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AQUA-TNET NEWSLETTER

May 2010

This is a free e-mail news service provided by AQUA-TNET for the AQUA-TNET network and its partners. AQUA-TNET is the European Thematic Network in the field of aquaculture, fisheries and aquatic resource management, funded under the European Commission Lifelong Learning Programme, from 2008 - 2011.

In the AQUA-TNET Newsletter you will find an update of AQUA-TNET and its activities, as well as information from the European Commission related to European education matters.

Please forward this newsletter to your colleagues and students. Please submit any relevant information for dissemination in the newsletter to aquatnet@aquatt.ie.

Contents

1. AQUA-TNET News

    Agenda

    Research & Education

    Other

2. AquaTT Training News

3. Bibmail

4. Information of Interest

5. Pisces TT Jobs

6. Other

1. AQUA-TNET News

Aqua-tnet annual event 2010 Hungary

This year’s aqua-tnet annual event was an interactive affair giving the network food for thought and direction for the future sustainability of the thematic network.

The event kicked off with an overview of the progress report and an update on all workpackage activities. This was followed by an interactive session requiring participation from all attendees to explore a vision for the aquaculture sector in 2030. Some of the main outcomes from the voting process highlighted that the majority of participants believed that integrated multifunctional farms will be the main technology used for freshwater species, integrated offshore will be the main technology used for marine finfish and farmed animal characteristics would include customisation to suit growing environments and markets and genetically modified fish. Interestingly, the majority of participants also agreed that aquaculture would be either socially accepted or socially demanded by 2030. The responses generated provided a starting point for discussion on aligning the aqua-tnet network and the European Aquaculture Technology and Innovation Platform (EATIP). The aqua-tnet project will finish in 2011 and the discussions emphasised the important role that the experts in aqua-tnet have to play in research and knowledge and the application to industry.

During the two day event a highly productive stakeholder interaction session provided an important opportunity for each workpackage group to obtain feedback and suggestions from key stakeholder groups; research, industry and students. The recently completed project, VALLA (Validation of All Lifelong Learning in Aquaculture), was also showcased as an innovative tool, with particular relevance for Lifelong Learning, which supports users in specifying training courses and writing training units.

The Innovation in Teaching experts showcased a number of interesting online resources which can be used in teaching. The group highlighted the usefulness of innovative technologies which enables users to find and share images and also generate video which was demonstrated using Screen Cast. This was followed by a presentation of the updated aqua-tnet website which brought participants attention to the portals and the numerous resources provided on the website.
 
The aqua-tnet secretariat would like to say a big thank you to our Hungarian partners for their warm welcome and hospitality which made this event a huge success by providing an arena to generate ideas and discuss future collaborations.

For more information please check the website on info@aquatnet.com
 
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Innovation in Teaching – Aqua-tnet group on YouTube and Flickr

This is a reminder from the Innovation in Teaching experts who showcased a number of interesting online resources during the recent annual event which can be used in teaching. The workgroup has established a group on the YouTube video sharing website. This is an opportunity for aqua-tnet members and others to actively collaborate by sharing relevant videos useful for teaching and learning. The web address is http://www.youtube.com/group/aquatnetshare

The workgroup has also set up a Flickr group for Aqua-tnet - http://www.flickr.com/groups/aqua-tnet - aiming to encourage and facilitate the sharing of images (and video also possible) which is useful in teaching. Please submit images and videos to both resources that have a strong educational component so that we all have a much richer pool of resources to draw from.
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WP4 (New generic skills and competences approaches) needs your help!

This is an announcement to inform all Aqua-tnet members that the WP4 questionnaires are currently being put online and an email will be sent out next week with the websites address to allow respondents to answer online. We are carrying out a survey to gather the views of teachers, stakeholders (industry and other employers), graduates and students (BSc, MSc, PhD and other) in order to identify gaps and new requirements in generic skills training. WP4 met recently in Aberdeen (May 2010) and we concluded that we have too few responses to the teacher, stakeholder and graduate surveys to do any analysis. A reasonable number (N=162) of student questionnaires were returned. We would like to request all Aqua-tnet partners to complete the surveys which will be announced next week.

