The first INSITE Call for Proposals led to a Phase 1 research programme consisting of nine projects that concluded in 2017. In 2018, Phase 2 of INSITE was developed in partnership with NERC. NERC launched its INSITE Call for Proposals in 2019 and in April 2020 awarded around £5Million in grants to seven projects addressing the three Challenges in the NERC Announcement of Opportunity.
INSITE Webinar Series focuses on six impact themes identified by stakeholders.
Changes in the ecosystem which occur due to the placement of man-made structures in the marine environment or as a consequence of their removal
Comparisons between the ecosystem structure and function on native and nonnative hard substrate
Variability in ecosystem structure and function on man-made structures against varying temporal scales
An estimated 30,000 km2 of the marine environment worldwide is host to man-made infrastructure and recent studies have shown that in addition to structural changes at these sites the abundance and diversity of sea-life is also modified.
With an extensive body of research already completed across North Sea sites, the programme of science led by INSITE, is continues to inform this relatively new area of interest.
Anthropogenic structures are deployed in marine environments to support industrial activities such as energy production. Sessile marine organisms rapidly colonise these offshore structures, which in turn attract mobile invertebrates, fish and top predators.
Principal Investigator: Dr Thomas Wilding
Organisation: Scottish Association for Marine Science
The North Sea is one of the most industrialised marine environments on the planet, with thousands of man-made structures (MMS) including oil and gas platforms, pipelines, subsea cable routes, and marine renewable energy installations. Much of the infrastructure relating to the oil and gas industry has been in place for decades and is coming to the end of its economic life. In contrast, the marine renewable energy industry is expanding with many windfarms planned for construction in the near future.
Principal Investigator: Dr Debbie Russell
