Un dulce al que es difícil resistirse
La financiación del coste de la matrícula y una dotación mensual de 750 euros durante el período de la ayuda fueron, a juicio de los beneficiados, un dulce al que es difícil resistirse, pues, tal como explica el vigués David Arjones, “te permite hacer el máster sin necesidad de trabajar simultáneamente o sin abusar de la inestimable ayuda de nuestros padres”. Licenciado en Derecho, ahora se especializa en el Mástér en Derecho Urbanístico y del medio Ambiente, un título con el que pretende “conocer de primera mano la realidad práctica que en la licenciatura no se llega a mostrar”. Arjones es un buen ejemplo de que no todos los beneficiarios de estas ayudas pertenecen al ámbito científico, aunque son 25 los estudiantes que cursan másters de esta rama, hay otros diez repartidos entre el campo tecnológico (6), el jurídico-social (3) y el humanístico (1). Lejos de los estudios directamente relacionados con el mar, Arjones no descarta dedicarse en el futuro a este campo, por lo de ahora, realizará su proyecto fin de máster en el estudio de las distintas medidas que se tomaron en materia legislativa en aras de la protección del medio marino, “en especial, las conocidas cómo áreas marinas protegidas”.

Mucho más vinculada al medio marino, Rebeca Alvariño supo de las ayudas a través de la página de Facebook del Campus do Mar y de la Asociación de Oceanógrafos de Galicia. Acababa de licenciarse en Ciencias del Mar y ahora cursa el Máster en Biología Marina. “Actualmente hay pocas becas de este tipo para la realización de másters y todo indica que aún se van a reducir más”, lamenta, “sin embargo, estas iniciativas dan la oportunidad de estudiar un posgrado a personas que de otra manera no podrían hacerlo”. Además, subraya que el máster en el que está matriculada permite realizar prácticas en empresas o en centros de investigación, aspectos a los que concede mucha importancia, ya que en el futuro le gustaría poder dedicarse “a una actividad que me permita emplear los conocimientos que ya adquirí durante mi formación académica y continuar formándome”.

Elevado interés entre el alumnado de Hispanoamérica
Si bien los estudiantes españoles fueron los que más solicitudes presentaron, la convocatoria despertó también un elevado interés entre el alumnado de Hispanoamérica, sobre todo de Colombia, y se recibieron también solicitudes procedentes de estados europeos como Portugal o Turquía. Justo desde Colombia llegó Laura Vigoya, que está cursando el Máster de Aplicación del Procesado de la Señal en las Comunicaciones en el campus de Vigo. “Supe de la convocatoria gracias a coordinadora del máster y no dudé en presentarme”, señala, al tiempo que subraya que esta iniciativa abre no solo campos de estudio interdisciplinarios, sino que además permite que “más personas con pocos recursos económicos y cuyo interés sea estudiar e investigar puedan acceder a estudios superiores y multiplicar en diferentes partes del mundo los conocimientos adquiridos”.

Desde la Universidad de Guadalajara en México llegó Víctor Manuel Chávez. Está haciendo el Máster en Ciencias del Clima en el campus de Ourense, “unos estudios que no existen en mi país” y por los que él tiene especial interés, ya que, físico de formación, “estoy muy interesado en todas las investigaciones que profundizan en la temática del cambio climático”. Nunca había escuchado hablar del proyecto Campus do Mar, pero sí conocía el máster y fue “justo a través de la web del máster como conocí la convocatoria de estas ayudas”.

Fuente: DUVI

Mr. Takeshi Yasumoto will deliver a speech at CITEXVI called
“Determination of toxins involved in ciguatera and related seafood
toxins”, on the 21^st of May at 11:30 hours, and this will coincide
with the official opening of the E.U´s Reference Laboratory
for Marine Biotoxins (EURLMB). Dr. Yasumoto is a world expert on
marine biotoxins, and he is acknowledged by the international
scientific community for his research on natural marine products and
toxins that produce red tides. Dr. Yasumoto is member of the Campus do
Mar International Advisory Board and was conferred with a honorary PhD in 2012 by the University of Vigo. He has published over 600
research papers and has also been conferred with another ten honorary awards.

The marine biologist Daniel Pauly, from the Canadian University of
British Columbia, is well known for his research on the human impact
on fisheries at the global level. He will be giving a lecture called
“Impacts of fisheries and global warming on marine ecosystems” from
the Instituto Politécnico de Leiría in Peniche (Portugal), on Thursday
24^th May at 17:15 hours.