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Research & Education 

Third ASSEMBLE call for applications is now open

ASSEMBLE partners are developing an integrated infrastructure to optimize the possibilities for European scientists to excel in research on marine ecosystems and marine biological models using the most advanced approaches in modern biology. On-site and remote access is available for marine research projects. The third ASSEMBLE call for applications is now open. You can apply for on-site access to the ASSEMBLE infrastructure sites for the period December 2010 - May 2011. Deadline 15 September 2010. For more information please visit http://www.assemblemarine.org/offering-access-to-marine-infrastructure/

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Call for Proposals 2010: Life+ Programme

The 2010 call for proposals for the LIFE+ Programme has now opened, with up to €243 million available for co-financing of projects. LIFE+ aims at co-funding actions in the field of nature conservation (LIFE+ Nature and Biodiversity) as well as in other fields of the environment that are of European interest (LIFE+ Environment and Governance). A third component of LIFE+ aims specifically at co-funding information and communication activities for the environment (LIFE+ Information and Communication).

For further details email: LifeIE@mwhglobal.com Closing date for receipt of proposals is 1st September 2010 or please click here.

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Your views on open access publishing are needed!

The SOAP Project, funded by the European Commission, would like to announce the release of an online survey to assess researchers' experiences with open access publishing. This survey aims to inform the most comprehensive analysis of attitudes to open access publishing to date and is seeking views from a wide a range of interested parties. It is primarily aimed at active researchers in public and private organizations, from all research fields in science and the humanities and focuses on publication of research articles in (open access) peer-reviewed journals.

If you would like to contribute to shaping the public discourse on open access, please visit http://surveymonkey.com/soap_survey_d. It should take 10-15 minutes to complete. We would appreciate if you would share this link with your colleagues and collaborators so that the views of your discipline are properly represented. The survey outcome will be made public and the resulting insights as well as recommendations will be openly shared with the European Commission, publishers, research funding agencies, libraries and researchers.

Thanks in advance, the SOAP Project Team info@project-soap.eu

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Other 

VALLA project Best Practice Guidelines on how to create a European Sectoral Occupational Map

The EC-funded project VALLA has recently come to a close with a final conference in Brussels in March 2010. The aims of the VALLA project were to support the realisation of a European area for lifelong learning, building transparency and trust. One of the focuses of the project was on the development of step by step Best Practice Guidelines on how to create a European Sectoral Occupational Map.

An Occupational Map is essentially a report describing the main features and characteristics of an industry or sector. It gives a picture of the sector in terms of its coverage and boundaries, providing information on the numbers employed, industry trends, job titles and job roles. In this way it contributes to the context and background for the development of national occupational standards for a sector. As such it is an important first stage in the process of developing a national framework as it analyses the professional areas covered. This is a very useful guide and will be of interest to anyone wishing to create a European Occupational map for their own sector. To access the guide please click here.

For further information, please visit www.vallaproject.com or contact Marieke Reuver at Marieke@aquatt.ie

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Reminder: Aqua-RET 2 – Identifying the labour market needs of the Marine Renewables sector

This is a reminder that that the EU-funded project Aqua-RET 2 is currently carrying out a needs analysis of the marine renewables sector. The eye-catching poster series of marine renewable technologies produced in Aqua-RET 1 were well received at the recent All Energy 2010 event in Aberdeen. The Aqua-RET 2 consortium would appreciate if you could forward this link to interested colleagues for their input: http://www.esurveyspro.com/Survey.aspx?id=63ec46e0-6365-4098-a3b3-0944a2465f24 For more information please visit www.aquaret.com

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PESCALEX 2 progress meeting success in Hungary

As readers of the Aqua-tnet Newsletter will know, the PESCALEX 2 project concerns the translation of the PESCALEX glossaries and other materials which already exist in English, French, Spanish, Norwegian and Polish, into Hungarian, Turkish and Galician, for the benefit of new users. However, an interesting new development under way is a new diagnostic tool devoted to turbot diseases. At the PESCALEX Progress meeting (Szarvas, Hungary, early June) this innovative tool was showcased to partners. Its capacity to facilitate communication between fish farmers and experts in a multi-lingual environment will undoubtedly improve diagnostic capacity for turbot.

