NORMAR-II grant awarded!
At the end of September it was announced that the NORMAR-II grant for upgrades to the Ægir 6000 ROV system has been approved! This funding ensures the Centre’s continued access to this essential deep-sea infrastructure and will allow us to keep the ROV system state-of-the-art. We’re looking forward to many more dives with upgraded equipment, pushing the boundaries of deep-sea exploration.
Main content
The Research Council of Norway announced up to 1.3 billion NOK for research infrastructure of national importance (with an application deadline of 15 November 2023) and received 130 applications and 33 feasibility project applications. “Research infrastructure” can include advanced scientific equipment, databases, registers, archives, or collections. Of this total, over 470 million NOK was allotted in September 2024 to projects led by the University of Bergen (UiB) including a CDeepSea project to upgrade the Ægir 6000 underwater robot. The Ægir 6000 has been in operation for 10 years and has completed more than 950 dives. The funding will extend the life of the ROV for a further 10 years and enable new and expanded scientific equipment to be added.
“With the ambitions existing for Norwegian marine polar research, we are especially pleased about the award to our robotics facility, which is the only national ROV system for deep-sea research. This is essential for advancing Norwegian deep-sea research,” said Dean Gunn Mangerud at the Faculty of Science and Technology (the new name for the faculty as of October 1).
There was a celebration in the Department of Earth Science on Monday 30 September with everyone gathering to congratulate project leader Professor Rolf-Birger Pedersen and also Professor Mathilde Sørensen’s Research Infrastructure for Geohazards (EPOS-NG) project which was also funded. Big congratulations to everyone who has been involved in the applications! It takes a team.