And lastly, the researcher Mr. Andrés Maldonado from the Instituto
Andaluz de Ciencias de la Tierra, will end this busy month of
conferences by giving a talk on the 31^st of May from the auditorium at the Science
Faculty of the Vigo Campus. He will be talking about global change
and will focus on the example of Antarctica. His lecture entitled
“The global change: learning from the Antartic”, is scheduled to start
at 11:00 hours.

En el CNPq, los representantes do Campus do Mar fueron recibidos por la directora  adjunta de la institución, Raquel Coelho, así como por los directores de los departamentos relacionados con las ciencias y tecnologias aplicadas al medio marino. Este encuentro permitió  establecer las bases para una próxima colaboración entre el CNPq y el Campus do Mar a través del programa “Ciências sem Fronteiras” del gobierno brasileño, una acción que fomenta el intercambio de estudiantes de grado y posgrado así como de investigadores entre Brasil y las instituciones de investigación más prestigiosas del mundo.

Posteriormente, Janice Romaguera, Coordinadora General para el Mar y la Antártida del Ministerio de Ciencia, Tecnología e Innovación recibió a la delegación de Campus do Mar y conoció de primera mano las actividades y orientaciones del proyecto y ofreció el apoyo institucional de su ministerio de cara a incrementar la cooperación entre el Campus y las instituciones brasileñas.

Finalmente, Emilio Fernández y Alberto González-Garcés visitaron al Coordinador General de Cooperación Internacional de la CAPES, Luís Filipe Grochocki con quien evaluaron diferentes posibilidades de financiación de intercambio de investigadores, que serán analizadas y posteriormente plasmadas en forma de acuerdos de colaboración.

Hoy, martes 15 de Maio, los representantes del Campus do Mar estarán en São Paulo para reunirse con diferentes representantes de la Universidade de São Paulo (USP).

“Brazil is an emerging country with enormous potential and a lot of interest for exchange programs. It is also a country which shares a lot of cultural aspects with us”, remarked the Director for Internationalisation at the Campus do Mar when talking about his mission which starts on Monday in Brasilia, where meetings will be held with the National Council for Scientific & Technological Development, with the Secretariat for Research & Development Policies and Programs of the Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation, and with the Department of International Cooperation. Meetings will continue the following day in São Paulo and Río de Janeiro with heads of institutions and directors of scientific centres at the Paulista University and at the Federal Fluminense and Federal de Río de Janeiro Universities. The trip will end in Curitiba-Paraná where the Campus representatives will be visiting the Marine Studies Centre to meet with the Directors and Deputy Vice-chancellors of the Federal University of Paraná.

From Brazil to Chile with stopovers in China and Mexico
The international mission, which will be commencing on Monday, is the first of four to be undertaken by the Campus do Mar representatives, to present the Campus of Excellence and its mission. The mission to Brazil is in May while the one in June will cover China, Mexico and Chile. The Campus do Mar Board chose these countries “because there are good university relations, training and research relations, and interests in the marine environment”, explained Mr. González Garcés who also highlighted “their research strength”, and institutional desire to establish relations with them. It is hoped that such relations will materialise by signing formal agreements for exchange of students, researchers and even technology transfer, for which contacts will be established with three types of institutions: universities, research centres and institutions that can finance and support research, training and mobility of students, researchers and lecturers.

Mr. González Garcés feels that such missions are fundamental within the Campus internationalisation strategy led by the University of Vigo. “We want our University, the Universities in Galicia and those from the North of Portugal, to intensify relations with institutions, universities and public research bodies from other countries in order to internationalise our campus. In terms of specific figures, our objective is that the International Postgraduate School of the Campus achieves 30% students from countries other than Spain.

Source: DUVI

Question (Q).- Artificial neural networks and cognitive mechanisms may sound totally strange to someone who is not involved with research in this field, however, when we use the term Artificial Intelligence, most readers are able to gauge the theme of your research. Can you explain what you do?
Answer (A).-  In this field, we seek to generate behaviours in machines that seem intelligent to humans. There are many approximations to this objective and in our case, we have focussed on the study of different techniques inspired in nature (“bio-inspired”), in order to obtain physical systems, such as robots and machines, that can carry out tasks in hostile environments whilst simultaneously adapting to changing situations.

