The European Marine Observation and Data Network (EMODnet) is a network of European organisations working together to observe the oceans, to make the collected marine data freely available and interoperable, to create seamless data layers across sea-basins and to distribute the data and data products through the Internet. The primary aim of EMODnet is to unlock existing but fragmented and hidden marine data and make them accessible for a wide range of users including private bodies, public authorities and researchers.
Professor Phil Weaver trained as a geologist and completed a PhD in micropalaeontology in 1978. He joined the Institute of Oceanographic Sciences in the UK in 1980 and transferred with them to the National Oceanography Centre (NOC) in Southampton in 1995. Through most of his career he has been involved in studies of sedimentary processes in the deep ocean, especially investigating the history of landslides from the Canary Islands and NW African margin. In 1993 he was co-chief scientist on an International Ocean Drilling Project to the Canary Basin that studied the volcanic development of Gran Canaria and the history of continental margin erosion by landsliding and sediment mass wasting. He has conducted many investigations around the world into sediment stability on continental margins, including numerous site and pipeline investigations for the hydrocarbon industry.
Phil has been involved in a large number of international projects and has coordinated five EC-funded European research projects investigating a range of marine topics. His career has gradually taken him into research areas with more environmental focus. He was scientific coordinator of the highly successful FP6 HERMES project (2005-2009) and its FP7 successor, the HERMIONE project (2009-2012). More recently Phil coordinated the MIDAS project (2013-2016) that investigated the environmental impacts of deep-sea mining and is also involved in the Blue Nodules project that is developing deep-sea mining equipment; his role is to identify areas where improved equipment design can reduce environmental impacts.
Professor Weaver was Director of the NERC Strategic Research Division at NOC from 2006 – 2010. He left NOC in 2010 to set up Seascape Consultants Ltd, though he remains a Senior Visiting Fellow of NOC and still actively publishes his research in leading marine science journals.