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EMBASSY RELEASE: Launch of Nansen-Tutu Research Centre

22 May, 2010

21/05/2010 -  On 20 May the Nansen-Tutu Centre for Marine Environmental Research was launched in Cape Town. The Nansen-Tutu Centre is initiated by the Nansen Environmental and Remote Sensing Center, Bergen, Norway and the Department of Oceanography, University of Cape Town. It is named after the two Nobel Peace Prize laureates, Desmond Tutu and Dr. Fridtjof Nansen.
The centre is created as a joint partnership between Norwegian and South African research institutions in order to promote research and knowledge about the three oceans surrounding South-Africa, and their effect on the environment and climate on the African continent.

Archbishop emeritus Desmond M. Tutu hosted the inauguration event in his office, when 7 partner institutions in South Africa, Norway and the USA come together to sign a collaborative agreement on the establishment of the centre. The signatory partners are the Ma-Re Institute, the Department of Oceanography, at the University of Cape Town, the African Centre for Climate and Earth System Science (ACCESS/CSIR), the Geoscience Department at Princeton University, USA, the Norwegian Institute of Marine Research, the Geophysical Institute at the University of Bergen and the Nansen Environmental and Remote Sensing Center (NERSC). The Centre will foster collaborations in research and higher education in Africa with focus on marine environmental sciences.

The Nansen-Tutu Centre for Marine Environmental Research aims to develop and implement operational oceanography and methods of data integration into models in the South Atlantic Ocean, the Indian Ocean and the Southern Ocean, with a focus on ocean state, marine environmental and ecosystem modelling, research and capacity building. This is imperative to enhance the understanding, and predictability of marine ecosystems, including their roles in climate and global teleconnections – the relationship between climate anomalies in different parts of the world.
The Nansen-Tutu Centre will be located at the University of Cape Town and headed by Prof. Frank Shilling (Ma-Re) and Prof. Johnny A. Johannessen (NERSC) both for a 3 years period.

Did You Know?
The Nansen-Tutu Centre is the fifth centre in the Nansen Group of international research centres initiated by its Founding Director Prof. Ola M. Johannessen. The other Centres are the Nansen Environmental and Remote Sensing Center in Bergen, Norway; the Nansen International Environmental and Remote Sensing Centre in St. Petersburg, Russia; the Nansen Environmental Research Centre – India in Cochin, India; and the Nansen-Zhu International Research Centre in Beijing, China.