ORGANIZATION

EMSO is a European research infrastructure consortium. At present eight countries participate to the consortium. EMSO members and governance structure is presented below.

MEMBERS

France
The French Ministry of Research appointed IFREMER and CNRS to represent France within EMSO.

Greece
The Greek Research Funding Agency (General Secretariat for Research/Ministry of Development) appointed HCMR to be the leading organization of a consortium of other Research Institutes and Universities.

Ireland
The Marine Institute is the national agency responsible for Marine Research, Technology Development and Innovation (RTDI).

Marine Institute

Italy (host country)
The Ministry of University and Research (MUR) appointed INGV to represent the Italian scientific community of marine science distributed over different Italian Research Institutions.

Norway
The Kingdom of Norway is represented by The Research Council of Norway in EMSO.

Portugal
The Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (FCT) represents Portugal in EMSO.

Romania
The Ministry of National Education (ANCS) appointed GeoEcoMar to represent Romania in EMSO.

Spain
The Ministry of Economy & Competitiveness (MINECO) is represented by PLOCAN within EMSO.

GOVERNANCE STRUCTURE

The Assembly of Members (AoM) is the highest decision-making body of EMSO ERIC, composed of delegates of the Members:

Ana Aricha (Chair since April 2026) (Spain)

Alain Lagrange (Vice Chair) (France)

Vasilios Kapsimalis (Greece)

Michael Gillooly (Ireland)

Joana Pinheiro (Portugal)

Cecilia Di Carlo (Italy)

Corina Dimitru (Romania)

Pål Sørgaard (Norway)

The Chair, elected by AoM, shall be responsible for directing and conducting each meeting of the Assembly of Members, following the EMSO Statute, the Implementing Rules and applicable law.

The previous Chairs of the EMSO AoM have been:

Miguel Miranda (September 2020 – April 2026)

Richard Lampitt (September 2016 – August 2020).

Composed of independent experts, it is responsible for expressing opinions on the matters of scientific, technical and ethical nature which may influence the work carried out by EMSO ERIC.

Members of the Advisory Committee:

  • Vito Vitale (Chair)
  • Alberto Basset
  • Pier Luigi Buttigieg
  • Rick Donselaar
  • Carlos Duarte
  • Peter Haugan
  • Shiuchi Kodaira
  • Pierre-Yves Le Traon
  • Filippos Vallianatos
  • Christine Valentin
  • Robert A. Weller

The Director General () is the legal representative of EMSO ERIC and Chief Executive Officer, responsible for the preparation and implementation of the decisions and the work program adopted by the Assembly of Members.

The current and past holders of this position are:

  • Ingrid Puillat (Director General | May 2024 – Present)
  • Aleardo Furlani (Pro-tempore Director General | January 2024 – April 2024)
  • Juanjo Dañobeitia (Director General | October 2017 – December 2023)
  • Aleardo Furlani (Transition Manager | October 2016 – September 2017)

CMO is the operational unit supporting the Director General and the Executive Committee in implementing the decisions of the Assembly of Member. CMO act primarily as the operational and strategic arm of the Director General in promoting EMSO ERIC branding to other Member States and to stakeholders, in launching a wide range of services for users, in spurring innovation partnerships and in securing new funding from different sources for the operation, maintenance and expansion of the Research Infrastructure.

CMO, headed by the Director General, is presently composed by:
Angela Vulcano – Administration and Legal Compliance
Valentina Tegas – Policy and Project Management Officer
Aljaz Maslo – Data and Science Officer
Simò Cusì – Engineering and Logistics Officer
Marco Galeotti – Programme and Industry relations Officer
Sara Pero – Communication Officer
Aleardo Furlani – Financial Officer
Antonella Iorio – Administration and Personnel Assistant
Taha El Ghadraoui – IT/Data Systems Engineer

Supports the Director General with advices in the performance of his functions and by implementing the AoM decisions. It consists of one representative for each of the EMSO ERIC Regional Teams and one person responsible for each of the EMSO ERIC Service Groups.

The Executive Committee is presently composed by:
  • Marjolaine Matabos – Azores Regional Team Leader
  • Vlad Radulescu – Black Sea Regional Team Leader
  • Eric Delory  – Canary Islands Regional Team Leader
  • George Petihakis – Cretan Sea and Hellenic Arc Regional Team Leader
  • Roberto Bozzano – Western Mediterranean Sea Leader
  • Carlos Sousa – Iberian Margin Regional Team Leader
  • Laurent Coppola – Ligurian Sea Regional Team Leader
  • Nadine Lanteri   – Molène Regional Team Leader
  • Joaquin del Rio – OBSEA Regional Team Leader
  • Alan Berry – SmartBay Regional Team Leader
  • Vanessa Cardin – South Adriatic Sea Leader
  • Davide Embriaco – Western Ionian Sea Regional Team Leader
  • Alfredo Martins – Engineering and Logistics Service Group Leader
  • Dominique Lefevre – Science Service Group Leader
  • Enoc Martinez – Data Management Service Group Leader
  • Carlos Barrera – Innovation and Industry Service Group Leader

It includes staff belonging to one or more scientific institutions charged of operating the EMSO ERIC regional facilities (observatory platform, data accessibility and services to support users needs) in a particular region. The RT leaders are part of the Executive Committee.

The initial SGs started in EMSO ERIC are:

The Engineering & Logistics Service Group charged of supervising and reviewing technological, engineering and standardisation issues of the infrastructure. This Service Group works to implement interoperability and propose new mature technologies or new operating methods.

The Data Management Service Group face the data policy issue to ensure a wide and free access to the data.

The Science Service Group support Scientists and Companies willing to use the data or to access physically to Infrastructure for performing experiments.

The Communication Service Group is charge to promote EMSO branding worldwide, to facilitate the exchange of information inside the scientific community, to attract new users and stakeholders.

The SG representatives are part of the Executive Committee.