User:סיון יקר/The Interuniversity Institute for Marine Sciences in Eilat - IUI Eilat

The Interuniversity Institute for Marine Sciences in Eilat is a multi-disciplinary research institute located at Coral Beach in the city of Eilat, and operated by the universities in Israel.

The Institute evolved from the H. Steinitz Marine Biology Laboratory (MBL), which was established by the Hebrew University in 1968. In 1985, the Council for Higher Education decided to turn the laboratory into an interuniversity, thus becoming the only academic institution in Israel where all universities are affiliated. Its budget and management are determined directly by the Planning and Budgeting Committee of the Council for Higher Education, however, the Hebrew University continues to hold ownership of the Institute's assets.

The Institute undertakes teaching and research in a variety of subjects related to marine science, including ecology and marine biology, chemical, physical and biological oceanography, ichthyology, invertebrate and invertebrate biology, neurobiology, molecular biology and toxicology. The Institute runs enrichment courses for educational institutions in and around Eilat. It has various laboratories, pools, a research vessel and boats and an advanced diving center.

The Institute has about 30 researchers, of which about 5 are resident researchers and the rest from affiliate institutions. About 100 students attend the Institute for advanced studies. Each year, the Institute holds between 17 and 20 concentrated interuniversity courses for approximately 350 students.

Research
The Institute’s research and teaching activities span the entire spectrum of marine sciences and include ecology, chemical, physical and biological oceanography, ichthyology, invertebrate and invertebrate biology, neurobiology, molecular biology and toxicology. The research activities are carried out by seven resident scientists and about 30 students, postdoctoral fellows and technicians, and about seventy visiting scientists or their students, who carry out research using the Institute’s facilities. Specific studies are funded by each academic institution by relying on external research funds, notably the National Science Foundation, the United States-Israel Science Foundation, and the Israel-Germany Foundation.

Teaching
Besides teaching of advanced degrees, the Institute has numerous marine science courses designed for graduate, masters, and doctoral students. The courses are held continuously for one to two weeks as studies continue throughout the day and often even into the evening and night. For this purpose, there are dormitories on-campus at the Institute. The Institute is equipped with laboratories and lab equipment, an equipped diving center, boats, a research vessel and a library. The curriculum is spread across all marine sciences and is based on two types of courses: about 20 interuniversity courses and about 10 university courses carried out by a single university. The former are run by the Institute and are open on a competitive basis to all students in Israeli universities. The university courses are conducted at the Institute on behalf of a specific university and are open only to the students of the same institution. Overall, 500 students take courses at the Institute every year.

Infrastructures
The research and teaching infrastructures at the Institute include "wet" and "dry" labs and a variety of instrumentation and computing, pools and containers fed by seawater, a diving center and boats. Over the years, the Institute has chartered a vessel (c. 25 m) that was converted for oceanographic research. In 2009, the Institute acquired a dedicated research vessel - Sam Rothberg RV - for research, teaching and monitoring in the Gulf of Eilat.

Ecology
The past decade witnessed a shifting of attention to severe ecological phenomena in the northern Gulf of Eilat. Data collected by the Institute's researchers revealed a severe decline in the degree of coverage and variability of corals, fish and other marine creatures along the coast of Eilat. The reasons for the phenomenon and the exact estimate are probably related to urbanization processes in the area, including hotels, tourism, wastewater treatment, port shipping (phosphate and potash loading) and marinas and aquaculture on the Israeli side. The phenomena could have far-reaching implications for the survival of coral reefs in such a northern region of the earth, along with the dire consequences of fast-growing tourism in Eilat, Aqaba and the coasts of Egyptian Sinai. Against this backdrop, the Israeli and Jordanian governments decided to establish national monitoring programs for the Gulf of Eilat, whose aim is to continuously monitor and analyze the ecological processes in the northern Gulf to stop the deterioration and, if possible, to restore the affected systems. The program is carried out by the Institute on behalf of the Ministry of the Environment and includes the collection and analysis of oceanographic, biological, chemical and physical data.