UU opens new £1.5 million marine research centre

Specialist coastal research at the University of Ulster has got a massive boost this week following the opening of a new £1.5 million Centre for Coastal and Marine Research.

Funded by the Science Research Investment Fund (SRIF), the new facility at the Coleraine campus will be a hub for world-class research into the processes that shape the coastline, the record of human activities on the coast, and contemporary coastal zone management issues.

Speaking at the opening of the Centre, Professor Gerry McKenna, Vice-Chancellor of the University of Ulster, said: “Among our most significant areas of activity for the foreseeable future will be environmental science, environmental education, and environmental management. Universities should expect to play a central role in this work.

"Through analysing the records of previous changes of sea level we will become better equipped to manage future climate change. And by understanding the complex processes which influence coastline development we will be better placed to reduce the impact of the more damaging of them.”

The Head of the School of Environmental Sciences, Professor John McCloskey, said the opening of the new Centre was yet more evidence of the growing strength of environmental sciences at the University of Ulster.

"Our research profile is now clearly at a leading international level in several important areas of environmental research including in freshwater science and in the understanding of the unpredictability of natural hazards," Prof. McCloskey said.

"We expect to break records in 2004 for research grant income and in the impact of our research papers. Our coastal sciences group, of course, continues to lead the way, making significant impacts across many diverse areas of the understanding of how coasts work. We are delighted with the new Centre and look forward to a bright future in coastal research," he concluded.

(MB)