EUROFLEETS 2 General Assembly “New operational steps towards an alliance of European research fleets” Next steps after EUROFLEETS 2 EUROFLEETS 2 General Assembly Brussels 31st January 2017 Aodhán FitzGerald Marine Institute Collaborative Project Coordination and Support Action www.eurofleets.eu

What next after Eurofleets 2 ? Research Infrastructures (RI) have been recognised as a key foundation for building a truly effective European Research Area (ERA) and for reaching the goals of the Innovation Union. European researchers, as well as industry and public bodies, need access to the highest quality research infrastructures to ensure the advancement of European knowledge, research performance and technology development. Europe’s Marine Research Fleet is a major infrastructure asset, making an essential contribution to the excellence of Europe’s science base and vital to achieving a knowledge-based society. The Eurofleets 1 (2009) and 2 (2013) initiatives addressed the issue of the fragmentation and relative inefficiency of European Research fleets. They included a highly successful Trans National Access programme, providing access to a total of 28 Ocean and regional class vessels and mobile infrastructure in diverse locations across Europe and the Polar Regions 2

Eurofleets+ Building upon past efforts (Eurofleets 1 & Eurofleets 2) there is a continued requirement to reinforce efforts to ensure a coherent approach to coordinating the research fleets. Such coordination is vital for an efficient and fit-for-purpose fleet able to meet diverse and emerging user needs of the European marine research community as well as other stakeholders Proposing the inclusion of a call topic in the Horizon 2020 Advanced Communities Infrastructure Call 2018-2020 Programming Cycle for the Infrastructure Domain Area – Marine Research Vessels. Integrating activities towards a coordinated and fit for purpose European Marine Research fleet (Eurofleets+) Already many major Research Institutes and Research Organisations are committed to this continued pan-European collaboration including: Marine Institute (IE); Alfred Wegner Institute (DE); CNR, OGS (IT); CSIC (ES); DTU Aqua (DK); IFREMER (FR); Institute of Marine Research (NO); RBINS, VLIZ (BE); TTU (EE). 3

Eurofleets+ Ambitions of a 2018 Advanced Communities project (INFRAIA) for Marine Research Infrastructure – Marine Research Vessels A dedicated call for Advanced Communities would provide support for a specific Integrating Activity, combining networking activities, Trans-national access and Joint Research activities. A four year project with a budget of approximately 10M Euros is expected to achieve these ambitions The Eurofleets+ Advanced Community would be an enhancement and evolution of the successful previous integrating initiatives providing added value and service evolution. Eurofleets+ is well placed to utilise the well networked and integrated community that has emerged from the previous efforts to address the evolving scientific demands from the EU, European research community and other stakeholders.  

Eurofleets+ Planned Activities: Provision of transnational access (TNA) to a modern pan-European RV fleet and associated subsea infrastructures TNA calls to be focused on modern cost effective Regional vessels and associated equipment to maximize the amount of shiptime to be made available for more ambitious projects with consequent higher impact. TNA targeted calls to focus on addressing relevant societal challenges TNA call focusing on access for young scientists TNA calls to enhance access for multinational and multidisciplinary groups and countries with little or no access to Modern RV’s TNA calls will be expanded to also allow industrial actors to apply and access the infrastructure to test/validate new equipment/technologies/services. TNA calls to be interlinked where possible with other initiatives such as JPI Oceans to offer opportunities for funding of data analysis phase of proposals following completion of surveys TNA calls to include initiatives combining RV’s and Underwater systems

Eurofleets+ Networking activities will include specific actions and operational initiatives to enable the European fleet of vessels and vehicles to meet the evolving needs of the marine scientific user community and will be closely integrated with and supporting the TNA themed calls NA activities to include: Examining the adaptation of new and existing vessels, equipment and operational strategies to meet current and emerging needs of several areas including: European Ocean Observing System, offshore renewable energy installations, large scale seabed mapping campaigns, multi-use offshore platforms and autonomous vehicle operations Training and upskilling of the next generation of marine/maritime scientists with dedicated participation through customised training programmes including access to ship-time on state-of-the-art vessels and equipment. Assess and pilot strategies and new technologies for E–access and remote participation/access by researchers Dissemination and Exploitation Plan (DEP) will ensure two-way engagement with relevant stakeholders Concerted actions will be undertaken to set up a long-term, sustained research vessel network of Excellence in Europe

Eurofleets+ Joint Research Activities Working with Industry partners on improving the operational efficiency of the RV fleet though study of the specific adaptation of emerging technologies for propulsion and power generation to the unique needs of research vessels Assess and pilot strategies and technologies for E–access and remote participation and access by researchers to further maximise the capacity of the fleet and infrastructure and Eurofleets+ will collaborate with Seadatacloud and other research infrastructures to facilitate the European Open Science Cloud (EOSC). To that end, the initiative will build upon the state of the art in ICT and e-infrastructures for data, computing and networking

Next Steps National Delegate (Ireland) has been consulted to investigate fit with upcoming calls Recruitment of further interested partners including industrial partners Further development of potential JRA and NA activities