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ECRR > Member organisations > UMBS
The University Marine Biological Station Millport welcomes visitors, researchers and students from all parts of the world. Laboratory accommodation is available as research and experimental rooms and three teaching laboratories. Living accommodation for 80 people is available in the Norman Millott Hall of Residence and two annexes as well as in self-catering apartments nearby. The services of two research vessels are provided, operating trawls, dredges, plankton nets, lines, grabs and corers. They have observational facilities for students and are fitted with modern electronic and computerized instruments for navigation, track plotting, fish finding and depth recording. The Station earns a substantial proportion of its budget from research and contract work outwith the university system. There are long established research links with the Marine Laboratory, Aberdeen, with the Dunstaffnage Marine Laboratory, with biological departments of the University of Glasgow, and with the Glasgow Marine Technology Centre. UMBSM also collaborates with the British Antarctic Survey and numerous European partners. UMBSM environs The University Marine Biological Station Millport is a dynamic centre for research in marine ecology and environmental management, fisheries biology and marine microbiology. It is located on the eastern shore of Great Cumbrae Island in the Firth of Clyde, one of the best areas for marine biological research and teaching in the UK. The variety of habitats (rocky shores, sandy beaches, sea-lochs, estuaries, islands, and deep sea bed), all within the shelter of the Firth of Clyde, is unknown in any other suitable area, and the diversity of species (resulting from this, and the influence of the Gulf Stream and North Atlantic Drift) is unsurpassed.Teaching UMBSM is formally an institution of the Universities of London and Glasgow and provides marine biological teaching support for both of these 'parent' universities. However, the Station also has a substantial national role in providing facilities and logistical support for field teaching by universities throughout the UK. In recent years, this function has been broadened still further by visiting groups of European students, drawn to UMBSM by the opportunity to study a rich marine fauna and flora at an institution where residential accommodation, laboratory space, equipment, research vessels and diving facilities are all available.Research UMBSM has a long tradition of high quality marine biological research, helped by encouraging visiting workers from laboratories in Britain and abroad. The Station staff also look outwards for research connections, and have built up collaborative links with numerous countries in Europe, the Middle East, Australia and South-East Asia, as well as with government and university laboratories within the United Kingdom. There is also a thriving postgraduate student community at Millport, the students being registered either at London or Glasgow University.Specimen Supply Throughout its history the Station has supplied specimens of marine plants and animals to teachers and researchers, and, as other institutions have ceased to do so, this service has become increasingly important nationally. Material is regularly dispatched to some 60 laboratories and universities throughout the UK, often to users who have little idea of the source!Other functions
The importance of field courses Training in fieldwork is essential to the competence and employability of any "whole-organism" biologist, especially any ecologist or environmental manager. Fieldwork experience is essential if students are to be able to detect and recognise plants and animals in their natural habitat, and to use established fieldwork methods, that are often more difficult to implement in the field than might be anticipated. Fieldwork courses also provide invaluable training in aspects apart from the obvious methodological and taxonomic ones. Most students need practice in order to be able to work comfortably, confidently and safely away from the built environment. And for many, seeing organisms in their natural environment, often for the first time, engenders enthusiasm and concern that motivates their subsequent studies, and can transform their performance.For further information, please contact: Professor Jim Atkinson
Tel: 01475 530 581 |
Member Organisations
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© ECRR Edinburgh Consortium for Rural Research
BioSS, JCMB, King's Buildings, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh EH9 3JZ.
Tel(Fax): 0131 650 4890 (4901)
