Concept

INESC TEC is exploring the research area of marine science and technology in an effort to address the challenges imposed by the Portuguese region of maritime influence:

Dimension: coverage of a vast area of water and soil, where the sole use of manned vehicles is unfeasible if physical presence on site is required.

Depth: exploration and exploitation of deep and ultra-deep sea, where human physical presence is not an option.

Addressing these challenges implies putting together multiple competences, in many complementary scientific fields within the marine science and technology area. The multidisciplinary and applied nature of the area demands a new scientific and technological perspective.

Besides improving deep knowledge in their field, researchers will need to acquire new knowledge in adjacent fields of expertise and work together within multidisciplinary teams, bringing up a new multidisciplinary researcher profile that has broader and deeper scientific knowledge and understands the requirements of the stakeholders.

This will be of utmost importance to raise the levels of knowledge of INESC TEC's researchers and generate new ideas with higher scientific and economic impact, as well as to successfully address the challenges of applied research and work at different technology readiness levels.

The implementation of the STRONGMAR concept will be done by means of two complementary set of coordination and support activities, with the aim of contributing to the two ultimate goals of this twinning action:

Raise the scientific knowledge of INESC TEC’s researchers in key areas of marine science and technology.

Improve the INESC TEC researcher’s profile in marine science and technology.

Five pillars support the project’s concept:

Multidisciplinary collaboration network

A new collaboration network involving top European research institutions in the marine science and technology area, articulated with existing networks in specific fields of expertise.

Broad and focused training

A training strategy based on sessions touching multidisciplinary aspects followed by sessions focused on specific fields of expertise, allowing researchers to improve their knowledge and preparing them for the research and implementation challenges in the sea harsh environment.

Thematic workshops

Focused workshops that enable researchers to go deeper and improve their knowledge on specific topics and skills in the marine science and technology area, as well as improve their knowledge in adjacent fields of expertise.

Hands-on training

A training strategy targeting not only theoretical training but also hands-on training, enabling direct application of the knowledge acquired and improve their understanding of the actual requirements of the stakeholders, allowing them to design solutions with higher economic potential.

Cross-fertilization

Interchange and interaction among different fields of expertise is fundamental to address the ocean challenges, due to the multidisciplinary nature of the application area. Cross-fertilization among fields of expertise is also key to stimulate the design of better specific solutions.