Sorbonne Université (formerly The Université Pierre et Marie Curie: UPMC) is one of the largest universities in France (4,500 researchers and teachers, 180 laboratories, 30,000 students, 700 PhDs delivered per year) and is devoted to science and medicine. Sorbonne Université hosts the ASSEMBLE Plus Headquarters (as well as EMBRC-FRANCE), and together with CNRS (Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique; an access provider of ASSEMBLE Plus), runs the three additional French ASSEMBLE Plus marine stations

• IMEV (The Institut de la MEr de Villefranche), formerly know as OOV (Observatoire Océanologique de Villefranche sur mer) 
• OOB (Observatoire Océanologique de Banyuls sur mer)
• SBR (Station Biologique de Roscoff) 

These marine stations have a tradition of transnational access (TA), dedicated to collaborative marine research worldwide, going back to their establishment in the late 19th century. They operate as unique research infrastructures by providing access for researchers – permanent and non-resident – to coastal ecosystems and to a wide range of living organisms and to marine organism collections (microalgae at SBR, bacteria at OOB, and microplankton at IMEV).

Sorbonne Université will be the overall coordinator of the project: it will offer Transnational Access; it will lead WP1 and JRA3 and JRA4; and will participate actively in all other JRAs and NAs.