Ifremer in Europe and around the world

The presence of Ifremer’s scientific experts on specialist committees gives the Institute a role in developing European policies and strategies. For example, Ifremer provides 75% of the French expertise contributed to on the International Council for the Exploration of the Sea (ICES), and an Ifremer expert chaired the Scientific, Technical and Economic Committee for Fisheries (STECF) from 2019 to 2022.

Ifremer is involved in major European research and infrastructure projects such as Euro-Argo, EMSO, Mercator Ocean International and the “Restore our Ocean and Waters” European mission. Ifremer is one of the top 30 French beneficiaries of Horizon 2020 funding (2014–2020 period), with 68 projects financed to the tune of €35.1 million, including three Consolidator grants from the European Research Council (ERC). Ifremer has organised its structure to support this participation and plays an active role in the national system for improving French participation in the Horizon Europe programme.

Ifremer’s expertise in collecting, managing and analysing marine data is internationally recognised, as shown by its role in major United Nations programmes dedicated to ocean observation (GOOS1, Argo etc.), ocean data management (IODE) and toxic algal blooms (HAB2). Ifremer is a member of the Partnership for Observation of the Global Ocean (POGO).

Ifremer works to ensure expertise and knowledge about the ocean is given its rightful place in intergovernmental negotiations and major international events (Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development, UN Ocean Conference, UN Climate Change Conference, Convention on Biological Diversity). Ifremer is also in regular contact with the International Seabed Authority.

Ifremer has initiated over ten partnerships with the world’s leading research institutions – in the north Atlantic (NOAA3, MPO4), in the Pacific (JAMSTEC5, FRA6, CSIRO7/UTAS8, CPS9) and in the southern Mediterranean (INSTM10, INRH11). Ifremer’s overseas sites represent an opportunity to forge international links with neighbouring states, notably through a partnership with the French Development Agency and through the BRIDGES research programme12 in the south-west Indian Ocean.