The European Marine Observation and Data Network (EMODnet) is a network of European organisations working together to observe the oceans, to make the collected marine data freely available and interoperable, to create seamless data layers across sea-basins and to distribute the data and data products through the Internet. The primary aim of EMODnet is to unlock existing but fragmented and hidden marine data and make them accessible for a wide range of users including private bodies, public authorities and researchers.
Tim Collart is trained as a marine geologist at the University of Ghent. In 2019, he completed a PhD in Science at the same university, investigating the environmental and anthropogenic processes that control the occurrence of cold-water coral reefs in the North-East Atlantic. He has multidisciplinary research experience in geophysics, physical and chemical oceanography, geospatial data processing and statistical analysis. For Seascape Belgium, he works as a Marine Data Analyst and GIS Support Officer at the Secretariat of the European Marine Observation and Data Network (EMODnet). In this role, he is involved with assessing and streamlining the data flow from research project and national data repositories to the users of EMODnet, technical performance monitoring of the EMODnet data portals and maintenance and development of the European Atlas of the Seas (EAS).