The European Network of Marine Stations

Strategic Plan Highlights

Supporting a decade of Marine Science in Europe and beyond

Vision

The vision of MARS is for a network of connected marine stations across Europe, which are well-positioned to meet the future scientific and societal challenges for the marine environment from the national to the global level.

Mission

A key goal of MARS is to promote the national and international importance of marine stations with an increased international focus for MARS being of particular importance by

providing a forum for the directors of marine stations,
providing an important avenue to feed into European and international marine policy related to marine research funding and broader strategic issues,
highlighting and promotes the importance of marine stations at a time when our seas and oceans are under more pressure than ever before.
focussing on international networking towards the development of the World Association of Marine Stations (WAMS), and
facilitating capacity building, mobility and training through financial support.

Values

The core values of MARS are:

Collaboration: this is at the heart of MARS as it ensures there is a voice for its members and a support network for marine stations
Inclusivity: MARS has an ethos of low membership fees in order to encourage as wide a membership as possible.
Flexibility: the scientific and societal drivers are constantly changing. We must be constantly evolving and adapting to meet emerging challenges.
Advocacy: We should be speaking up on the importance of marine science and the marine environment and on the unique function of marine stations

Objectives

Within 5 years the organisation aims to achieve the following objectives:

To broaden the focus of MARS so it has wide representation beyond just core EU so it is well-connected internationally, principally via WAMS
To be the network for directors (or appropriate representatives) of marine stations to be able to support one another by, for example, identifying sustainable financial operational models
to provide a coordinated voice for marine science into the policy arena
to provide an ‘umbrella function’ for other networks
to support other ad-hoc activities as they arise (e.g. promoting stations as maintainers of valuable long-term biological time-series)

Key indicators

Achievement of the objectives will be measured using the following key indicators:

Increased MARS membership both in terms of absolute numbers and expanded geographical coverage
Well attended bi-annual meetings for marine directors
Increased profile for the work of marine stations (as reported by the stations themselves)
Improved financial position for MARS
WAMS to be a functioning active entity
A ‘world congress of marine directors’ to be held in 2020