EMBRC - A European Distributed Research Infrastructure of Marine Stations and Research Facilities

The European Marine Biological Resource Centre (EMBRC) is a distributed research infrastructure (RI) incorporating more than 80 marine stations, research organisations, and universities across Europe. The RI organises access and use of the organisations’ facilities through a structured service catalogue, allowing scientists and companies to choose from over 600 services, including biological resources, research facilities (e.g. mesocosms), access to the local ecosystems (e.g. divers, research vessels), and state of the art analytical platforms (e.g. imaging). EMBRC also offers a number of training courses, as well as a catalogue of marine training opportunities from more than 80 countries. EMBRC also coordinates a genomics observatory (EMO BON) across 20 sites using metagenomics, metabarcoding, and ARMS plates. EMO BON uses Standard Operating Procedures for sampling microbiomes from water column, microbiomes and metazoa from soft sediments, and settling organisms from ARMS plates deployed on hard substrates. A shared data management plan implements international metadata standards and ensures all collected data flows to the appropriate open access databases. All protocols are open access and available for anyone to deploy. EMO BON is an official project of the UN Decade for Ocean Science programme Ocean Biomolecula Observation Network (OBON).Internally, the RI offers staff exchanges, allowing technical staff to visit other organisations in EMBRC to acquire new skills and competencies, helping to build capacity across the RI. Research and development of new technology and services is organized through thematic working groups covering, for example, aquaculture, biological observation and monitoring, bioprospection, mesocosms, biological resources, and model organisms.