. ESF acts as a catalyst by conducting the international peer review, offering project management, and by the “networking” of scientists who are involved in the individual projects.

For more information on EUROMARGINS please contact
Dr. Svenje Mehlert

Category: Media Centre, Press Releases 2003