The research Institute ECOAQUA (www.ecoaqua.eu/), is a conjunction of research groups within the Universidad de Las Palmas de Gran Canaria (www.ulpgc.es) that aims to unravel environmental issues of aquatic organisms living in the marine realm. In the last 5 years, the research group has been involved in 19 research projects from national and international calls, as well as transference projects with industry, for a total amount of ca. 5.2 million €. This funding has provided the group with cutting-edge infrastructures to deepen the study of marine ecosystems. The creation of the research Institute ECOAQUA was built upon a research project funded by the EU (an Era Chair within the HORIZON 2020 framework) to promote the creation of excellence centers across European outmost regions within the European research environment. In the last 5 years, the group has published ca. 160 papers in peer-reviewed international journals included in the JCR, ca. 40% published in Q1 journals.