At present, the tool assists fish farmers to identify possible diseases. Future versions will include an ability to contact an identified expert who can also be sent fish samples. The expert will then be able to use the tool during the identification process to further narrow the list of possible diseases and email the fish farmer the result. The alpha version of this remarkable new tool will be demonstrated and tested for its diagnostic identification capacity at an upcoming workshop which will be organised in October by the Spanish training organisation, CETMAR. Further news and registration details of this workshop will be given in this Newsletter. All of the projects deliverables will be made available through the project website (www.pescalex.org) which is currently being revamped and will shortly be online.

The meeting highlighted the huge potential that PESCALEX 2 has in going forward and the secretariat would like to thank our Hungarian partners for their hospitality and for making the progress meeting such a success.

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2. AquaTT Training News  

AquaTT's Training News is a free monthly electronic newsletter. With the latest news from the European education community, opportunities for collaboration, announcements and a student corner, Training News is an important dissemination channel for education and training opportunities for the aquaculture and fisheries sectors.

Highlights of the May 2010 issue:

CLICK HERE for the latest AquaTT Training News (May 2010)

CLICK HERE for the AquaTT Calendar with a comprehensive overview of all Events in the Maritime Sector 

Please email news@aquatt.ie to submit your news which will reach over 5,000 subscribers interested in aquaculture and related sectors education.

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3. BibMail 

BibMail is a biweekly updated overview of the content tables of the major aquaculture-relevant scientific journals.

CLICK HERE for the latest Bibmail (May 2010)

To go to the BibMail website link on the AQUA-TNET site please CLICK HERE

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4. Information of Interest

Information of Interest is a biweekly updated overview of interesting publications, reports, and manuals relating to aquaculture in a broad sense, with links to the respective files or information points.

CLICK HERE for the latest Information of Interest (May 2010)

To go to the Information of Interest website link on the AQUA-TNET site please CLICK HERE 

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5. PiscesTT Jobs

PiscesTT Jobs is a free online recruitment service used by over 200 companies globally. The innovative system, updated daily, lists jobs, PhD vacancies and student placements in Aquaculture, Fisheries and Marine Science worldwide. Subscribe at http://www.piscesttjobs.com/feeds/ for live RSS updates of new job postings. This service facilitates human resource development in the industry.

At the moment 8 interesting jobs are listed: 

If you are interested in posting a job vacancy or registering for the service, please go to the PiscesTT Jobs website or contact Marieke Reuver at marieke@aquatt.ie

6. Other 

This update is published by the AQUA-TNET Secretariat. For further information, e-mail: aquatnet@aquatt.ie

If you would like to post a notice, news item or event details on the next issue of the AQUA-TNET Newsletter or on the AQUA-TNET website, please send details to Marieke Reuver at marieke@aquatt.ie 

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About AQUA-TNET

All old AQUA-TNET Newsletters and other AQUA-TNET information is archived on the AQUA-TNET website (www.aquatnet.com).

AQUA-TNET welcomes any feedback regarding content, presentation and user-friendliness of the newsletter. Please forward this mail to any colleagues that may be interested. Please submit any relevant information for dissemination in the newsletter to aquatnet@aquatt.ie. 

DISCLAIMER: AQUA-TNET provides this newsletter as a free service to its partners. Most of the information is provided by AQUA-TNET. Where it is not, the source of the news is provided in the text of the news brief or else AQUA-TNET attributes the news to the coordinating body as the "Data Source Provider". In no way does this newsletter intend to wrongly or inappropriately claim projects, news, etc. as its own nor is it responsible for incorrect information provided from other sources. The AQUA-TNET Newsletter is a dissemination tool and forum for both AQUA-TNET and its partners.

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