The BioProtect project consists of 18 partners from 8 countries.
BioProtect - The Team
Matís ohf.
MATIS, is a leading R&D company in Iceland with a wide portfolio of interdisciplinary research and a track record of successful international project management (e.g., EcoFishMan, MareFrame, ClimeFish, PrimeFish, FarFish). With around 100 employees all around Iceland, Matís focuses on innovation and value addition. Most of the projects are carried out in collaboration with food producers, universities and all those who in some way provide services to the food industry. Matís role is to strengthen the competitiveness of Icelandic products and the economy, ensure food safety and sustainable use of the environment through research innovation and services as well as improving public health.
Contribution to BioProtect:
MATIS is the coordinator of the BioProtect project, the leader of WP9: “Project management and coordination”, while contributing to a wide variety of tasks.
MATIS is also leading various tasks: mapping and monitoring biodiversity using eDNA (Τ3.5), developing and deploying of an application to estimate CO2 emissions during fishing operations (Τ4.5), developing of an area-based management decision support framework portfolio (“BioProtect ABM-DSF” portfolio) (Τ8.3) and is also responsible for the project exploitation strategy, IPR and ethical obligations management.
Sjokovin
Sjókovin – Blue Resource is a private, not-for-profit research centre, based in the Faroe Islands, with the objective to foster sustainable development and innovation in fisheries and aquaculture.
They are leading experts in socio-economic impact assessments, ecosystem service valuations, resource management, risk assessments, value chain and market analysis of fisheries and aquaculture. Sjókovin – Blue resource also specializes in policy and governance analysis. They have been involved in multiple international projects, such as MarineSabres, FarFish, Aquavitae, NextGenProtein.
Contribution to BioProtect:
Sjókovin – Blue Resource is leading WP6: “Evaluation of socio-economic impacts”.
ICES
The International Council for the Exploration of the Sea (ICES) is an intergovernmental marine science organization, meeting societal needs for impartial evidence on the state and sustainable use of our seas and oceans.
Our goal is to advance and share scientific understanding of marine ecosystems and the services they provide and to use this knowledge to generate state-of-the-art advice for meeting conservation, management, and sustainability goals.
We are a network of nearly 6000 scientists from over 700 marine institutes in our 20 member countries and beyond. Over 2500 scientists participate in our activities annually.
Contribution to BioProtect:
In BioProtect, ICES offers continuous and on-demand support to strategic initiatives like the Galway and Belém statements, AAORIA, the EU Biodiversity Strategy, the EU Arctic Policy, and the EU’s International Ocean Governance Agenda. This is achieved through regular communication, event participation, and feedback provision, facilitating knowledge transfer and co-implementation by policy partners and stakeholders.
Universitaet Bielefeld
The Faculty of Technology at the University of Bielefeld has been a front runner in interdisciplinary computer science curricula. It is known for Intelligent Systems and Bioinformatics, biodata Mining Group works on Computer Vision in Natural Sciences and marine image analysis since 2008, data-driven approaches (machine learning, and (deep) learning neural networks).
Contribution to project:
University of Bielefeld will be involved in the development and analysis of computational marine video / image data analysis, collection of annotated data sets in collaboration with partners, definition of gold standards and best practice protocols for image and video annotation in BIIGLE and in citizen Science projects with the online BIIGLE.party system
National University of Ireland Galway (NUIG)
The University of Galway is a public research university located in the city of Galway, Ireland.
It has traditionally played a major role in marine research in Ireland due to its strategic location as a gateway to the North Atlantic and has a long history of involvement in European marine research.
Contribution to BioProtect:
NUIG is leading WP5: “Multi-scale ecosystem-based conservation and restoration planning”, as it has extensive expertise in MSP and area-based prioritisation of conservation activities.
Marine and Fresh Water Institute of Iceland
MFRI is a governmental institute focusing on marine and freshwater ecosystems in Iceland, responsible for the delivery of scientific advice on the total allowable catch (TAC) for each year (or fishing year) for any exploited species, to the ministry of food, agriculture and fisheries.
