Millions allocated to projects about the true state of the marine environment

The VILLUM FOUNDATION and the VELUX FOUNDATION have granted DKK 10.5 million to five projects about the Danish marine environment. The projects will gather knowledge, researchers and players cutting across the board and focusing on the balance in the marine ecosystem. Researchers at the Department of Bioscience are leading three of the projects and participating in a fourth one.

28 August 2017 by Christina Troelsen

Known as synthesis projects, the short one-year projects aim to gather and combine existing knowledge about the state of the marine environment – cutting across research fields and players, as well as different interests such as environmental conditions, restoration and conservation of natural capital, and societal and commercial interests.

Grants have been awarded to the following three projects at the Department of Bioscience:

Oresund Marine Plan
Professor Bo Riemann, Department of Bioscience, Aarhus University
Grant: DKK 2.5 million

Coastal Zone as a Purification Plant
Professor Jacob Carstensen, Department of Bioscience, Aarhus University
Grant: DKK 2 million

Microplastics in the Marine Environment
Senior Researcher Jakob Strand, Department of Bioscience, Aarhus University
Grant: DKK 2 million

Researchers at the Department of Bioscience are also taking part in the project The Sea Forests, which is led by the University of Southern Denmark.

The projects will be carried out in collaboration between Aarhus University and institutions including the National Institute of Aquatic Resources (DTU Aqua), the University of Copenhagen, the University of Southern Denmark, the Geological Survey of Denmark and Greenland (GEUS) and Aalborg University.