About the Network

EUR-OCEANS is a European network of excellence bringing together scientists from a number of scientific disciplines including; climate change, marine ecosystems and biogeochemistry. The EUR-OCEANS (European Network of Excellence for Ocean Ecosystems Analysis) network is co-funded by the Sixth Framework Programme of the European Community. The network gathers 69 research institutes and universities from 25 countries. Network activities began at the beginning of 2005 and are intended to run until December 2008.

The key overall networking objective is to achieve lasting integration of both European research organisations on global change and pelagic (i.e. offshore) marine ecosystems and the relevant scientific disciplines.

The overall scientific objective is to understand and predict the impacts of climate change and anthropogenic forcing on marine pelagic (i.e. offshore) ecosystems and to understand as fully as possible the effects that changes in the marine environment may have on fish and other living resources. This will be achieved through the development and application of models to assess and forecasting the impacts of climate and anthropogenic forcing on food-web dynamics ( i.e. the structure, functioning, diversity and stability of marine food-webs).


Through the support and facilitation of scientific workshops and meetings, the EUR-OCEANS Network will help promote scientific integration and collaborative projects across Europe. The annual EUR-OCEANS Conference provides a forum through which network members can share knowledge and scientific development. In 2008, when the initial period of the network is drawing to a close, a major scientific conference will be held to help place the Network in a wider context and discuss its long term future.

Activities which focus on the spreading of excellence help to ensure that the network remains grounded on policy and management needs both at the European and global level. An organisational scheme has been created to help to clarify the different levels, operational activities and linkages within EUR-OCEANS. Click here for further general information about the network.

Click here for the main EUR-OCEANS site