Post-Doctoral Researcher – GOMOREUS

University College Cork’s (UCC) MaREI centre is Ireland’s premier SFI centre for Energy Climate and Marine. MaREI is a key research centre within UCC’s Environmental Research Institute (ERI), which is an internationally recognised Institute for environmental research dedicated to the understanding and protection of our natural environment and to developing innovative technologies, tools and services to facilitate a transformation to a zero carbon and resource efficient society. The MaREI Centre is an SFI funded research centre headquartered in the ERI and includes 13 other Universities and Third Level Institutes from across Ireland, has 50 industrial partners and has accumulated research funding of approximately €60m. It combines the expertise of a wide range of research groups and industry partners, with the shared mission of solving the main scientific, technical and socio-economic challenges across the climate, energy and marine spaces.  MaREI is also funded by SEAI, EI, EPA, ERDF, EU, HEA, Marine Institute, DCCAE and IRC, as well as through contributions from our industry partners. Researchers in the MaREI Centre have over 30 years of experience in conducting fundamental and applied research supported by competitively won national and international funding, and commercial contracts with government agencies and industry. MaREI’s strengths lie in the multi-disciplinary nature of its research teams, allowing it to combine insights across areas such as MRE Technologies, Materials & Structures, Observations & Operations, Coastal & Marine Systems, Bioenergy, Energy Policy & Modelling and Renewable Energy Management.

UCC MaREI has been actively involved in research & development projects using active and passive acoustics for the past 20 years. This includes numerous investigative studies undertaken by the Marine Ecology Group using passive acoustic monitoring (PAM) to assess marine mammal populations and movements. MaREI researchers have also played a pioneering role in the development of combined active sonar and optical techniques for detailed seabed mapping and environmental monitoring under longstanding joint industry programmes in close collaboration with the Marine Institute and Geological Survey of Ireland. More recent work has focused on the development of Risk Based Approaches to Good Environmental Status (RAGES). RAGES was funded by DG MARE with participation of key Irish marine policy advisors from the DHPLG plus European counterparts to address MSFD Descriptors D11 on underwater noise and D2 for invasive species. Current projects in collaboration with UCC dept of Zoology also include ObSERVE 2 (distribution and abundance of cetaceans and seabirds), Cetus (Cetacean, Elasmobranch, Turtle and Seabird distribution modelling platform supporting the sustainable development of offshore renewable energy) and eWHALE (using environmental DNA to monitor cetaceans).