The ANIMATE project funded Prof Graham Pierce (Marie Curie Chairholder) to work at the Centro Oceanográfico de Vigo (Instituto Español de Oceanografia) in Galicia, NW Spain, for 3 years from September 2007. He carried out a program of research and postgraduate teaching/training with the general theme of anthropogenic impacts on populations of marine species, with a particular focus on the Galician continental shelf. During this period he retained active links with the University of Aberdeen, where he is a Professor of Zoology.

Much of the research carried outunder the ANIMATE project was carried out with a team of postgraduate students under the supervision of Prof Pierce. ANIMATE provided a total contribution of 75000 euros to fund esearch, training and dissemination activities. In addition, Prof Pierce contributed to several IEO research projects (e.g. ECOPEL, Marine Mammal Ecology), as well as continuing work on projects based at the University of Aberdeen.

Prof Pierce supervised a team of PhD students, the majority based in Vigo and registered at the University of Vigo, in addition to various externally based postgraduates, while continuing to co-supervise PhD students based in Aberdeen and hosting several MSc projects in Vigo during 2008-10.

He taught several postgraduate courses at the University of Vigo, e.g. on Trophic Interactions of Marine Top Predators in 2008 and 2009, Habitat Modelling and Stock Assessment Methods in 2009 as well as contributions to the Masters programm in Fisheries in 2010. In addition, several courses in GIS, statistics and generic skills were run, through ANIMATE and through the Marie Curie training network ECOSUMMER, involving a range of external contributors, including Highland Statistics and GIS in Ecology.

Prof Pierce participated in setting up weekly research seminars at IEO, and his group contributeed several seminars to the programme.