NOC recognised as a world leader in scientific excellence

The National Oceanography Centre (NOC) has been hailed as making ‘a vital contribution to the UK’s leading position in environmental science’ in a recent independent evaluation of its work.

In a report released this week by the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC), NOC was commended for its science; the impact of its work on society, and its working environment. NOC excelled in all three areas of the evaluation, with the headlines being:

• Research excellence: 99% of the work assessed was considered internationally significant. 79% were rated internationally excellent or world leading.
• Impact excellence: 100% of the case studies were of international significance, and 81% were internationally excellent or world leading.
• Research and impact environment: NOC’s environment assessment was its greatest achievement, achieving 99% for international recognition, and 91% as internationally excellent or world leading.

Professor Ed Hill CBE, Chief Executive of NOC, said: “We are absolutely delighted that the independent evaluation demonstrated our world leading expertise in ocean science. We are particularly pleased that we got such a high score in our research environment, meaning that NOC is a great place to work, particularly for scientists who want to advance their research and their career.

“What is really clear is that we support our teams to achieve scientific breakthroughs which deliver real impact, for the benefit of the public and our wider society. We were also pleased to see our science partners doing well in this evaluation, as we can achieve more together than we can as individual organisations.”

The centre evaluation will be used to benchmark organisations in future, as well as guiding funding decisions into future science activity.