(Q).- How did your interest for robotics start and when did you decide to specialise in autonomous systems?
(A).-  My interest really started with intelligence and how one could create intelligent systems by using approximations inspired in nature, such as artificial evolution. When one works on these issues, one realises that intelligence and cognitive capacities in living beings are closely linked to the individual bodies and to the different sensory and action capacities that they offer. This is what led me to delve into the world of robotics and autonomous systems. They were tools that I could use for studying intelligence from a holistic point of view via the body-brain interaction. Obviously, the Engineering School environment in which I was and the needs of the industries that collaborate with us led us increasingly towards systems (that were more or less intelligent) capable of performing industrial tasks in dynamic and non-structured environments such as Shipyards or shipping of petroleum products, by adequately adapting to changing tasks and environments.

(Q).- What brought you to the University of A Coruña?
(A).- My joining the University of A Coruña about twenty years ago was by chance really and it happened after long stays at San Diego State University and the University of California, San Diego, and after the completion of my PhD degree. I was looking for job opportunities in Galicia at the time, which coincided with the creation of the Higher Polytechnic School (EPS) in Ferrol. Things were difficult at first when both the University of A Coruña (UDC) and the EPS were created since there was a paucity of means. Everything was still precarious and a huge effort was needed to obtain very small results. However, one could savour a pioneering ambience that favoured union and collaboration between people from different disciplines and origins to achieve a critical mass. There was great freedom to try out new things since there was practically no limiting guideline structure to follow. In time, this led to the creation of multidisciplinary and dynamic groups within an environment of collaboration with industry, something quite difficult to imagine at the time in other centres with a longstanding history and tradition and with set operating guidelines in place.

(Q).- The interaction between Humans-Machines is a reality now. How does this contribute to the development of society and why is it important to continue research into Artificial Intelligence?
(A).- It is obvious that our civilisation is moving towards an environment of machines and systems that we need to relate to. Such systems make life much easier and facilitate interaction with increasingly complex structures and processes, which are needed to maintain our present day lifestyles in an ever expanding population. This does not mean that man has to become more and more specialised in order to be able to control and operate these systems in such a technical environment. It seems logical to make the machines interact with humans and do so with greater autonomy thereby freeing humans from such chores and providing time for leisure -a rare commodity today. This is what places research into artificial intelligence and development of autonomous systems very high on the list of objectives.

(Q).-  What are the main objectives for developing autonomous systems?
(A).- The principal task of such systems is the production of machines that can act and perform tasks in complex and changing environments, without there being any need for their constant supervision and control by humans. This is however not always possible or appropriate.

In the marine field, it ranges from shipbuilding activity (where  the so-called traditional production lines do not exist and workers and machinery need to move to the place where shipbuilding actually takes place) to works carried out on the ocean floor where exploration units need to be deployed for cable maintenance operations and repairs of marine and submarine structures. These are environments where there is need for interaction with other machinery and workers that are constantly evolving, and where units are constantly exposed to possible incidents of which we do not have any forewarning.

(Q).- How do you confer autonomy to these machines?
(A).- In order to provide maximum autonomy to such systems, there is need to simultaneously work on two fronts. On the one hand, automatic design techniques are studied and designed to facilitate the best possible morphologies for these machines that are the most suitable for the tasks they are supposed to carry out and for a specific environment. In fact, the starting point is morphologic intelligence in terms of adaptability such that the more adapted and adequate the body, the simpler and more effective is the control or the “brain” unit. On the other hand, cognitive mechanisms are studied and developed for these machines, either as simple sets of rules or through the use of more complex structures that try to imitate the function of animal brains.

(Q).- Artificial intelligence has proved to have multiple applications from domotic engineering processes and patient monitoring to semantic works. Amongst this range of possibilities, can you tell us about the progress made by your research team on the subject of oil spill detection at sea through airborne or satellite imagery, and can you explain what these systems are all about?
(A).- An important issue in many fields, amongst which is the marine field, is “remote sensing”. Our group has a research line dedicated to developing hyperspectral systems not only from the point of view of sensors but also from the point of view of image processing. Hyperspectral images provide each pixel with a spectrum of hundreds or thousands of bands or values instead of providing a RGB colour value. Such spectral resolution facilitates very detailed discrimination between the many materials and elements present in such images.

The problem here is the huge amount of data generated and their processing. A one megapixel image (a small resolution when one considers the normal resolutions available in today’s little photographic cameras) with one thousand spectral bands can have a size of several Gigabytes – an uncommon size in our daily environment. Our team, in collaboration with the Nonlinear Optics Group of the University of Santiago, has recently developed a third generation transportable light hyperspectrometer which is adequate for mounting on cheaper media than the traditional high flying planes and satellites. Several tools have also been developed for segmenting such images, identifying targets, cover classification, and many other applications.

