Oceanographer : Employers and vacancy sources

The two main government funding bodies for oceanographers in the UK are the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC)  and the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) . Their component bodies include:

• British Antarctic Survey (BAS)
• The Centre for Environment, Fisheries and Aquaculture Science (CEFAS)
• National Oceanography Centre, Southampton
• Plymouth Marine Laboratory
• Proudman Oceanographic Laboratory
• Scottish Association for Marine Science (SAMS)
• Sir Alister Hardy Foundation for Ocean Science

Government funding for research may continue as environmental issues grow in significance, both in Europe and worldwide.

Other major employers include a small number of university research departments, including University of Southampton , School of Ocean Sciences, Bangor University and University of East Anglia .

Some oceanographers are employed by government departments and agencies such as the Met Office  and Marine Scotland . Others are employed by non-governmental organisations (NGOs) such as the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) , environmental organisations such as the Environment Agency (EA) and Natural England  and in industries concerned with inshore and offshore work such as oil, gas, water and marine instrumentation. The Royal Navy has a small Hydrographic, Meteorology and Oceanography section.

Sources of vacancies

• Search graduate jobs on this site.
• New Scientist Jobs
• Nature Jobs
• Guardian Jobs
• Natural Environment Research Council (NERC)
• The Marine Biological Association (MBA) - members area only.
• Jobs.ac.uk
• Earthworks Jobs
• Environmental Data Services (ENDS)
• American Society of Limnology and Oceanography (ASLO)

You may see vacancies advertised on notice boards at conferences or come across vacancies by networking.

Get tips on job hunting, CVs and covering letters and interviews.