MASTS Engagement in European Research (MEER) funding success

MASTS is offering funding to assist MASTS colleagues submit bids for EU research funding (e.g. Horizon Europe, Interreg etc) and to attend ICES Working Group meetings.

Applications can be submitted at any time whilst funds remain available. Find out more from this application form.

MEER funds may be used for a wide range of engagement with the Europe research framework process, not just the preparation of funding proposals. Examples include establishing network connections; showcasing skills and capabilities; and participating in specific networking activities both for policy influencing and project preparation.

MASTS members can apply for up to £5k for European Research proposal assistance or £500 for ICES Working Group engagement.

In 2024, the following MASTS members were awarded MEER funding:

• Dr James Thorburn (ENU) – April 2024. Funds to attend a workshop for the development of the MOSIAC proposal bid, seeking funding from the PEACEPLUS funding programme, administered by the SEUPB. Awarded £610.
• Dr Craig Smeaton (USTAN) – May 2024. Fjord carbon cycling: Joint development EU COST Action proposal.Fjord carbon cycling: Joint development EU COST Action proposal
• Prof Paul Fernandes (HW) – July 2024. Funding for travel and subsistence costs to attend an in-person meeting in Copenhagen to draft the final second stage proposal which will target the Call: HORIZON-CL6-2024-FARM2FORK-02-6-two-stage: Minimising climate impact on fisheries: mitigation and adaptation solutions for future climate regimes.
• Dr Katie Brigden (UHI) – July 2024. Funding for travel and accommodation costs to attend an in-person proposal writing meeting in Brussels which will target the Call: HORIZON-CL6-2024-FARM2FORK-02-6-two-stage: Minimising climate impact on fisheries: mitigation and adaptation solutions for future climate regimes.
• Dr Elina Apine (St Andrews) – Aug 2024. Funding for travel, accommodation and subsistence to host a workshop in Estonia in October 2024. The expected outcomes of the workshop will contribute to: (1) formalising an interdisciplinary network of researchers looking at improving public participation as a key process to achieve environmental targets in the Baltic Sea, (2) identifying research priorities to improve the mechanisms of public involvement in the Baltic Sea region and ideas for grants to address identified research gaps.
• Prof Keith Davidson (SAMS-UHI) – Aug 2024. Funding for travel and accommodation to attend a final proposal writing meeting in Copenhagen for a project targeting the HORIZON-CL6-2024-FARM2FORK-02 (Fair, healthy and environmentally-friendly food systems from primary production to consumption) Call. 

Pools Engagement in European Research (PEER) Funding Successes

PEER funds were used for a wide range of engagements with the EU framework process than purely for the preparation of funding proposals. Examples included establishing network connections; showcasing skills and capabilities; and participating in specific networking activities both for policy influencing and project preparation.  These types of activities were at an earlier stage of engagement with the EU Framework process.

2018/19

• Adam Hughes (SAMS): Aquavitae – new species, processes and products contributing to increased production and improved sustainablity in emerging low trophic, and exisiting low and high trophic aquaculture value chains in the Atlantic. Download brief final report.
• Lois Calder (MASTS Grad School Dean): Young talent and the blue economy – European Parliment event. the report from the European Parliament event on Marine Graduate Training is now ready and available at:https://mailchi.mp/1a7045618ce0/young-talent-and-the-blue-economy-report.  
• Tara Marshall (Aberdeen): Support to be a member of the European Marine Board working group on Big Data and Marine Science. 
• Elizabeth Cottier-Cook (SAMS): Support to attend proposal development meeting for CAB-DRIVER – Changing Arctic Biodiversity – drivers, ecosystem effects and societal implications.

