For over 20 years Archipelagos Institute of Marine Conservation has been offering to student groups from universities and schools from all over the world, multidisciplinary field courses and study aboard programmes on applied marine and environmental conservation. These courses can be part of a taught university module or can take place independently, giving also the option for students to apply out of their university programme.

This unique learning experience that takes place on board Archipelagos’ 3 research boats, the “Aegean Explorer”, “Pinelopi” and “Naftilos” provides the participants with the opportunity to gain skills in the use of a wide range of state-of-the-art equipment, while taking part in research monitoring marine mammal populations, mapping protected marine habitats, as well as carrying out research in other fields such as microplastic pollution, seagrass meadows and coastal habitat biodiversity, blue carbon and climate change and many more.

These field courses provides the students with the opportunity to apply the theory learned at university and apply it to the real world, answer their own scientific questions and practice hands-on marine research. Courses are tailored to each group and take can place on the islands of Samos, Lipsi, Ikaria and several other islands of the Aegean Sea.

Watch here a video on the courses carried out jointly with 2 of Archipelagos’ university partners, the University of Essex and Cardiff University, UK, which have incorporated the Archipelagos’ field courses into their final year course curricula.