Marine Station

Discover this exceptional facility, supporting teaching and research in marine, environmental science and engineering

Dedicated to teaching and research, the Marine Station serves all our marine-based courses including civil engineering, earth sciences and marine biology.

Situated on the shores of Plymouth Sound as part of our ‘Waterfront Campus’, the facility offers labs and classrooms extending out into the natural environment. It is the base for our research vessels and a centre of excellence for diving that enables you to get professional diving qualifications and develop valuable industry-relevant skills.

School of Biological and Marine Sciences

School of Engineering, Computing and Mathematics

Outstanding facilities to prepare you for your career

Laboratories

Facilities include a wet laboratory used for sample examination and analysis and a seawater aquarium which allows samples to be collected, stored, examined and returned to the sea with minimal disturbance.

Research vessels

It's the base for our research vessels. We have a fleet of seven research and diving vessels, plus smaller boats for group practical sessions, individual project work and research spanning the collection of seabed and water samples to the acquisition of hydrographic survey and oceanographic datasets.

Instrumentation

Our instrumentation includes the latest oceanographic and hydrographic survey sensors including an Acoustic Doppler Current Profiler, a Multi-Beam Echo-Sounder, a towed undulating Conductivity-Temperature-Depth System, an automatic weather station installed on Mount Batten Tower, specialist software for data analysis and visualisation, and a Remotely Operated Vehicle (ROV) equipped with HD video camera and various manipulator arms.

Equipment on the jetty

Aquarium and wet laboratory

A fleet of seven research and diving vessels

Students in a laboratory at the Marine Station

Wet laboratory

Diving vessels

Onboard the Falcon Spirit

HSE Professional SCUBA diving course

Plymouth is unique in offering our students the opportunity to gain the

HSE Professional SCUBA certification

alongside their degree.

The course is an intensive four week full-time programme designed to prepare candidates for undertaking media, scientific and archaeological diving projects. If you are looking to do any underwater work in the UK and be paid, you will require a HSE qualification. The Professional SCUBA course is the minimum requirement if you wish to work on scientific, archaeological or media diving projects. Please note that places on the course are offered subject to availability.