The world-renowned Bermuda Institute of Ocean Sciences (BIOS) is teaming up with an Ivy League university to produce the scientists of tomorrow.

BIOS is to offer a Ph.D. programme in partnership with Princeton, recently listed the number one university in the US by US News and World Report.

The new graduate programme is being offered in Ocean Sciences and Marine Biology under Princeton's Departments of Geosciences (GEO) and Ecology and Evolutionary Biology (EEB). Students will have full status as a Princeton graduate in the GEO or EEB.

Dr. Anthony Knap, BIOS President and Director, said: "BIOS is extremely proud and excited to team up with Princeton University. We have a long history of cooperation dating back to the 1980s and we look forward to enhancing the BIOS experience with this collaborative educational program at the highest level.

"We believe this to be an extraordinary opportunity for the brightest new scientists. It offers BIOS's unique blend of hands-on learning in the natural laboratory setting of our surrounding environment, with the educational expertise of our faculty and state-of-the-art facilities.

"In a time when educating students to develop practical skills to tackle the myriad of environmental problems we are facing now and in the future is increasingly important, we couldn't be more pleased to instruct, mentor and collaboratively grant students with their doctoral degrees to becoming the next leader in Ocean Sciences and Marine Biology."

A BIOS spokeswoman said: "This exceptional opportunity will allow a PU-BIOS student to have the benefits of both institutions.

"It will allow students to undertake their Ph.D. research with the complementary opportunities of a major research university's broad academic environment, and a research institute that conducts world-class science in its unique mid-Atlantic location."

BIOS was originally founded in 1903 by scientists from Harvard and New York University, as the Bermuda Biological Station.

It was created to take advantage of Bermuda's unique proximity to coral reefs and deep-ocean environments, and has been at the forefront of scientific research and education ever since.

The Bermuda platform is home to a rich array of coral reef, intertidal and subtidal environments which are broadly representative of tropical and subtropical regions around the world.

BIOS observes ocean and marine life on an ongoing basis and is home to the longest running time-series anywhere in the world, studying carbon-cycle data — Hydrostation S, which began in 1954, and the Bermuda Atlantic Time-Series, from 1988.

BIOS scientists provide important data to global research and are thus at the forefront of studies into global warming and the impact of climate change on the world's oceans.

A spokeswoman said: "This makes BIOS well suited to train the future scientists of tomorrow, and this new graduate programme will enhance its educational mission.

"The BIOS graduate student will be an integral part of the BIOS research community, with special attention geared towards one's training as an oceanographer or marine biologist.

"Students also get the opportunity to work alongside some of the world's foremost authorities in this field. Students are provided with unique access to the physical and intellectual assets of an institution dedicated to marine research for over one hundred years."

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

The first semester starts in September and students will spend a year and a half at Princeton's New Jersey campus before heading to Bermuda for between two and two-and-a-half years of research. The final period of the five-year programme will be spent between the two institutions.

Dr. Gerald Plumley, head of education at BIOS, said the Ph.D. had taken three years to develop. Explaining why the programme was developed, he said: "Princeton is one of the premier universities in the world. It has the top-notch scientists and students, but they don't have access to the ocean like we do.

"We are going to start with two students and we'll increase that over time to a higher number."

William B. Russel, Princeton University's Dean of the Graduate School, added: "This is a very promising and forward-looking collaboration with the potential to enhance research programs both on the Princeton campus and at BIOS.

"We anticipate attracting bright and creative Ph.D. students interested in marine biology and biogeochemistry, who will take advantage of the outstanding facilities at both sites."