2017/18

• Kate Johnson (HW): EU H2020 BG-04-2017 Multi-USe of OCeans Marine Space, Offshore and Near-Shore: Enabling Technologies. Download brief final report.
• Mark James (St Andrews): Strengthening regional cooperation in the area of fisheries data collection. This application to the EU was successful and will involve 50 scientists, 14 institutions and 10 member States. The project worth 0.5M Euros will be coordinated by St Andrews University.
• Niall Fallon (Aberdeen): Improving fishery management and food security in Europe by closing knowledge gaps and implementing solutions for sustainable resource exploitation. Download brief report.
• Mark James (St Andrews): Monitoring small scale fisheries.
• Colin Adams (Glasgow): SeaMonitor 2 proposal development for EU Interreg 5A funding. This PEER funding helped to secure 4.5M Euros for this project. Download brief final report.
• David Paterson (MASTS): Brexit and MASTS. Final draft of the MASTS Brexit Symposium available to download here
• Lucy Greenhill (SAMS): Attendance of the 6th EMB Forum Event Implementing the UN 2030 Agenda: What role for marine science?
• Murray Roberts (Edinburgh): Assessing the status of Atlantic marine ecosystems. December 2018 Success – Awarded €10.65M and of this €2.93M will be awarded to Scottish institutions.
• Kate Johnson (Heriot Watt): EU H2020 LC-SC3-ES-4-2018-2020 Decarbonising energy systems of geographical islands. Download brief final report.

2016/17

• Adam Hughes (SAMS). Support for ‘Increasing Industrial Resource Efficiency in European Mariculture’  FP7-ENV-2012-second stage ENV.2012.6.3-1 Visit IDREEM website.
• Thom Adams (SAMS). Participation in the Salmonids West Programme Download final report
• Kenny Black (SAMS). Optimising space for aquaculture Download final report This EU project has been funded.
• Stuart Cunningham (SAMS). Support for ‘Design of the Integrated Atlantic Ocean Observing System (DIAOOS) Download final report
• Sheila Heymans (SAMS). Early stage consortia building at the ICES Working Group on ecosystem based management for the Mediterranean and Atlantic. Download final report.
• Clive Fox (SAMS) and Paul Fernandes (Aberdeen). Discard ban, drivers, consequences and solutions proposal meeting. Download brief report.
• Claire Gachon (SAMS). EMBRC INFRADEV4 proposal development. Download report.
• Tavis Potts (SAMS). ECOPROFISH – Economic profitability of fisheries and aquaculture in Europe. Download brief report.
• Karen Alexander (SAMS). Early stage H2020 networking at Ecopath30 conference. Download brief report
• Mark Inall (SAMS). BG-7-2015: Response capacities to oil spills and marine pollutions.
• Alan Baudron (Aberdeen): Forecasting and anticipating effects of climate change on fisheries and aquaculture (ClimeFish) – a H2020 proposal. Download brief report.
• Paul Fernandes (Aberdeen): Forecasting and anticipating effects of climate change on fisheries and aquaculture (ClimeFish) – a H2020 proposal. Download brief report.
• Murray Roberts (HW): ATLAS: A Trans-Atlantic Assessment and deep-water ecosystem-based Spatial management plan for Europe. Quote from Prof Roberts – “We received a PEER grant for the second stage of this submission and I’m very grateful for that support as it was pivotal in helping us pull the bid together. ATLAS will be a 9.1M Euro project running over four years with 25 partners across the EC, US and Canada. Our proposal scored 14.5 out of 15 and was the highest rated proposal in this call.” Visit project website. In November 2020, this project was awarded the Atlantic Project Award for the development of International Cooperation.
• Joanne Porter (HW): Cool waters: wrecks and ecology in the North East Atlantic.
• Susana Baston (HW): Research Network on Marine Connenctivity (iMarCo) Download brief report.
• Mark James (USTAN): Development of the FishPi proposal for EU funding. FishPi was a research project with the aim of “Strengthening regional cooperation in the area of fisheries data collection”. The project brought together over 40 experts from 13 scientific institutes in 12 countries (10 member states (MS)) and two internationally recognised survey design experts. It was funded by EU MARE grant MARE/2014/19, with a 14 month timeline commencing in April 2015. The projects final report is available to download. The project management team was made up of Marine Scotland Science & MASTS Directorate.
• Mark James (USTAN): Development of an integrated system for assessing the activity of the Scottish Inshore Fishing fleet for fisheries management and marine planning purposes. Find out more.
• Oscar Gaggiotti (USTAN): International marine connectivity network – first annual meeting and proposal writing sessions. Download brief final report.
• Natalie Hicks (SAMS) & Nick Kamenos (Glasgow): £5,000. Biodiversity-driven biogeochemical cycling and ecosystem service provision under climate change. Download brief final report.