The research work is almost exclusively conducted with the support of external funds related to the monitoring, restoration and conservation of Biodiversity while it is involved in several EU projects including B-USEFUL, Marine Beacon, REDRESS and Marine Sabres.
Contribution to BioProtect:
MFRI is leading WP3: “Advanced strategies to map, monitor and forecast marine biodiversity”, is part of the scientific coordination team and leader of the Icelandic Demonstration Site (DS).
Marine Institute
The Marine Institute is Ireland’s State agency responsible for marine research, technology development and innovation.
It has a strong history of participating in large international projects and researchers within the organisation have a successful history of developing collaborative science-industry partnerships with a wide variety of stakeholders including the fishing industry.
Contribution to BioProtect:
In BioProtect, the Marine institute will utilise its expertise in MSP and socio- economical research approaches to the marine environment, ultimately facilitating good connections with all stakeholders involved in the Irish Demonstration Site (DS).
INDIGO MED SMPC
INDIGO MED (IMED) is a Science Communication & Ocean Literacy consultancy, providing professional design and implementation of communication & dissemination strategies for EU-funded projects. With solid experience in ERASMUS+, EASME & H2020 projects, IMED provides dissemination of knowledge & outputs to all stakeholders as needed, through effective citizen/stakeholder engagement, strategic communications, and tailored content creation.
Contribution to BioProtect:
IMED is in close collaboration with all WPs and is leading WP8: “Maximising Impact: Dissemination, Exploitation and Communication” delivering the project’s dissemination, exploitation and communication plan (DECP) together with AIR Centre, creating the project’s branding & communication and dissemination materials together with MATIS and designing and implementing communication and outreach activities for citizens and stakeholders.
SUBMARINER
SUBMARINER Network is a cooperation platform for actors and initiatives across the Baltic Sea Region and beyond, promoting innovative approaches for the sustainable use of marine resources to protect the marine environment and promote a sustainable economic development.
SUBMARINER has extensive experience in working with diverse groups of stakeholders, in ensuring the continuous overarching and long-term knowledge exchange and transfer outside ‘project boxes’, and in creating inter-project, inter-institutional collaboration.
Contribution to BioProtect:
In BioProtect, SUBMARINER will lead WP1: “Stakeholder engagement & co-design” and contribute mainly to WP2: “Improved governance and management” and WP7: “Capacity building and showcasing the BioProtect solutions”.
Norwegian Institute of Marine Research
The Norwegian Institute of Marine Research (IMR) is a national research institute owned by the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Fisheries. Its main office is in Bergen, while is has 1098 employees.
IMR provides monitoring, science and management advice of oceans and coasts related to fisheries, aquaculture, food safety, other marine sectors & cross sector issues, and climate change.
Contribution to BioProtect:
IMR is the Demonstration Site leader for Norway and will contribute to connectivity in conservation planning pressures from human activities on marine biodiversity, the BioProtect marine planner and the BioProtect PPGIS analyser.
NOFIMA AS
Nofima is a Norway’s leading food research institute, covering the entire value chain for the aquaculture, fishing- and food industry. Nofima has extensive experience in working with topics such as sustainability, resource management and societal impact in connection to those industries and has engaged in multiple Norwegian and international research activities related to marine and coastal governance.
Contribution to BioProtect:
Nofima is leading WP2: “Improved governance and management” and will lead the work on analysing how the solutions developed in the project can fit into existing governance structures, and the creation of a good practice recommendation for integrating conservation measures to reduce cumulative pressure from human activities on marine biodiversity.
UiT - The Arctic University of Norway
The Arctic sustainability lab at the UiT hosts some of the foremost experts globally in identifying, mapping, and assessing pressures from human activities on Arctic marine environments. It is the world’s northernmost university with 16.721 students, 3866 employees and more than 40 H2020 Horizon Europe projects.
