Marine National Facility (MNF)
In my capacity as Chair of the Marine National Facility Steering Committee, I am pleased to inform you that Australia's advanced marine research vessel, Investigator, will be scaling up to full year operations to maximise the national benefit delivered by this landmark scientific infrastructure.
The scale-up to full year operations was announced as part of the Australian Government funding commitment of $1.9 billion to 2028-29 for the Research Infrastructure Investment Plan. The Plan includes $31.2 million to 2021-22 for Investigator to scale up to full year (300 day) operations, starting from 2019-20, and includes capital funding to support the additional infrastructure to deliver this.
The funding comes in response to the 2016 National Research Infrastructure Roadmap, and reflects the strong, ongoing support for full year operations of Investigator from the National Marine Science Committee and Australia's marine science community.
Science and research has been a headline issue in the 2018 Federal Budget and this new funding reflects the Australian Government commitment to invest in our key research infrastructure.
Investigator will now offer marine scientists 300 operational days of research each year from 2019-20.
This is a great outcome as it will allow Investigator to expand on the wide range of important marine research this vessel enables, including increasing our understanding of the region's marine environment and fisheries, and contributing towards improving global ocean and climate modelling.
The Marine National Facility Steering Committee will be meeting shortly to discuss the implementation plan for full year operations and further information will be released in early June.
This new funding recognises the very strong demand from the marine research community for the flexible platform that Investigator provides, and follows the successful delivery of a series of complex, multidisciplinary voyage schedules since the vessel was commissioned in late 2014.
My great thanks to the hard working team from the Marine National Facility, CSIRO Oceans & Atmosphere, and ASP Ship Management for supporting, enabling and inspiring this research!
The announcement to fund full year operations of Investigator is warmly welcomed by all my colleagues on the Marine National Facility Steering Committee and all in the marine research community. It will help ensure that Australia continues to be a global leader in marine science, and that we get the most out of our marine estate while protecting the things we all care about.
We look forward to Investigator now delivering Australia the full benefit from its research capability. A heartfelt thankyou to everyone who has helped us achieve this fantastic outcome.
Regards, Ian
Ian Poiner
Chair, Marine National Facility Steering Committee
Further information about Australia’s Marine National Facility, including how to apply for sea time on Investigator, is available from the Marine National Facility website: www.mnf.csiro.au