The National Oceanography Centre is the United Kingdom’s centre of excellence for oceanographic sciences, with a remit to provide national capability and leadership for big ocean science.

The National Oceanography Centre is one of six centres supported by the Natural Environmental Research Council (NERC), and funded to work on national capability programmes. Funding for the work we undertake is also secured from other sources including NERC competitive funding, EU grants and from commercial organisations.

A truly multi-disciplined centre, our research encompasses Marine Geoscience, Marine Physics and Ocean Climate, Marine Systems Modelling, Ocean Biogeochemistry and Ecosystems, and Ocean Technology and Engineering. We are home to the nation’s marine data assets; the British Oceanographic Data Centre, the British Ocean Sediment Core Research Facility, the National Marine Equipment Pool, Europe’s largest fleet of autonomous and robotic vehicles, and we manage two state of the art research ships.

NOC works collaboratively with over 30 other UK marine institutions through the NOC Association, are supported by the NOC Stakeholder Advisory Board and engage with users of the UK marine infrastructure we operate through the Marine Facilities Advisory Board. NOC represent the UK internationally, leading the UK delegation of the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission of UNESCO, through our membership of the European Marine Board, and through partnerships with other research institutions and organisations worldwide.