The Bermuda Institute of Ocean Sciences (BIOS) is to offer PhD programmes on either side of the Atlantic this autumn.

The world-renowned marine science institute this week announced a second postgraduate course, following its partnership with US Ivy League university, Princeton.

BIOS is now linking up with the University of Southampton (UoS) in the UK. Post-graduate research students enrolled at the National Oceanography Centre will be able to undertake research at BIOS to earn their PhD in Ocean Sciences and Marine Biology.

Dr. Anthony Knap, BIOS president and director, said: "There has been an educational component to all our research since the Institute's inception in 1903. But our longstanding educational mission has been to offer a new postgraduate experience, providing opportunities for fieldwork in the open ocean.

"The classroom on the Bank of Bermuda Atlantic Explorer provides a truly unique opportunity for PhD students. The UoS agreement allows for the students to earn their qualification by thesis only, whereas our relationship with Princeton is a joint coursework and fieldwork PhD. Thus our strategy is to provide a broad range of options for students from around the world to achieve a PhD through cooperation with these two exceptionally well-respected universities."

BIOS was originally founded in 1903 as the Bermuda Biological Station by scientists from Harvard and New York University, to take advantage of the Island's accessibility to deep-ocean and coral reef research. The surrounding mid-Atlantic waters are representative of tropical and subtropical regions around the world, and the Bermuda pedestal is home to a rich array of coral reef, intertidal and subtidal environments.

BIOS, a non-profit organisation, is one of only two blue-water institutions in the world, allowing studies to be carried out on the ocean without the variable of anthropogenic pollution influencing results.

An Institute spokeswoman said: "The UoS-BIOS graduate student will become an integral part of the BIOS research community, with special attention geared toward training as an oceanographer or marine biologist.

"BIOS and its faculty will continue to guide the career paths of young scientists, becoming internationally recognised as a distinctive educational experience while enhancing its educational mission with this unique opportunity for postgraduate work."

In the UK, UoS's National Oceanography Centre is at the forefront of oceanography, marine and earth sciences. The university also ranks in the top ten of Britain's research universities.

BIOS's partnership with Princeton — announced in October — offers a graduate programme in Ocean Sciences and Marine Biology under the university's Departments of Geosciences (GEO) and Ecology and Evolutionary Biology (EEB).

The PhD is BIOS's first degree-giving programme, although it has a long history of visiting research students from international universities.