The Scottish Funding Council (SFC), together with the original MASTS member institutions, invested approximately £75M between 2009-2016 in developing MASTS. MASTS (Phase I) was launched on 4th November 2009 in Edinburgh. 

MASTS had the ambition to become an integral and important part of the national framework of excellence in marine science in Scotland and was awarded an additional five years of funding for MASTS Phase II. Modest funding is received from the SFC, but the majority of MASTS funding is now provided by contributions from its Member organisations. We continue to work hard to become self-supporting as an independent entity beyond the SFC funding period. In 2023, MASTS enters phase III.

This pooling of marine research talent has a constituency of more than 700 researchers with the management of resources consisting of over £66 million annually. 

MASTS supports this high level strategy by promoting and delivering science and training of the highest standard to better understand marine the marine environment. MASTS actively seeks to encourage productive dialogue and understanding between scientists, other marine experts and interested parties in all sectors, including those responsible for policy development and regulation.

The MASTS research agenda is driven by scientific excellence and contributes to the vision of ‘clean, healthy, safe, biologically diverse marine and coastal environments, managed to meet the long-term needs of people and nature’.