The new £16.5m SOI building incorporates a state-of-the-art aquarium as well as researching and teaching facilities. This will create a global hub for marine research by bringing together research colleagues in one building and will also accommodate visiting scientists and enhance facilities for outreach work. The centre will also house a visitor centre to engage children and adults and promote public understanding of the world’s oceans.
Opening the new SOI, the First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said: “St Andrews has an excellent reputation for world class research and developing international collaborations. The Scottish Oceans Institute very much helps reinforce that reputation and its work on marine science will help ensure that our marine environment continues to be well managed while sharing learning and best practice.”
SOI Director Professor Vincent Janik said: “The new SOI building has brought all our marine scientists under one roof, facilitating daily interactions that will lead to innovative and new research. The new aquarium is a research facility of the highest standards and we are very excited to use it in expanding our work on how human activities affect our oceans.”
Photo caption (left to right): Professor Lorna Milne, Master and Deputy Principal, University of St Andrews; Professor Ailsa Hall, Director, Sea Mammal Research Unit (SMRU), University of St Andrews; Professor Sally Mapstone, Principal and Vice-Chancellor, University of St Andrews; First Minister Nicola Sturgeon; Professor Vincent Janik, Director, Scottish Oceans Institute (SOI), University of St Andrews.
For more information go to the SOI website: https://soi.st-andrews.ac.uk/about/
