On a regular basis, the AQUAEXCEL²⁰²⁰ project will invite proposals from European research groups for scientific research that utilises the facilities of any of the participating aquaculture research infrastructures. The AQUAEXCEL²⁰²⁰ project unites major aquaculture experimental facilities with capacity to undertake experimental trials on a selection of commercially important fish aquaculture species and system types. These installations are made available to the research community for Transnational Access (TNA) with the support of the European Union’s Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation Programme. Transnational Access involves a research group in one country collaborating with one or more AQUAEXCEL²⁰²⁰ Infrastructures that are located in a different country to the applicant, and which offer facilities and expertise not available in their own country.

The facilities available cover the entire range of production systems (cage, pond, recirculation, flowthrough, hatchery and disease challenge); environments (freshwater, marine, cold, temperate and warm water); scales (small, medium and industrial scale); fish species (salmonids, cold and warm water marine fish, freshwater fish and artemia); and fields of expertise (nutrition, physiology, health & welfare, genetics, engineering, monitoring & management technologies).

Interested researchers can propose projects that involve visits of one or in some cases two people to the chosen research infrastructure for periods of up to three months. Access to the research infrastructures and associated travel and subsistence expenses will be paid for under the project. The establishment of new transnational collaborations is strongly encouraged, as well as the participation by SMEs.

For more information, visit:  www.aquaexcel2020.eu/transnational-access/call-access