MEOPAR to increase focus on partner needs as part of $28.5 million renewal

The MEOPAR Network of Centres of Excellence (NCE) has been renewed for another five years, including additional funding to implement a research plan that directly responds to the needs of partners and end-users. The Marine Environmental Observation Prediction and Response Network (MEOPAR) received $28.5 million from the ‘classic’ NCE program that will leverage an equal amount in cash and in-kind from an array of academic, non-profit, industry and government partners who also have a stake in better understanding and mitigating marine risks and hazards.

MEOPAR is one of two NCEs that were successful in receiving a second tranche of funding in the most recent renewal competition. Queen’s Univ-based Canadian Frailty Network was also successful in its renewal bid (see related article in this issue) but McGill Univ-based BioFuelNet was not renewed and will be wound down. The results of the competition were communicated to participants last November but not made public until March 1.

MEOPAR's second funding cycle kicks in April 1 and runs until 2021, at which time it is eligible for a third and final five-year funding cycle.

“Cycle I was all about initiation —making initial connections and partnerships. Cycle II strengthens those pathways, working more with partners on the research priorities of end-users. We identified specific opportunities that justified additional funding … We went to partners and all provided letters of support including financial commitments,” says Stefan Leslie, who joined MEOPAR as executive director nearly a year ago after serving in senior positions with New Zealand’s Ministry of Fisheries and Fisheries and Oceans Canada.

Partnerships will take on an even bigger focus in MEOPAR’s next phase. Here, MEOPAR investigator Dr Maycira Costa partnered with BC Ferries to install a sensor aboard the Queen of Oak Bay which autonomously, and continuously, gathers data on ocean colour. Costa and her team (based at University of Victoria) use the data as part of their research assessing ocean productivity and health in BC's Salish Sea. (Photo: MEOPAR)

MEOPAR’s partner commitments are highly variable, ranging from cash from Polar Knowledge Canada to ship time, laboratory space and expertise from the Arctic Research Foundation. In its first phase, MEOPAR received $1 million from Irving Shipbuilding as part of the company’s Value Proposition obligation under the National Shipbuilding Procurement Strategy.

Leslie says MEOPAR’s funding renewal comes at a time of growth in Canada’s Arctic research enterprise. In the past 12 to 18 months, significant investments have been made in the Ocean Tracking Network, Ocean Networks Canada, the Baffin research station, the Department of Fisheries and Oceans and the new $220 million Ocean Frontier Institute housed at Dalhousie Univ, close to MEOPAR’s headquarters.

“There’s critical mass and greater stability in our partner organizations which leads to more incentive and greater opportunities for collaboration,” says Leslie. “Greater investments mean we can connect to organizations that are getting stronger … Morale in ocean research is very positive and optimistic as there’s a recognition that ocean-related issues are important to the people of Canada and we are able to re-establish our contribution to global issues.”

For its second funding cycle, MEOPAR is organizing its research into two themes: environmental change and human activity, as opposed to Cycle I’s themes of weather and climate. Cycle II will focus on seeking solutions to four socio-economic challenges — bridging the data coordination gap in ocean observation; strengthening predictive capacity and environmental forecasts, especially in the Arctic; providing knowledge-based and forecasting solutions to increase coastal community resilience; and, providing technology and data solutions that minimize efficiency of marine industry operations.

The intent is to have socio-economic impact in three broad areas:

• Competitive, sustainable ocean industries operating in changing and often dangerous marine environments;
• Science- and technology-enabled government ocean policy, regulation and operations; and,
• An ocean-literate and ocean-committed society.

“We’ve re-organized our research to look at human-induced change and environmentally-induced change to look at where risk or change is coming,” says Leslie. “It could be oil spills or changes to the natural environment due to climate change.

Leslie says MEOPAR also plans to become more active in the international research arena. Canada has the world’s largest coastline and is a major player in the Arctic and can benefit from sharing knowledge with other relevant nations and research organizations.

“There are very good reasons why Canada needs to be connected both nationally and internationally,” says Leslie. “People are excited about the work we’re doing and partners are reaching out to us now. We’re beginning to feel the pull with several requests for partnerships.”

Genome Canada funds marine oil spill research

In related news, MEOPAR researcher Dr Casey Hubert (Univ of Calgary) and his colleague Dr Gary Stern (Univ of Manitoba) have been awarded $10.7 million in funding from Genome Canada and partners to study how hydrocarbon-consuming microbes may mitigate the effects of a marine oil spill in the Arctic. The funding was awarded competitively through Genome Canada's latest Large-Scale Applied Research Project Competition.

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