Contribution to BioProtect:
UiT is leading WP4: “Addressing pressures from human activities on marine biodiversity” as well as T5.2 “Develop and demonstrate workflows supporting identification of ecological corridors as part of a blue Trans-European Nature Network”.
Universidade de Aveiro
CESAM is a Research Unit of the University of Aveiro with the status of “Associated Laboratory” since 2005. CESAM’s mission is to promote transdisciplinary and transformative research and knowledge exchange to address societal needs, namely environmental and marine challenges, global change processes, and sustainable solutions for the management and conservation of natural resources and the well-being of ecosystems and humanity. This is achieved through three main lines of research: Climate Change, Adaptation and Mitigation; Environmental Management, Pollution and Modelling and Socio-Ecological Systems and Resources.
Contribution to BioProtect:
CESAM co-leads the NW Portuguese Demonstration Site and will contribute to all WPs with different activities including engaging with stakeholders to map deep-sea diversity using cost-effective technology, map human pressures and to prioritise areas for protection.
CIIMAR
CIIMAR is a private, not-for-profit, Centre of Excellence in Marine and Environmental sciences linked to the University of Porto. Its mission is to promote transdisciplinary research, technological development, advanced training, and support public policies, contributing to advancing scientific knowledge and sustainability of the Ocean.
It focuses in three main research areas: Global Changes and Ecosystem Services, Aquaculture and Seafood Quality and Marine Biotechnology.
Contribution to BioProtect:
CIIMAR is the co-lead of WP3 “Advanced strategies to map, monitor and forecast marine biodiversity” and the Portugal Demonstration Site, and it will be leading T2.1 “Mapping of governance frameworks for managing pressures from human activities and marine biodiversity”.
INESC TEC
INESC TEC is an R&D non-profit research centre and technology interface institution in Porto, Portugal with almost 900 researchers, more than 1000m2 lab space, 19m coastal research ship and a Robotics & Autonomous Systems Centre.
Contribution to BioProtect:
It will contribute specifically to WP3 “Advanced strategies to map, monitor and forecast marine biodiversity” and the development of eDNA Biosampler and the robotic solutions for deep sea.
AIRC
AIRC (Associacao para o desenvolvimento do Atlantic) promotes transdisciplinary collaboration between multiple actors throughout Atlantic regions, in this way facilitating emerging technological innovations and advances in space, renewable energy and data science, and through international cooperation. The AIR Centre coordinates the Mission Ocean Atlantic & Arctic Coordination and Support Action Lighthouse Hub.
Contribution to BioProtect:
AIRC is leading WP7: “Capacity building and showcasing the BioProtect solutions”, T8.4. “Networking & synergies” and is building capacity and showcasing the feasibility, replicability and scalability of the BioProtect solutions in other regions.
IMAR
IMAR is a not-for-profit Association as a network of Public Portuguese Universities involved in Marine Science and Technology. IMAR is hosted at the University of the Azores. IMAR facilities in the Azores are dedicated to field work and aquaria with living organisms (DeepSeaLab, aquaculture), diving, scientific equipment, research vessels and deep-water camera systems.
Contribution to BioProtect:
IMAR has specialized aquaria facilities (DeepSeaLab) dedicated to the experimentation with deep-sea organisms and manages vessels for the collection of the organisms that will be used in the aquaria experiments. It will also contribute to mapping and modelling human pressures (e.g. plastics and fisheries) across Demonstration Sites.
Universidade dos Acores
The Institute of Marine Sciences – Okeanos is a research unit of the University of the Azores. Okeanos-UAc is commissioned to leverage the mid-Atlantic strategic position and conduct leading research and education to advance the understanding of the deep-sea and the open ocean in a changing planet, promoting the sustainable blue economy and management of marine ecosystems for the benefit of the society and the environment.
Contribution to BioProtect:
UAc is the Azores Demonstration Site leader with excellent connection with the fishermen, local authorities and communities.
