Our Tools
Novel ships, data and instruments
We develop innovative solutions and continuously update and upgrade our analytical, technical and logistical capabilities.
We strive for scientific excellence in our research and provide the Netherlands’ marine scientific community with state-of-the-art research vessels and equipment and maintain strong international collaborations. NIOZ makes its knowledge and state-of-the-art analytical and seagoing facilities available to the wider marine science community, both nationally and internationally. We develop innovative solutions and continuously update and upgrade our analytical, technical and logistical capabilities. We continue to run several long-term observational studies. We coordinate this with our national and international research partners so that large-scale equipment and capabilities are most effectively distributed (operationally and financially).
Field labs, including seagoing analytical and research equipment infrastructure at NIOZ are provided through our Department of National Marine Facilities (NMF). The unique collaboration of engineers with scientists and in-house work facilities gives NIOZ a unique edge in developing novel equipment and instruments for the future. The bulk of the shore-based analytical and experimental facilities are housed within our four research departments and include innovative molecular, biogeochemical and organismal-level techniques and advanced modelling infrastructure.
We strive for scientific excellence in our research.
NIOZ policy on research data management focuses on securing valuable and often unique research data, and on sharing these data.
To serve the marine science community, we have embarked on an ambitious renewal of the national research fleet and seagoing equipment between 2020 and 2025. Sea trials for our largest and ocean-going flagship, the RV Anna Weber-van Bosse, are expected in the second half of 2025. Our research vessels also include the small RV Adriaen Coenen, delivered in 2022, and the coastal (Wadden Sea and delta) RV Wim Wolff, to be delivered in 2023. These strategic steps will guarantee the viability of the Dutch marine science community and secure ocean and seagoing expeditions for the Netherlands in coming decades. With our university partners, we develop accompanying research programmes and opportunities to use the new research fleet.
We continue to focus on the further development and application of autonomous marine technology for further improvement of our research capabilities. Investing in this capability improves our versatility in seagoing research at improved spatial and temporal scales, while reducing our carbon footprint. NIOZ policy on research data management focuses on securing valuable and often unique research data, and on sharing these data. We have an open access data policy in accordance with the FAIR principles. Our data policy aims to design, develop and support an electronic institutional infrastructure that enables NIOZ researchers to manage their research data from the collection of raw data through final publication and the (FAIR) sharing of research data following the institute’s policy. We continue our successful open access policy, providing unrestricted access to all our papers.
The NIOZ infrastructure offers full traceability of any published data to its most original source and swift retrieval of these data from the archive, enabling the reproduction and verification of research findings. To help researchers manage and share their research data, NIOZ maintains and develops an institutional data archive, DAS (Data Archive System), for the long-term storage and processing of data. DAS is interfaced with the public NIOZ data portal for searching and downloading research data by third parties to disseminate scientific knowledge and to advance the field of natural sciences. We investigate how to open the DAS facility to marine science users in the Netherlands outside NIOZ.
NIOZ strategic steps will guarantee the viability of the Dutch marine science community and secure ocean and seagoing expeditions for the Netherlands in coming decades.