About the National Oceanography Centre

Our Organisation

• Four sites, from ship to shore

  650 staff are employed across Southampton, Liverpool, RRS Discovery and RRS James Cook. We are co-located at both shore sites with leading UK Universities, giving us a unique position in UK marine research.​ A truly multi-disciplinary centre, our research encompasses Marine Physics and Ocean Climate, Marine Systems Modelling, Ocean BioGeosciences, and Ocean Technology and Engineering. We are home to the nation’s marine data assets: the British Oceanographic Data Centre (BODC), the British Ocean Sediment Core Research Facility (BOSCORF) and the Discovery Collections.

• NOC Innovations Ltd

  Through our trading subsidiary, NOC Innovations Ltd, we provide a vital link between science and business, enabling technology and research to transfer to industry and for revenue to be generated to support our charitable purposes.

• Collaborative Science

  We work collaboratively with over 40 other UK marine institutions through the NOC Association for Marine Science National Capability Beneficiaries, and engage with users of the UK marine infrastructure through the Marine Facilities Advisory Board, and with the beneficiaries of our long term underpinning National capability Science programmes, through the CLASS Advisory Board.

• International co-operation in science

  We facilitate international co-operation in science by representing the UK internationally, leading the UK delegation of the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission of UNESCO, through our membership of the European Marine Board, and through partnerships with other research institutions and organisations worldwide.