Net Zero Oceanographic Capability (NZOC) | National Oceanography Centre

NZOC (Net Zero Oceanographic Capability) is a £250k scoping project funded by NERC to inform planning for the future low carbon oceanographic research capability in line with UKRI’s objectives of becoming a net zero organisation by 2040. NOC’s National Marine Facilities (NMF) division has been selected to lead a team of national experts investigating the drivers and enablers of future oceanographic research.

The project includes six work packages investigating future:

science need,
policy & regulation,
ship technologies,
Marine Autonomous Systems (MAS),
sensor systems & networks, and
data ecosystems.

The project welcomes interest from UK and international academic and industry players who wish to contribute to the recommendations that will inform NERC’s strategic planning.

Read the 2022 NZOC Summary Report

Aim

The project aims to:

Understand the science and policy drivers that will shape data needs by 2035 and beyond.
Understand how research might be impacted by the transition to a low carbon research infrastructure.
Consider how to extract information from the data.
Identify the technology trends that may contribute to reducing the carbon footprint of the oceanographic research infrastructure.
Understand the commercial technology landscape and how this may influence the research infrastructure (supply chains, COTS solutions etc.).
Identify the opportunities for national and international collaboration that may benefit the future capability.

People

WP	Topic	WP Lead	Organisation	WP Deputy	Organisation
4	Marine Autonomous Systems (MAS)	Dr Maaten Furlong	NOC (NMF)	Prof. Sara Bernardini	NOC (formerly at Royal Holloway)
5	Sensors	Prof. Matt Mowlem	NOC (DST)	Dr James Fishwick	PML
6	Data Ecosystems	Dr John Siddorn	NOC (formerly at Met Office)	Alvaro Lorenzo	NOC (NMF)
3	Ship Technologies	Colin Day	NOC (NMF)	Andy Tate	DSTL
–	PI	Leigh Storey	(formerly at NOC, NMF)	–	–
–	PM	Kristian Thaller	NOC (CBS)	–	–
–	Industry Advisor	Dr Peter Collinson	Independent Technology Transformation Strategist	–	–
1	Science Need	Dr Kate Hendry	University of Bristol	Dr Eleanor Frajka-Williams	University of Hamburg (formerly at NOC, DST)
2	Policy & Regulation	Prof. Steve Fletcher	University of Portsmouth	–	–