NWO Institute NIOZ: Royal Netherlands Institute for Sea Research
NIOZ is part of NWO-I, the institutes organisation of NWO (the Dutch Research Council)
Our mission: Knowing the seas to safeguard our future
NIOZ, the Royal Netherlands Institute for Sea Research, is the national oceanographic institute and the Netherlands’ centre of expertise for ocean, sea, coast and delta. We advance fundamental understanding of marine systems, the way they change, the role they play in climate and biodiversity, and how they may provide sustainable solutions to society in the future.
In these crucial decades for the planet, NIOZ, with its unique blend of science and seagoing operations, plays an important role in advancing our fundamental understanding of changes in marine processes, the stability of marine systems, possible tipping points and potential solutions to address the big societal questions that are posed by the climate and biodiversity crises.
Our core values are collaboration, independence and openness, sustainability, responsibility and accountability. We strive for scientific excellence in our research and provide the Netherlands’ marine scientific community with state-of-the-art research vessels and equipment.
Sea research from climate to biodiversity
The overarching research questions at NIOZ are related to understanding how marine systems work, how they are changing due to anthropogenic and natural impacts, and what benefits can be obtained from them in a sustainable manner. We improve process knowledge across different time and space scales – from past to present to future, from nanoseconds to millennia and beyond, from the tropics to polar regions, from the surface to the seafloor, from the deltas and coasts to the deep sea and from single molecules to entire ecosystems. Understanding how the marine systems change, involves quantifying and understanding possible trends and changes, and how these may be amplified by feedbacks. How we can utilize the marine systems, depends on our understanding and predictive capability.
The current climate and biodiversity crises are the most important anthropogenic influences on marine systems. They both impose large-scale changes in global ocean processes. Climate and biodiversity are therefore an institute-wide focus of our research, fostering scientific collaboration and connecting NIOZ research to society. Climate and biodiversity inherently interact, and important scientific questions arise at their nexus.
Our research focuses on:
Characterizing the still hidden and unexplored sides of marine systems to learn about the origin and diversification of life, the functioning of marine ecosystems and the diversity of organisms and biomolecules.
Unravelling the components, nature and functioning of element and nutrient cycles that sustain and replenish marine life.
Understanding how marine ecosystems are connected in space and time through physical and biogeochemical forces from ocean currents to sediment movement shaping habitats and species communities.
Understanding how organisms interact, respond and adapt to a changing marine environment under anthropogenic pressures.
Defining the physical, biological and chemical processes that characterize the role of the ocean in our global changing climate.
Finding solutions for society that mitigate climate change impacts on marine systems and finding adaptations and solutions to ensure our safety, health and wellbeing.
Our people: freedom to succeed
At NIOZ, there are 350 dedicated employees who come from more than 33 different countries. We want to be a transparent institute with a healthy working climate and an inclusive culture, where individuals in all their diversity bring their talents and further develop these talents. We aim for inclusive decision-making processes and expect our leadership to show visible commitment, awareness of bias, and cultural intelligence. In the collective of NWO institutes, NIOZ is working towards an inclusive system of recognition and rewards that serves our own personnel.
Director
Prof. Han Dolman
Communication
communication@nioz.nl
+31 (0)222 369 369
Contact details
NIOZ
Royal Netherlands Institute for Sea Research
PO Box 59
NL-1790 AB Den Burg (Texel)
+31 222 369300
secretary@nioz.nl
Visiting address:
Landsdiep 4
1797 SZ 't Horntje (Texel)
Please see the NIOZ website for the address details of NIOZ location Yerseke.
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