Post-Doctoral and Early Career Researcher Exchanges (PECRE) Successes

The main purpose of this funding was to provide research training and development opportunities for post-doctoral and early career researchers working within the Scottish research pools, whilst at the same time, building experience of international collaboration with academia and/or industry. The funding supported Postdoctoral and Early Career Researcher exchanges. The exchange could have been in either direction.

2018/19

• Catherine Horswill (Glasgow) to visit Dr Christophe Barbraud (CNRS) for 1 month from 16/7/18. The project is “Comparative demography and population dynamics of UK seabirds”. Download brief final report.
• Matteo Marasco (UHI) to visit the Naval Postgraduate School, Monteray for 1 month in November 2018. The project is “Techniques for investigating current circulation using direct signals from High Frequency Radar system”. Download brief final report.
• Chris Secombes (Aberdeen) to host Sreeja Lakshmi (Kerala University) for 45 days from 1/5/19. The project is “How to improve gill health in aquaculture”. Download brief final report.
• Denise Risch (SAMS) to host Jens Koblitz (University of Constance) for 7 weeks from 13/5/19. The project is “Acoustic localisation of echolocating harbour porpoises around salmon aquaculture facilities in Scotland”. Download brief final report.
• Jacqui Tweddle (Aberdeen) to host Maria Kavanaugh (Oregon State University). The project is “Policy implications for remotely sensed pelagic habitats”.

2017/18

• Oscar Gaggiotti (St Andrews) hosting Milaya Nykanen (University College Cork) for 3 months from 10/7/17. Evaluating the role of protected areas for the long-term conservation of coastal bottlenose dolphins in the UK and Ireland. Download brief final report.
• Deborah Wood (Stirling) visiting the European Synchrotron Radiation Facility, France for 6 weeks from 14/6/17. Mineralogy of nanoparticulate and colloidal iron filtered from seawater. Download final report.
• Ana Rodriguez (Heriot Watt) Investigation into the larval behaviour and ecology of O. edulis. 6 week visit to Danish Shellfish Centre from mid June 2017. View paper produced from this work and Download final report
• Christopher Secombes (Aberdeen) to host Yamila Carpio from the University of Havana for 2 months from 1/9/17. Project is “Development of Assays to Detect Rainbow Trout IL-22, a Key Regulator of Antimicrobial Responses” Download final report.
• Stefano Carboni (Stirling) to host Susanna Vogeler (University of Gothenberg) for 3 months from September 2018. The project is “Neurotransmitter regulation of larval settlement and metamorphosis in commercial oyster species” Download brief final report.
• Guillaume Goodwin (Edinburgh) to visit Louisiana State University & Florida State University from 8 November 2017 for 38 days. The project is “Detecting, modelling and analysing the morphology of salt marshes”. Download final report.
• Soizic Garnier (Strathclyde) to visit the University of Washington for 7 weeks from February 2018. The project is “Optimal-detail circulation models for fjords and sea lochs: an application to the Puget Sound”. Download brief final report.
• Tommy Norrin (Glasgow) to visit University of New Brunswick for 4 months from April 2018. The project is “How do physiology and behaviour co-vary across critical environmental thresholds in fish?” Download brief final report.
• Denise Risch (SAMS) to visit NOAA and San Diego State University for 6 weeks from 15th August 2018. The project is “Effective management of acoustic data and metadata for marine (bio)acoustics”. Download final report.

