The ASSEMBLE Plus consortium rounded off a successful first year of operations at their 2nd General Assembly in Galway, Ireland, this October. Researchers have been provided with access to many of Europe’s top marine biological facilities. Plans were presented to introduce access to virtual facilities later in the project.

At the 2nd General Assembly, partners reported that the first and second calls have received over 100 applications for access to over 20 marine stations from both EU and non-EU countries. In the first call, applications had a success rate of 73% to be granted.

“Working alongside EMBRC, we are well-established, so this year we have already seen great progress. We are most excited about engaging more strongly with user communities and bridging the gap to industry by promoting the access programme more widely,” said Davide Di Cioccio, ASSEMBLE Plus Access Officer.

While ASSEMBLE Plus project partners continue to improve accessibility to data, samples, training and equipment for marine researchers, the next call for access will be open shortly, in January 2019