The British Institutions Reflection Profiling Syndicate, better known by its acronym BIRPS, was set up to acquire deep seismic reflection profiles around the United Kingdom Continental Shelf (UKCS). It was formed, initially as BURPS, the British Universities Reflection Profiling Syndicate, involving geophysicists from the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) and British Universities. After the involvement of other institutions the name was changed to BIRPS and by February 1981 NERC had approved funding for a four-year programme. The next ten years saw the collection of 12,000 km of deep seismic profiles around the British Isles. By the time NERC stopped funding the program in 1997, more than 20,000 km of data had been acquired.
