Partnerships with business
The University of Plymouth Marine Institute is a corporate member of trade and industry organisations on behalf of the University, such as the Society of Maritime Industries, Institute of Marine Engineering, Science & Technology (IMarEST), and the Society of Underwater Technology.
We also support, through sponsorship, partners such as the RNLI, Seafarers UK and Seaman’s Mission. Each year the Marine Institute sponsors a swim around Burgh Island for the Chestnut Appeal for Prostate Cancer.
Partnerships for local marine conservation
University of Plymouth Marine Institute is a main partner, alongside local councils, managing the Wembury Marine Centre (WMC) run by Devon Wildlife Trust.
A European marine site operating since 1998 and set within beautiful Wembury Bay, the WMC provides a centre for education and public outreach on marine life and marine conservation, with thousands of school children each year benefiting from talks and experiencing rockpool rambles.
An internship scheme provides opportunities for University of Plymouth students to work at the centre and at Devon Wildlife Trust’s main headquarters in Exeter.
Our research work within Lyme Bay has resulted in multiple partnerships with organisations from fishermen to government departments, in particular, working with charities such as the Blue Marine Foundation.
With the National Marine Aquarium, the Marine Institute has been partnering with Fish2Fork, a restaurant reviewing charity focused on sustainable seafood, in order to assess and improve engagement with seafood sustainability across Plymouth.
This has developed into a partnership with the city council and the Waterfront Partnership of Businesses and Restaurateurs in an effort to make Plymouth the world’s first Fish2Fork Blue City, where the majority of its restaurants are positively rated for their sustainable sourcing and providing customer's with information.
International partnerships
Targeting one of the Marine Institute's key aims, we have been actively developing collaborative partnerships with leading organisations abroad.
One specific focus has been with marine and maritime institutions within China and the MI has memorandum of understandings signed with the Chinese Academy of Science’s Institute of Oceanology in Qingdao (IOCAS), their Guangzhou Institute for Energy Conversion and Shanghai Maritime University.
A true collaborative partnership to jointly push forward important marine research issues, the relationship with IOCAS (China’s largest and most prestigious marine institute) has seen reciprocal exchange visits by staff, and three focus projects with young scientists from IOCAS spending several months in Plymouth working within our research centres.
Current developments include partnerships within Sri Lanka, the Middle East and Brunei-Darussalam, but a main push across the city of Plymouth is looking towards 2020 and the 400th anniversary of the sailing of the Mayflower.
Planning is well underway for joint celebrations between Plymouth UK and Plymouth Massachusetts, upon which University of Plymouth is building exciting partnerships with marine and other institutions across New England.