We are currently working on real time image processing to detect and classify elements in line with changes over time, and are also working on developing a small device which can be easily fitted on very small autonomous planes for exploration and civil uses. Examples of applications within the marine field would be searching for shipwrecked persons or detection and follow-up of oil spills.

(Q).- What are the other contributions in the marine field made by your studies, especially for developing fishing activity?
(A).- The Integrated Engineering group (GII), over the last 10 years, has carried out many projects in these two areas through collaboration with companies from these sectors. An autonomous submarine that can operate at 4000 metres depth, automatic longlining systems, aerodynamic effects on ship superstructures, are amongst some of our most important contributions.

A lot of effort has likewise been put into studying and developing systems that use intelligent techniques for preventing dynamic phenomena such as parametric resonance or broaching, wherein fishing vessels or other type of vessels suffer steep inclination as a result of waves and wind action, respectively. A stability management system has also been designed for fishing vessels in addition to carrying out studies for using LPG or kites to propel fishing vessels. The list continues with design of optimised rudder, competition sailing boats, diverse offshore structure elements, not forgetting the ergonomic optimisation of fish processing plants for new deep sea fishing vessels, studies for reducing noise and vibrations for newly designed tugs, amongst others.

(Q).- What are the steps taken when launching the tools you design on to the market given the fact that a large number of your research applications have a high commercial interest?
(A).- For commercially interesting systems, the steps to be followed for market launch in our case are always quite similar. We are a R&D group that always carries out its activities with and for companies from our environment. It is our partner companies on the project that actually commercialise such research results and therefore transfer is immediate, which is how things should be done.

(Q).- What are the projects that you are currently working on?
(A).- The GII group is carrying out a large number of marine projects and these currently number around 30. They are carried out in collaboration with other universities and companies from our environment, and the Galician Naval Technology Centre. Studies are presently being carried out on parametric resonance and prevention in vessels, with a view to improving their safety and reducing the risk of sinking and other damages. In like manner, research is also underway to prevent possible incidents arising from wave battering, designing systems to help captains to improve perception of navigation conditions and vessel stability at all times, a very important issue especially in little fishing vessels.

Some of our shipbuilding projects are focussed on improving the capacities of shipyards such as those related to organisation and production, and others that seek the introduction of new strategies to make such companies even more efficient from a business management point of view. Then there are projects related to construction and anchoring of offshore structures and their management. On the robotic front, work is being carried out on autonomous and modular robots for their use in shipyards.  Robots are also being developed for specific uses such as to clean non-magnetic hulls, amongst others. There are several collaboration marine projects being undertaken with ITCs both for improving range of different signals cover in coastal environments by using new buoy designs and for developing systems to detect man overboard.

(Q).- Do these projects have an international projection?
(A).- On the international front, besides the activities carried out by the group with companies, which number more than 100 in total, and which end up in the international market, the GII group is also connected to many other research groups and centres all over the world. The above collaboration has been in the form of joint projects and research stays under the framework of transnational initiatives.

Some such examples are KEDRI (Centre for Knowledge Engineering) at the University of Auckland; The Automation and Control Group for Ship’s Dynamics at the Technical University of Denmark; the Centre for Ships and Ocean Structures (CeSOS) at the  Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) in Trondheim, Norway; the LabOceano – Coppe at the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro in Brazil; and the Naval Engineering group at the Technical University of Lisbon. Also relevant are relations maintained through joint projects with the Von Karman Institute of Fluid Dynamics in Brussels, amongst others.

(Q).- The Integrated Engineering Group (GII) brings together the areas of Industrial Organisation (GOI), Naval Engineering (GSA) and Fluid Engineering (GIF). This is a multidisciplinary group that carries out research in wide ranging fields within engineering and computation. What are the benefits of working together?
(A).-To be honest, although this is a single group, it is specialised in several fields and has a widely qualified staff, which confers a very competitive advantage to the group by qualifying us to take on projects that involve many different disciplines. This also enables us to take on projects from different areas and, what is even better, is that we can provide knowledge and quite eclectic points of views to solve diverse scientific and technological problems. It is worth highlighting that the important bit is not the multidisciplinary nature of the projects but the fact that we have many specialists from several disciplines at our disposal and therefore the possibility to collaborate with ease thanks to our common trajectory and experience. We believe that this is the key to the success of the initial approach of the GII, which had sought this multidisciplinary consolidation that has taken us many years to achieve.

