This year’s ASSEMBLE Plus Conference entitled “ASSEMBLE 2021: Marine biological research at the frontier" starts today and is organized by the Algarve Centre for Marine Sciences (CCMAR), as part of the ASSEMBLE Plus project in partnership with the European infrastructure, EMBRC-ERIC.

The conference will take place online between 18^th and 29^th January, gathering over 400 participants, including scientists, industry representatives and policymakers, in an exchange of experience, knowledge and opportunities to establish partnerships. The program includes keynote speakers, lectures by ASSEMBLE Plus users, round tables with policymakers and industry representatives, and demonstrations of the services provided by the several marine infrastructures of the ASSEMBLE Plus network.

The demonstrations will include recent developments in marine biology and ecology, state-of-the-art technologies available at marine stations and institutes, how to access biological resources and marine research infrastructure, how to improve services provided by marine stations and, the impact of the services provided on industry and society. In addition, it will provide an opportunity to celebrate the project’s research on genomic observatories, cryobanking marine organisms, functional genomics, instrumentation, and scientific diving.

The participants of this Conference can also participate in business-to-business meetings to promote networking, and access to a marketplace platform, where they can present their products and services, find strategic partners for projects and/or investments.

ASSEMBLE Plus 2021 will take place online.  "This comes as an opportunity to us, as it will allow broader participation, and have a lesser impact on the environment with no travel taking place," says Nicolas Pade, Executive Director of EMBRC and Coordinator of the ASSEMBLE Plus project. “During the conference, amazing new tools developed for model organisms, innovative experimental systems and research techniques, as well as the support to science developed within the marine biological field will be shared. We will also be showing throughout the event many of the facilities that can be accessed at several research organizations across Europe", Pade explains.

During this event, the future of Europe’s infrastructures will be discussed along with how to improve links between researchers and policymakers, who have contributed a lot with scientific data to improve decision making.

Keynote Speakers