Marine science and technology: Results of MAST II call
The specific research and technological development programme in the field of marine science and technology (MAST II, 1991-1994) will fund a total of 43 proposals from among the 230 received after calls published in October 1991. The calls (published in OJ No C 169 of 28.6.1991) covered Areas I, II, III and V of the workprogramme. Response to areas I-III represented an overall requested Community financial contribution of ECU 376 million. The selected proposals are to receive funding in the region of ECU 42.5 million, and contracts are at present being finalized. Project listings, together with contractors and contact details, will shortly be available on the RTD-Projects database and from MAST. A direct development of the 1989-1992 MAST programme, MAST II aims to establish a sound basis of knowledge and of reliable forecasting techniques in order to develop long term strategies for protecting and managing the marine environment, directing research towards the understanding of the fundamental processes which govern both oceans and coastal waters. The overall estimated budgetary appropriation for the programme is ECU 102.96 million for the period June 1991 to December 1994. Objectives and topics covered by the workprogramme include: - Marine science (water masses, biogeochemical cycles and fluxes, interface and boundary processes, marine geosciences); - Coastal zone science and engineering (coastal physical processes, coastal engineering); - Marine technology (instrumentation for science, underwater acoustics, enabling technologies, studies of the exploitation of marine biological resources); - Large-scale targeted projects (a Mediterranean targeted project was included in the first calls; a call for a North Atlantic project was subsequently published in OJ No C 284 of 31.10.1991). MAST also supports (as an accompanying measure to the R&D funding) advanced study courses for young post-doctoral scientists and/or graduate students from EC Member States.