(Q).- In this sense the Campus do Mar project, promoted by the three Galician Universities, the CSIC and the IEO, together with 4 Portuguese Universities, is a good example of integrated research. What is your opinion on this initiative?
(A).- We surely think that this is an initiative of great interest for the theme it covers. In this sense, and right from the beginning, we have always expressed willingness to collaborate with the Campus do Mar to help it progress towards success which it rightly deserves, in sectors that we think are basic for Galicia and in which we could be joint leaders. The GII has always felt that collaboration and integration, in the way it is planned by the Campus do Mar, will certainly lead to achievement of the most interesting goals rather than when one acts in isolation.  This has led us to choosing a collaboration policy with a huge number of Galician, national and international groups.

M. Norte/Campus do Mar

The Eixo Atlántico has been developing a maritime strategy which began with the Climatlántica project, to provide the Atlantic Area with a development strategy focussed on sustainability and the fight against climate change. The new Presidency of the Eixo Atlántico is now boosting a multiannual line of work in which the sea is viewed not only as an element of identity but also as an opportunity for economic development of this Euroregion.

Within this context, the Campus do Mar will provide technical support on Maritime Strategy issues for the Atlantic Ocean Area that falls within the scope of the Euroregion. Both entities have also agreed to jointly organise technical forums geared towards Marine Strategy issues that would be of interest to the cities that lie in the Galicia-North of Portugal Euroregion. Scientific and technological dissemination activities will also be carried out in the Eixo Atlántico cities, within the scope of Campus do Mar social projection and scientific culture boosting programs.

La retransmisión, que comenzará a las 14:30, recogerá durante 4 horas las opiniones de diversos expertos mundiales, que aportarán su punto de vista en los diferentes aspectos relacionados con la pesca sostenible.

El programa de ponencias es el siguiente:

14.30 Introduction to workshop defining MSY variants, constraints and management measures - Anna Rindorf

14.40 What does MSY mean, where does it come from and can it work in practice? - Sidney Holt

15.10 MSY when the catch of one fish affects that of another – Anna Rindorf, DTU Aqua

15.30 MSY from an Ecosystem perspective – Louize Hill, WWF

15.50 Good Environmental Status as we aim for MSY – Dave Reid, MI

16.10 Maximising economic yield in fisheries – Raul Prellezo, AZTI

17.00 MSY in a societal perspective – Ellen Hoefnagel,DLO

17.20 Desirable targets and constraints from an industry perspective - Christian Olesen

17.40 Bmsy management – Pamela Mace, New Zealand Ministry of Fisheries

MYFISH will perform an in-depth study of sustainable fisheries management with the involvement of all participating actors and it therefore is directly related to Cluster 2 of the Campus do Mar: “Sustainable use of marine resources”. This is an important project financed under the EU’s 7th Framework Programme  with a budget of 6.5 million Euros, of which the EU will be contributing 5 million.

According to the remarks made at the inauguration session by the project coordinator , Ms. Anna Rindorf, a researcher from the Danish National Institute for Aquatic Research  ”this is about getting maximum benefit from an important resource such as fish and not in just any manner but by always bearing in mind the management of objectives and consequences “.

Ms. Rindorf, who was accompanied by the Vice-chancellor of the University of Vigo, Mr. Salustiano Mato, the Director of the Vigo Oceanographic Centre, Mr. Valentín Trujillo and the Director of the International Area of the Campus do Mar, Mr. Alberto González-Garcés, also made special reference to the marine excellence campus, which she said was  undoubtedly a very interesting project.

Mr. Salustiano Mato emphasised to the 15 personas present at the meeting, on the need for measuring excellence in universities, “based not only on  the knowledge generated therein but also on the transfer of such knowledge to society at large through business networks”. The Director of the Campus do Mar, Mr. Emilio Fernández was the one who provided detailed explanations to association members on how the project is being carried out, and highlighted the close link sought between the worlds of research and business.

ITC partnership

INEO is comprised of more than 60 companies which carry out their activities in areas such as hardware, software, networks &  telecommunications, Internet & contents, ITC training and consultancy. They do so through active involvement in development of their socio-economic environment by promoting implementation of new information and communication technologies, innovation based on knowledge management and constant learning, and use the same as key elements to compete in a global market.

INEO periodically organises encounters for members with important people from the public administrations, associations, the business world, and important economic and social agents from Galicia, in order to develop close links between the ITC sector and the fields of reference for creation of employment and wealth.

Source: DUVI

- Greater efficiency of transfer relations between research groups and companies

- Intense relations between technology supply and demand amongst the public and private sectors

- Boost industrial and commercial impact of developments and technologies generated within the Campus do Mar.

All details of this announcement can be accessed from here