Marine Alliance for
Science & Technology Scotland
a marine partnership for Scotland

MASTS

The Marine Alliance for Science & Technology for Scotland (MASTS) pools the research talent, involving about 700 researchers, and the management of resources, consisting of over £66 million annually, in marine science from across Scotland. It strives to ensure that marine science in Scotland can remain internationally competitive. It provides the academic platform and knowledge for marine governance and commerce by helping to establish a Scottish strategy for marine science that will deliver increased value to the public from its investments.

These investments are being made in nine joint research themes that cover regions from the coasts to the deep oceans and subjects from the effects of global change to fisheries and aquaculture. They also enhance our ability to deliver first class training in marine science to support continuity of excellent research talent in Scotland. Nine institutions from Scotland are partners in this venture that promises to deliver a new approach to shared sovereignty and a shift away from a system involving competition between a large number of small research centres to one where there is strong strategic collaboration.

MASTS 2012 Annual Science Meeting

The 2012 MASTS ASM will be held at Heriot Watt University on 11-13 September. More details will follow but please mark this date in your diary.

Student Grants for WFC

The Marine Alliance for Science and Technology for Scotland are delighted to announce that they will be sponsoring ten grants of £500 each, for student attendance at the World Fisheries Congress in May 2012. This grant can be used towards registration, travel and accommodation costs. To apply, students must have a supervisor at a MASTS institution.

Any students who would like to receive one of these grants should send an email to masts@st-andrews.ac.uk by Friday 16th March detailing the following:

• Name of student:
  
• Email contact
  
• Have you been accepted to display a poster?
  
• Have you been accepted to present an oral presentation?:
  
• How will attendance at the WFC be of benefit to you? (max 250 words)
  
• How will your attendance at the WFC be of benefit to the wider MASTS community? (max 150 words)
  
• How will the £500 grant be spent?
  

The grant applications will be assessed by an external panel and applicants will be notified of whether they have been successful or not by Friday 6th April.

Further details regarding the World Fisheries Congress can be found at www.6thwfc2012.com/

SFC Funding Opportunities

POOLS ENGAGEMENT IN EUROPEAN RESEARCH (PEER):

Individuals from MASTS funded Institutions are invited to submit a funding application to offset non-recoverable costs involved in preparing FP7 proposals at the pre-award stages. Each PEER application can be for a maximum of £5,000 for any one FP7 proposal (which must involve a Scottish SME).

The EU's latest call for research proposals focuses on innovation and getting good ideas to market. PEER applications may be submitted to the MASTS Directorate at anytime. PEER Application Form (Word doc).

POST DOCTORAL AND EARLY CAREER RESEARCHER EXCHANGES (PECRE):

The main purpose of this funding is to support postdoctoral and early career researcher exchanges with Europe, North America, China and India. Each exchange must be for a minimum of one month. Individuals from MASTS funded Institutions are invited to submit a funding application for eligible costs (restricted to economy travel and subsistence).

Each PECRE application can be for a maximum of £7,500. The closing date for this round of PECRE applications is Thursday 29th March 2012. PECRE Application Form (Word doc).

MASTS 'Small Grant' Scheme

The Small Grant Scheme

The 2011 round of the MASTS Small Grant Scheme attracted 28 applications in total. Following external review, 19 applications for funding were successful.

Further details (Word doc).

The next round of MASTS SGS funding will be released in May 2012

Communicating UK Marine Science

The UK Marine Science Communications Strategy was published last year, as an MSCC initiative. The first action to go live is a UK Marine Science Events Calendar. The calendar aims to act as a central information point to aid planning and to avoid clashes in timetabling. More actions from Communicating UK Marine Science are expected to be rolled out over the next months (and years).

Centre for Expertise for Waters (CREW)

The Scottish Government is funding the development of a Centre for Expertise for Waters (CREW). This initiative is led by the James Hutton Institute (JHI) which, in collaboration with other HEI’s, will take forward a series of projects agreed with Scottish Government and designed to fulfil specific policy objectives. Further details and documents.

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