You are in: Our services Programme management

Programme management

We have built a strong reputation for programme management over many years. Our teams provide the secretariats and associated co-ordinating functions for high-profile partnerships such as the Marine Climate Change Impact Partnership (MCCIP) and a number of other programmes (listed by themes, and then alphabetically below).

The breadth of our expertise, the quality of our science and advice, plus our wide-ranging contacts - from the EU to industry, in the public and private sectors - mean that we are well-placed to offer a knowledgable, in-depth and efficient service. We offer trusted and valued programme management for many of our established customers.

Animal and human health

Fish Health Inspectorate: The aim of the Inspectorate is to prevent the introduction and spread of serious fish and shellfish disease in England and Wales. It does this through monitoring programmes at fish farms, inspections at ports, disease eradication measures, and advice to fish traders and anglers.
Biotoxins in shellfish - food safety: Our scientists monitor the food safety of fish and shellfish for the Food Standards Agencies across Great Britain. We undertake hygiene monitoring and sanitary surveys in harvesting areas, and routinely test for algal biotoxins in bivalve shellfish.
Collaborating Centre for Information on Aquatic Animal Diseases: The OIE (Office International des Epizooties) collaboration centre was established to provide delegates of member countries with data and published scientific information about OIE-listed aquatic animal diseases.
Registry of Aquatic Pathology: A unique reference collection of specimens showing pathological conditions caused by viruses, bacteria and parasites, as well as environmentally induced pathologies.
BEQUALM: quality-assurance programme: This EU-funded programme (Biological Effects Quality Assurance in Monitoring Programmes: BEQUALM) has developed appropriate quality standards for a wide range of biological effects techniques, and devised a method for monitoring laboratories' compliance in generating data from these techniques.

Climate change

Marine Climate Change Impacts Partnership (MCCIP): This partnership provides a co-ordinating framework within the UK for the transfer of high-quality marine climate change impacts evidence and advice to policy advisors and decision-makers. It enables its partners to individually and collectively plan for the challenges and opportunities presented by the impacts of climate change.
Marine futures: The aim of this work was to encourage debate about alternative futures for marine ecosystems, and to develop a series of scenarios that can be used by government and other stakeholders for strategic planning.

Environment and ecosystems

BEEMS: The British Energy Estuarine and Marine Studies (BEEMS) programme is an integrated suite of marine environmental studies funded by EDF Energy (formerly British Energy). It is providing scientific information about marine and transitional waters near potential sites for new-build nuclear power stations in the UK.
Clean Seas Environment Monitoring Programme: Previously known as the National Marine Monitoring Programme (NMMP), this ensures that marine monitoring in the UK is undertaken in a co-ordinated way. High-quality, standardised data to detect long-term trends is collected during annual multidisciplinary cruise surveys.
European Marine Ecosystem Observatory: The European Marine Ecosystem Observatory (EMECO) consortium is integrating environmental monitoring, ecosystem modelling, and coastal and ocean research to improve understanding of the status of, and predict future changes in, ecosystem structure and function.
Marine Aggregate Levy Sustainability Fund: The government imposes a levy on all primary aggregate production (including marine aggregates) to reflect the environmental cost of winning these materials. A proportion of the revenue generated is used to provide funding for research aimed at minimising the effects of aggregate production. This programme commissions, co-ordinates and produces those research outputs.
Marine ecosystem connections: The main objective of this programme is to determine the key ecosystem connections that are susceptible to change. By identifying the state of the ecosystem it will be possible to set boundaries for acceptable change and help to avoid the irretrievable breakdown of ecosystem health.
Offshore Chemical Notification Scheme (OCNS): This programme manages the UK and Netherlands' offshore petroleum industries' chemical use and discharge. The scheme applies to all chemicals used in the exploration, exploitation and associated offshore processing of petroleum on the UK Continental shelf.
Pollution Response in Emergencies - Marine Impace Assessment and Monitoring (PREMIAM): This Defra-funded project has two fundamental objectives: to develop marine assessment and monitoring guidelines; and to develop and maintain a network of scientific and logistical parterners to deliver integrated and co-ordinated emergency response services and post-incident support.
UK-Netherlands collaborative monitoring programme: This is a joint monitoring programme in the southern North Sea designed to improve our understanding of environmental variability and ecosystem functioning.
WaveNet: A programme providing real-time wave and wind data from around the English and Welsh coastline. This helps the Environment Agency, the Met Office and the Scottish Environmental Protection Agency to make informed decisions about potential storm and flood events.

Fisheries

Fisheries Science Partnership: A government-funded programme to build a closer relationship between UK fishermen and scientists, and to involve fishermen in the co-commissioning of science. Established in 2003-04, the success of this programme has led to similar models being set up in Europe (see GAP2, below), and to the secretariat being recognised at the national Civil Service Awards in 2008.
GAP2: An EU-funded programme that supports the development of innovative fisheries management in Europe. Science and fisheries industry partners are collaborating in participatory research.
Eeliad: A European scientific research project that aims to resolve some of the mysteries of eel biology, and to use this information to help conserve European eel stocks. The project is integrating techniques such as animal tracking, genetics and advanced mathematical modelling.