SMMI supports growth of Cyprus sister – CMMI
During early December SMMI participated in a three-day event in Larnaca, Cyprus, to map out our growing collaboration with the Cyprus Marine & Maritime Institute (CMMI). CMMI was formed in 2019 under the MaRITeC-X EU Horizon 2020 Teaming grant, in which SMMI is a major partner.
Over the past 12 months, CMMI has recruited 15 scientists spanning a range of disciplines from marine biology to naval architecture, and robotics to fuel technology. Their research agenda aligns closely with SMMI, reflecting themes that we share with Cyprus across shipping, cultural heritage, archaeology, geography and geology.
SMMI joined the event in-person, with SMMI Director Damon Teagle and MaRITeC-X PI David White making their first trips overseas since the start of the pandemic. Blair Thornton, Fraser Sturt and Miguel Massot-Campos also joined virtually for part of the event.
Speaking at an evening meeting for local stakeholders, Damon Teagle, who is the interim Chief Scientist of CMMI, emphasised the strategic and growing importance of Cyprus, which is located at the focus of global maritime trade and has a central role to play in the decarbonisation of sea transport. “The CMMI collaboration links SMMI to a vibrant young organisation, fizzing with enthusiasm, and populated by well-trained scientists. The alignment of interests and complementary capabilities will see many collaborations flourish over the next decade, as CMMI establishes itself as a new centre of excellence”.
SMMI is one of three international Advanced Partners in the MaRITeC-X project, working alongside the Marine Institute (Ireland) and Bluewise Marine, who also attended the workshop.