Driving Marine and Coastal Insight Across Europe and Beyond
At IECS, our work spans decades of scientific inquiry, policy development, and environmental stewardship. From pioneering European Union research programmes to bespoke international consultancy, we’ve contributed to shaping sustainable marine and coastal futures through evidence-based solutions and collaborative innovation.
European Leadership in Marine Science and Policy
IECS has played a central role in numerous EU-funded initiatives, tackling complex challenges such as eutrophication, biodiversity loss, climate change, and marine spatial planning. Our contributions to projects like FP5 EUROTOPH, FP7 DEVOTES, and HorizonEurope’s MarineSABRES and MarinePlan reflect our commitment to integrative science and ecosystem-based management. Whether assessing ecological status, modelling cumulative pressures, or supporting governance in Areas Beyond National Jurisdiction, our work continues to inform policy and practice across European waters.
Global Reach, Local Impact
Beyond Europe, IECS delivers targeted expertise to governments, regulators, and industry worldwide. Recent projects include environmental assessments for offshore mining in Southern Africa, habitat compensation strategies for offshore wind developments with Ørsted Ltd, and ecological advice for coastal developments in the UK and Abu Dhabi. Our team has supported Natural England in operationalising Good Environmental Status, advised on estuarine impacts for infrastructure and aquaculture, and contributed to global knowledge synthesis on man-made marine structures through INSITE.
Current Horizon Europe Projects
Examples of Recent and Ongoing projects
European Union Framework projects
- FP5 EUROTOPH – Eutrophication and its management in European waters
- FP5 ELME – European Lifestyles and the Marine Environment
- FP7 WISER – Water bodies in Europe – Integrative Systems to assess Ecological status and Recovery
- FP7 VECTORS: Vectors of Change in Oceans and Seas Marine Life, Impact on Economic Sectors
- FP7 DEVOTES (DEVelopment Of innovative Tools for understanding marine biodiversity and assessing good Environmental Status)
- Interreg HARBASINS – Harmonised river basin management and estuarine and coastal management (North Sea Region)
- INTERREG TiDe – Tidal River Development (North Sea Region)
- H2020 CERES – Climate Change and European Fisheries and Aquaculture
- MARBEFES – HorizonEurope- Marine Biodiversity and Ecosystem Functioning leading to Ecosystem Services
- GES4SEAS– HorizonEurope – Achieving Good Environmental Status for maintaining ecosystem Services by assessing integrated impacts of cumulative pressures
- MarineSABRES – HorizonEurope – Marine Systems Approaches for Biodiversity Resilience and Ecosystem sustainability
- MarinePlan – HorizonEurope – Improved transdisciplinary science for effective ecosystem-based maritime spatial planning and conservation in European Seas
- GuardIAS – management and prevention of invasive aquatic species
UK and International Projects
- Environment Department – Abu Dhabi – Basis of State of Environment report and stakeholder workshops
- EAD Abu Dhabi – Knowledge Graph interrogation
- Oersted Ltd – compensation of habitats for offshore wind farms
- Oersted Ltd – advice for Hornsea 4 discussions regarding EIA with regulators
- Natural England – operationalisation of Good Environmental Standards for the UK Marine Strategy
- Natural England – GES operationalisation and a prototype decision support framework for offshore windfarms
- Scottish Landowner – advice for estuarine impacts of a new whiskey distillery
- Advice for sandy beach developments and motorsports
- Advice for mussel mortalities related to beach recharge developments
- Benthic and wading bird impacts for proposed Manila airport
- Environmental Impact Assessment evaluation for offshore mining of phosphates off Namibia
- Advice for Environmental assessment of marine diamond mining off Namibia
- Humber Estuarine functioning and processes
- Essential fish habitat assessment and modelling in Scottish and UK waters.
- Ecological connectivity between man-made offshore structures (INSITE)
- Synthesis of knowledge on marine man-made structures in relation to decommissioning (INSITE)
- European Commission – Evaluation of the European marine database EMODnet
- European Commission – Advice for the implementation of EU marine governance in Areas Beyond National Jurisdiction
- Assessment of estuarine and inshore fish data for England
- European Commission – Evaluation of metadata for the EU MSFD implementation
- Natural England – identification of ecosystem services from inshore and estuarine fish populations
- UKRI – evaluation of the outputs and impacts of the SMMT programme