#MarineScience - Inland Fisheries Ireland (IFI) and Queens University Belfast (QUB) jointly sealed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) at QUB’s Medical Biological Centre on Wednesday 11 March, expressing their commitment to a continued rich and productive liaison in research and education.
Over a number of years, scientists from QUB and IFI have worked in collaboration to produce high-quality research covering an extraordinary range of projects, species and topics. Current areas of joint research include fish population genetics, aquatic invasive species and fish telemetry.
Speaking at the announcement, IFI’s head of research Dr Cathal Gallagher said: “IFI and QUB look forward to building on our existing relationship to produce the highest quality research outputs and publications to support the conservation and management on the inland fisheries resource.”
The organisations are also seeking to collaborate in encouraging and supporting the development of the next generation of fisheries scientists and technologists.
Dr Gallagher continued: “I am confident that the memorandum of understanding signed here today will act as an impetus to move forward with future research collaboration to support our shared goals. I see this collaboration as vital in supporting the development and education of the next generation of scientists into whose hands the future of this resource will be placed.
“I’m also extremely impressed by the expertise and quality of the joint research currently being undertaken and I look forward with anticipation to reviewing the outputs of these projects."
Prof Christine Maggs, head of the School of Biological Sciences at QUB also welcomed the announcement. “We are delighted that there is now formal recognition of the long and productive collaboration between QUB and IFI," she said.
“The school’s expertise in fish genetics, fish biology and aquatic ecology has been successfully applied to answering significant research questions for the IFI for more than a decade.”
