About QUASIMEME
Background
Between 1993 and 1995 the European Union (EU) supported the Quasimeme project which had the aim to develop a holistic quality
assurance program for marine environmental monitoring information in Europe. As a result of this pioneering project a marine network
and laboratory performance studies have been established for most of the determinants measured in the marine environmental programs
for both monitoring and research purposes. The EU funded Quasimeme project demonstrated that laboratories which followed on a regular
basis the learning programs and the laboratory testing schemes improved the quality of their data. The information exchange encouraged
by this scheme and the opportunity to verify the laboratory performance was clearly of significant value to those who participated.
The advantage of this initial project was that the studies were centrally financed. However, this approach only enabled a limited
number of institutes to benefit from this support. After the end of the EU funding in 1995, the Quasimeme scheme continued on subscription
basis. Now it is thus possible for any laboratory to participate.
Since 1996 the subscription scheme has included the existing matrix-determinant combinations from the EU QUASIMEME 93-95 programme
with additional measurements as needed for national and international marine QA programmes. New determinants are added if there
is a demand for them. In addition, workshops and development exercises with the framework of the scheme are organized.
The Quasimeme project has been hosted from its inception in 1993 to April 1, 2005, by the Fisheries Research Institute in Aberdeen, United Kingdom. Wageningen University and Research (WUR) has taken over the responsibility for the Quasimeme project on April 1, 2005. Three groups of WUR cooperate: the Centre for Water and Climate of Alterra, the Netherlands Institute for Fisheries Research (RIVO), and the Wageningen Evaluating Programmes for Analytical Laboratories the Soil Chemistry and Chemical Soil Quality group. Alterra acts as coordinator. In the periode between April 1, 2005 and April 1, 2006, the Fisheries Research Institute in Aberdeen cooperates so as to ensure a smooth transition of the scheme from the Aberdeen, United Kingdom to Wageningen, the Netherlands.
The Name
The acronym QUASIMEME was used during the EU project as the "Quality Assurance of Information for Marine Environmental Monitoring in Europe". The project has kept this acronym, however the studies are available worldwide to all scientists making chemical measurements and not just those which analyse for statutory monitoring programmes.