David Plant

The National Oceanography Centre is an independent self-governing organisation - a charitable company limited by guarantee. The NOC is funded by UK Research and Innovation to work on National Capability programmes, and manages on its behalf, the National Marine Equipment Pool - Europe’s largest fleet of autonomous and robotic vehicles, and two state of the art research ships RRS Discovery and RRS James Cook. The NOC has two sites, Southampton and Liverpool, and employs around 650 staff. We are co-located at both sites with leading UK Universities, giving us a unique position in UK marine research.