National Oceanography Centre, Southampton

Welcome to the National Oceanography Centre, Southampton

The centre is the country’s focus for oceanography and represents an unparalleled investment in marine and earth sciences and technology in the UK. The centre opened in 1995 in a purpose-built, £50 million waterfront campus on the city’s Empress Dock. A collaboration between the Natural Environment Research Council and the University of Southampton, the centre houses around 500 staff and 750 undergraduate and postgraduate students.

News

Recognition for top class research at the National Oceanography Centre

The National Oceanography Centre, Southampton (NOCS), has been ranked in the top ten of the world’s research institutions in geoscience, and first among those with a specific remit in oceanography. The ranking, published this week by the Times Higher Education Supplement, reveals “‘heavy hitters’ based on paper influence, not mere output.”

Geoscience encompasses all of those separate scientific disciplines such as oceanography, geology, geophysics, climatology and geochemistry dealing with the Earth system.

The ranking is based on the impact of peer-reviewed papers published by scientists in terms of how often they are cited. The data included a total of 576 original research reports and review articles published by NOCS scientists between January 1999 and June 2009. These papers accumulated between them 11,627 citations – an average of 20.19 citations per paper.

NOCS came ninth out of 43,500 institutions surveyed, putting it comfortably in the top 0.05 per cent for geosciences generally.

In welcoming the results of the analysis, Director of the National Oceanography Centre, Southampton, Professor Ed Hill, said:

“I am proud and delighted by these results, which rank the National Oceanography Centre as the world’s number one oceanographic institution. I would like to congratulate my colleagues on this outstanding achievement.

I believe our success stems from three aspects of our strategy: our commitment to recruiting and nurturing outstanding early and mid-career researchers who can make their name at Southampton alongside more established researchers; our focus on working on the most important and relevant scientific challenges of our generation; and the vibrant research environment provided by our uniquely broad mission, which enables University of Southampton and Natural Environment Research Council researchers to work together and collaborate internationally, supported by excellent facilities.

If it wasn’t obvious before, this analysis demonstrates that Southampton really is the place to be!”

For more information, see the Times Higher Education Supplement issue of 19 November 2009.

Understanding the formation of cold water coral carbonate mounds
When scientists drilled for the first time into a cold water coral carbonate mound during Integrated Ocean Drilling Programme (IODP) Expedition 307, they gathered unique sample materials that would help [More]
Unexpectedly high Antarctic temperatures between past ice ages
Climate scientists have discovered that Antarctic temperatures in some brief warm periods between past ice ages – the so-called interglacials – were up to 6oC warmer than the present day, [More]
New deep-sea gromiids!
Three new species of deep-sea gromiids – single-celled organisms bearing an uncanny resemblance to miniscule haggises – have been identified and formally described by a team of researchers led by [More]
Expedition to study the ecosystems of seamounts
Scientist Jane Read of the National Oceanography Centre, Southampton (NOCS) is joining an international research expedition to investigate underwater mountains – seamounts – in the southern Indian Ocean. She and her [More]
New Marine Act welcomed by NOCS
The successful passage through Parliament this week of the Marine and Coastal Access Act has been welcomed by the National Oceanography Centre, Southampton. This legislation, which received Royal Assent on [More]
Expedition to Drake Passage
An expedition led by Dr Margaret Yelland and Dr Ben Moat of the National Oceanography Centre, Southampton (NOCS) aims to measure the state of the ocean in Drake Passage, the [More]
Follow us on Twitter
To see the latest NOCS news and updates, follow us on Twitter: Twitter.com/nocsnews [More]

--- More News and Events ---