2016/17

• Dr Dominic McCafferty (University of Glasgow) and Dr Susan Gallon (CNRS, France). The energetics of moulting southern elephant seals determined by thermal imaging. May-August 2013. Download Report.
• Anna Kinter (University of St Andrews) and Dr April Blakeslee (Long Island University, NY). Phylogeography, population links and gene flow between Obelia geniculata hydrozoans in northern Scotland. Autumn 2013. Final report. Further details from Anna Kintner.
• Dr Luke Rendell (University of St Andrews), Dr David Lusseau (Aberdeen University) and Dr Shane Gero (Dalhousie University). Dynamics of social relationships and vocal communication among sperm whales” June/July 2013. Download Report.
• Dr Tony Gutierrez (Heriot Watt University) visiting the Universities of North Carolina and Georgia. North East Atlantic Data baseline on the microbiology of oil degrading communities. March 2014. Download Report.
• Prof Lindsay Ross (University of Stirling) and Dr Huiwen Cai (Zhejiang Ocean University, China). Development of a bioenergetics model on nutrient loading assessment from cage farming in China. Publication in Environmental Science & Pollution Research (2016), 23: 7529-7542. Download Report
• Prof Alexandra Adams (University of Stirling) and Dr Wanna Sirimanapong (Thailand). Development of in vitro and in vivo models for screening potential algal compounds to mitigate Francisellosis in tilapia. June – August 2015. Download report.
• Dr Jen Loxton (UHI) and Uliana Nerliudova and Ekatarina Schevchenko (St Petersburg). Techniques for investigating the life history of Schizoporella japonica: a unique and troublesome non-native fouler. A two way exchange from November 2014 for 4 months. Download report
• Dr Ildiko Somerjai (St Andrews) and Dr Jr-Kai Sky Yu (Taiwan). Development of amphioxus as marine chordate regeneration models. A two way exchange from January 2015 for 6 weeks. Download report.
• Dr Yong Sung Park (Dundee). Lattice Boltzmann modelling of breaking waves. A one way exchange to University of Rhode Island in April 2015 for 2 months. Download final report.
• Thom Linley (Aberdeen). Description of a new species of hadal snailfish from the Mariana Trench. A one way exchange to the University of Hawaii for one month. Download report. Nov2017 – Species now named as Pseudoliparis swirei – see publication
• Len Thomas (St Andrews) and Jason Matthiopoulos (Glasgow) hosting Dr Theoni Photopoulou (University of Cape Town) for 2 months from June 2015. State-space and Hidden Markov Models for diving and flying animals with time-depth and acceleration data. Download report.
• Mark James (St Andrews) hosting Franziska Broell (Dalhousie University) for 3 months from 1 July 2016. Assessment of the potential to use high-resolution activity sensors in monitoring the behaviour and interactions of individuals and communities of both fish and crustaceans. Download brief final report.
• Dr Nick Kamenos (Glasgow) hosting Dr Sophie McCoy (Florida State University) for 2 months from 15th March 2016. Changes in the molecular scale structure of coralline algae over three decacdes of ‘natural’ ocean acidification. Download report.
  
• Simon Waldman (HW) visiting Prof Changhong Hu (Kyushu University Fukuoka, Japan). Modelling the effects of tidal energy extraction from the Goto Islands, Japan. Download report. Download published paper.
• Larissa Naylor (Glasgow) hosting Dr Lynette Loke (Singapore University) for 1 month Sept/Oct 2016. Enhancing the ecological outcomes of artifical coastal defences. Download final report
• Jasper Kenter (SAMS) hosting Lina Isac of KTH Royal Institute of Technology. Valuation of relational values of marine ecosystem services. Download brief final report.
• Martin Hurst (Glasgow) visiting 3 institutions in New Zealand from Feb 2017 for 2 months. Coupled modelling of rocky shore platform formation and cosmogenic isotope production