Our vision is for a healthy and sustainable ocean
Plymouth Marine Laboratory conducts multidisciplinary research at the cutting edge of marine science to understand the complex marine environment and help solve the challenges it faces.
Who we areOur mission and values
I love doing research because it’s like detective work but without the blood. I like trying to find the little clues to how Nature works – clues that are often scattered, well hidden, but sometimes blindingly obvious yet ignored. For me this quest often involves first thinking of ways to build really big datasets, for example piecing together multiple studies into a meta-analysis, or mining old historical data sets and compiling them to build long time series.
Dr Angus AtkinsonMarine Ecologist
Delivering science with impact
PML is committed to delivering world-leading research that furthers our understanding of the ocean and creates positive outcomes for society and the environment.
Explore our scienceOur impactFeatured projects
Monitoring Integrated Digital Support Tool - for CO2 and hypersaline brine monitoring applied to UK
In MIDST-UK, an open source, user friendly, pre-operational Decision Support Tool (DST) will be extended to also included brine release (high salinity, high temperature and varied contaminants) for i ...
Marine Social and Natural Capital Laboratory
Launching the first Marine Social and Natural Capital Laboratory of its kind, linking social and natural sciences enabling data for ground-breaking research into sustainable use, human well-being and ...
HyperBOOST - Hyperspectral Bio-Optical Observations Sailing on Tara
Marine ecosystem health in coastal areas can be challenging to monitor using Earth Observation due to their optical complexity. HyperBOOST will address this by using in-situ hyperspectral bio-optical ...Addressing global challenges
Climate change, ocean acidification, pollution and over-exploitation of natural resources – the ocean is facing greater challenges than ever. At PML we work at global, regional and local levels, alongside partners across the world, to deliver the science needed for a sustainable ocean future.
View our partnerships
Understanding a changing planet
Human influence has had detrimental effects on the atmosphere, ocean and land, including the warming and acidification of the marine environment. PML is renowned for its unique expertise in monitoring the effects of these changes, integrating traditional research with advanced digital science techniques and technologies.
PML is addressing these issues through our Science to impact Challenge areas, which include:
Autonomy, technology and digitisation,
Biodiversity,
Cleaner seas,
Climate change, and
Sustainable fisheries and aquaculture.
View all of our research topics
