A new five year aquaculture project aims to facilitate transnational access to leading European aquaculture facilities to support the sustainable growth of aquaculture in Europe.
The project called AQUAEXCEL2020 is funded under the EU’s Horizon 2020 programme and coordinated by the French National Institute for Agricultural Research (INRA).
Dr Marc Vandeputte, a researcher in fish genetics and AQUAEXCEL2020 coordinator, said: “We have gained much experience in the successful forerunner-project AQUAEXCEL, which was funded by the EU from 2011 to early 2015. The new project, AQUAEXCEL2020 will build on the outcomes of AQUAEXCEL, using new modelling and phenotyping tools, standardised experimental fish lines and remote access solutions.”
AQUAEXCEL2020 will integrate 39 top class European aquaculture research facilities that cover all relevant scientific fields, fish species and systems.
It will also support and conduct world-class research and provide the basis for a European aquaculture innovation system from basic research to applied science using ten fish species, including Bluefin tuna, sole and perch.
Nearly half of the project’s €9.7 million budget will go into the provision of transnational access to research facilities and services for both academic and private sector users from industry, especially SMEs.
Academic and industry researchers will be able to perform research projects with “free of charge” access to top EU research facilities.
It will also provide face-to-face and distance learning courses for transnational access users, aquaculture researchers, technical staff and industry stakeholders.
Above this it aims to develop standardised guides and new tools for aquaculture research including a dedicated e-infrastructure which will support both actual and virtual research experiments.
