The Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies (IMAS) is a teaching and research institute of the University of Tasmania in Hobart, Tasmania. IMAS was established in 2010, building upon the university's partnership with CSIRO Oceans and Atmosphere and the Australian Antarctic Division in cooperative Antarctic research and Southern Ocean research.

Marine geophysicist Prof. Mike Coffin was appointed founding Executive Director of IMAS in 2010. Prof. Richard Coleman, an oceanographer and cryospheric scientist, was appointed Executive Director of IMAS in July 2015. Terry Bailey has been the Executive Director since July 2019.

Research themes

The Institute aims “to improve understanding of temperate marine, Southern Ocean, and Antarctic environments, their resources, and their roles in the global climate system through research, education, and outreach”. IMAS was established with a core research and education capability, through expertise in the following foundation themes: Fisheries and aquaculture, Ecology and biodiversity, and Oceans and cryosphere. These programs are linked by three key cross-disciplinary themes to meet integrative and multidisciplinary research goals: Climate change, Ocean-Earth systems, and Oceans and Antarctic governance

The Australian Research Council's (ARC) Excellence in Research for Australia (ERA) initiatives provide a specific benchmark for the core IMAS disciplines of oceanography and fisheries sciences, and in 2012 IMAS contributed to the University of Tasmania achieving grade 5 scores in oceanography, ecology, and geology, and in fisheries sciences.

Facilities

In 2013, a new 69,000m² building was completed on the Hobart waterfront, designed to accommodate the co-location of several research entities: IMAS (Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies), Australia's Integrated Marine Observing System (IMOS), the Antarctic Climate and Ecosystems Cooperative Research Centre (ACE CRC), and the Tasmanian Partnership for Advanced Computing (TPAC), along with their respective staff and students. Situated adjacent to CSIRO, the building serves as a central hub for collaborative marine and Antarctic studies. This project was initiated by the Australian Government and funded as part of the Education Investment Fund.

dditionally, plans are underway to significantly expand existing research and educational infrastructure, totaling approximately 4,500m², located south of Hobart in Taroona. The expansion will include the development of new aquaculture facilities and controlled-environment experimental saltwater facilities. The planned enhancements aim to enable temperate/polar ocean simulations and advance aquaculture research capabilities.

Partnerships

• Australian Antarctic Division
• Antarctic Climate and Ecosystems Co-operative Research Centre (to be co-located with IMAS)
• CSIRO Marine and Atmospheric Research
• Integrated Marine Observing System (to be co-located with IMAS)
• Tasmanian Partnership in Advanced Computing (to be co-located with IMAS)
• National Centre for Marine Conservation and Resource Sustainability at the AMC (NCMCRS),
• Faculty of Science, Engineering, and Technology, University of Tasmania
• Network of Aquaculture Centres in Asia-Pacific