The NOC is the UK’s national centre of excellence for large-scale, long-term sustained oceanographic research.

The NOC plays a key role in enabling the entire UK marine community contribute to global scale programmes addressing the most pressing environmental questions of our generation.

The NOC has a distinctive role in the UK’s marine science landscape. Specifically, because of its scale and organisation it is able to: ​

  • Create a critical mass of research capability, effort and expertise; to provide enhanced research productivity, visibility, exploitability; or rapidly to strengthen an underdeveloped area ​
  • Foster co-ordinated and co-operative multidisciplinary approaches to its main research area, ocean science;
  • Encourage a long-term research vision and strategy; ​
  • Enable long-term survey, monitoring and data management activities underpinned by research;
  • Provide a full-time research-centred environment;
    • Open up scientific career paths and opportunities which may not be available within university or faculty structures;
  • Develop and provide facilities and services; and
  • Allow greater investment in capital equipment and the skills of support staff, because of the more stable environment.

Partnerships Team

To deliver its national remit the NOC provides and undertakes