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FORREGION-Forskningsbasert innovasjon i regionene

CandRAS Kompetanse og utdanning innen landbasert produksjon av laks i resirkuleringsanlegg

Alternative title: Education and competence building for land based salmon production in recirculating aquaculture systems

Awarded: NOK 28.0 mill.

A central part of this project is the development of competence in the industry, and our introductory course for RAS biology is well established. This year it attracted 30 participants from five different farming companies, in addition to representatives from R&D, teachers from hich school with aquaculture education and Fagskolen i Nord. The course attracts a broad group of attendees, as we would expect form an introductory level education. The content have been adjusted based on evaluations from participants, as we try to ensure that they get the intended learning outcomes from the course. In this respect, water chemistry proves to be challenging, and we are working in collaboration with institute of chemistry to improve this. The advanced EVU course started this autumn with 15 participants - BIO-6002 EVU RAS biology – that will be rewarded with 15 ECTS at completion. Five different farming companies are represented, as well as employees from Tromsø Aquaculture Research Station. We also have staff from Fagskolen Nord that contribute to lab teaching and also sit in on all the other activities. A project funded by the Direktoratet for høyere utdanning og kompetanse (HK Dir) makes it possible to run this course with the activities decentralized, and so far we have had workshops in Lakselv and Skjervøy. We include company visits and case-based teaching at the facilities visited. Plans for a study program at UiT have been well received by the faculty management, the in line with the growing need for a specialized education aimed at production biology and RAS, but the economic situation, which applies to all Norwegian universities, currently makes it very challenging to establish new study programs. The project group has specific research and teaching expertise and has started a dialogue about possibilities for a joint international master's program in RAS biology. The project has so far not succeeded in recruiting a post-doc in water chemistry. The position is re-advertised. UiT has employed two PhD-students who are associated with activities in the project. One has a central role in initial testing of RASforsk with experiments related to intensive production and fish performance and welfare, while the other will work with effects of water quality (ammonia) on development in early life. The issues are relevant in relation to challenges in the industry. The new research facilities for RAS were opened in January, and work on testing the different systems is underway. So far, the testing has been limited to technical installations without fish in the tanks. Capacity testing with fish starts in mid-January. The maturation of biological filters have started in designated maturation tanks. A biology student based his master's thesis on the start-up of the filters, and defended his thesis in July. This is useful knowledge for the industry, and the now former student is employed at a salmon hatchery with main responsibility of start-up and operation of biofilters. During the past year, a researcher at Nofima visited the Freshwater Institute, while one of their employees visited UiT and Nofima. A research fellow from DTU spent 5 weeks in Tromsø as part of his doctoral project. Students at UiT have completed bachelor's theses in collaboration with industry players, and we are currently planning new master's theses in collaboration with industry. Through joint meetings, we have identified relevant issues for the industry in the region, and several have led to joint projects with the involvement of project-affiliated researchers and research fellows. In addition to two university scholars, we also have a business PhD associated with the project, and he recently completed his mid-term evaluation. As a result of the project, the Nordic RAS conference was arranged in Tromsø, with UiT as the local organizer. Nordic RAS is an international conference with participants from both industry and research and had 250 participants from 19 countries. During this reporting period, the project has also been presented at national meetings for the aquaculture industry and supplier industry. The most important channel for communication for the project is through teaching and teaching materials.

Havbruksnæringen i Norge er i ferd med å gjennomføre en omstilling av settefiskproduksjonen fra tradisjonelle gjennomstrømmingsanlegg til gjenbruk av vannet ved å ta i bruk lukkede resirkuleringsanlegg (RAS). Målsettingen med prosjektet er å utvikle kunnskap og bygge kapasitet og forskningskompetanse for verdiskaping og omstilling/nyskaping i havbruksnæringen og tilknyttet arbeidsliv med særlig vekt på Nord-Norge. CandRAS prosjektet vil bidra til å styrke samarbeid mellom forsknings- og utdanningsmiljøene og næringslivet ettersom FoU aktiviteter og undervisningstilbud tilpasses næringens kort- og langsiktige behov. Per i dag finnes ikke spesifikke kurs eller studieprogrammer for RAS biologi i Nord-Norge, og utvikling av kursmateriell, EVU kurs, og utdanningsprogrammer på videregående og universitetsnivå blir sentrale deler av prosjektet. Dette vil bidra til å øke næringsrelevant utdanningskapasitet og forsker-kompetanse i regionen. En post doc stilling planlegges i tidlig fase av prosjektet for å komme raskt i gang med forskningsoppgavene, Post doc stillingen vil være tilknyttet institutt for kjemi ved UiT og ha fokus på interaksjoner mellom fisk, system og vannkvalitet. Dette arbeidet vil gi grunnlag for å utarbeide en problemstilling for en stipendiatstilling, finansiert av prosjektet. UiT vil finansiere to universitetsstipendiatstillinger som skal jobbe med næringsrelevante problemstillinger, der driftskostnadene dekkes fra prosjektet. Det er også planlagt, og søkt midler for, en nærings-PhD som også vil bli tilknyttet prosjektet. Prosjektet vil videre styrke fagmiljøene innen havbruk med RAS kompetanse og bidra til utvikling av kompetanse og kapasitet på analytisk kjemi ved UiT. Prosjektet vil også styrke samarbeidet mellom Universitet og instituttsektoren, både regionalt og internasjonalt.

Funding scheme:

FORREGION-Forskningsbasert innovasjon i regionene