Alan Berry, of the Marine Institute, provided some closing remarks on the importance of the ESFRI process and projects to marine and energy infrastructures in Ireland. Delegates heard about Ireland via University College Cork leading the Marinerg-i research infrastructure project on offshore marine renewable energy – appropriate given the event took place next door to the LIR National Ocean Test Facility. Ireland participates in 10 ESFRI projects to different degrees of engagement. Ireland is a full member of the EMSO (European Multidisciplinary Seafloor and water column Observatory), ICOS (Integrated Carbon Observation System) and Euro-Argo European Research Infrastructure Consortiums.
ICOS Ireland is a multi-domain, multi-thematic and cross agency collaboration where carbon measurements are collected from atmosphere, ecosystem and ocean stations. This effort is supported by the Environmental Protection Agency, National Park & Wildlife Service, Met Eireann, Teagasc, Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine and the Marine Institute. Ireland has strong engagement in the Jerico coastal observatory project, soon to join the ESFRI Roadmap, dedicated to a holistic appraisal of coastal marine system changes through ocean observations.
Researchers across Ireland are also engaged in the Danubius, EPOS (European Plate Observing System), ACTRIS, eLTER and new Forest research infrastructure dedicated to the distribution of ultra-stable and accurate time and frequency signals, developed with atomic clocks by national metrology institutes which provide the legal time in each country.
In the marine domain, Ireland’s Ocean Observing System, EirOOS, is underpinned by access to the research vessel fleet overseen by the Eurofleets which is an alliance of European marine research infrastructure to meet the evolving needs of the research and industrial communities. National access to state-of-the-art European research infrastructures and collaborative research activities are facilitated by engagement in Horizon Europe funded projects such as Aquarius and Risenergy.
Overall, it was a highly successful event with over 120 conference delegates from across Europe present. It formed an important opportunity to highlight the importance of research infrastructure investments, such as the INSPIRE programme, underpinning excellence of national research in the energy, environment and marine domains.
For further information contact Fiona.Grant@Marine.ie and to find out more about Horizon Europe, go to https://horizoneurope.ie/
