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Project

Portugal Twinning for Innovation and Excellence in Marine Science and Earth Observation (PORTWIMS)

RV Polarstern.  Photograph courtesy of the Alfred Wegener Institute

Completed project

Project start: September 2018  |  Project end: May 2022
Funder: EC
Principal Investigator: Steve Groom
Other participants from PML: Dr Hayley Evers-King, Jennifer Lockett
Website: http://portwims.org

Through innovation, collaboration and capacity building, PORTWIMS aims to enhance the science, technology and profile of marine science at the Faculty of Sciences, University of Lisbon (FC.ID, Portugal) through twinning with two research-intensive internationally-leading institutes: Plymouth Marine Laboratory (PML, UK) and Alfred Wegener Institute Helmholtz Centre for Polar and Marine Research (AWI, Germany).

PORTWIMS will significantly increase research excellence of FC.ID, with a particular focus on Earth observation, socio-economics, modelling and oceanographic research. Individuals at various levels will benefit from our range of training courses and exchanges that provide opportunities for learning, collaboration and knowledge exchange. These activities will include:

  • exchanges of personnel, including one-to-one mentoring, and expert visits involving one-to-many training and networking;
  • summer schools, focusing on PhD students and post-docs;
  • on-site training in laboratories and on research cruises, and loan of state-of-the-art equipment at no cost to the project;
  • collaboration, training and partnership-building for preparation of research proposals to national authorities, the European Commission and the European Space Agency;
  • enhancing the number and quality of outputs and increasing impact through open-access publications, and attendance at conferences;
  • improving application of research and development outputs for policy and governance;
  • turning innovative ideas and research into knowledge-intensive services and products and creation of spin-offs and other initiatives.