German Alliance for Marine Research

Background

The German Alliance for Marine Research e.V. (DAM) is an alliance of the federal government with the five northern German states Länder, with the aim of promoting and coordinating German marine research.

The tasks of the DAM are set out in an administrative agreement between the Alliance partners dated 18 July 2019. The goal of the German Alliance for Marine Research is to strengthen the sustainable use of coasts, seas and oceans through research, data management and digitisation, coordination of infrastructures and transfer:

  • Research: Development and coordination of solution-oriented research missions on current, socially relevant issues with the aim of strengthening the sustainable use of coasts, seas and oceans.
  • Data management and digitalisation: Support open access to marine research data according to FAIR principles (discoverable, accessible, interoperable, reusable). This is to be done in close coordination with and complementary to the activities of the National Research Data Infrastructure (NFDI) will take place.
  • Coordination of infrastructures: Development of overarching concepts for the efficient use of existing research infrastructures (with the exception of research vessels).
  • Transfer: Bundling the expertise of German marine research and transferring topics, research questions and results to politics, business and society.

The Alliance has 24 research-based member organisations.

KDM and DAM

The DAM and KDM work in a complementary way.

KDM is an association with a focus on science strategy and national, European and international networking in the science community. Work priorities can be proposed by members, strategy groups, the Future Ocean Forum and the Board and adopted by the Board and the General Assembly. The focus is thus on bottom-up articulation and implementation of strategies of the science community.