The Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO/IOC) Regional Training and Research Center (RTRC) on Ocean Dynamics and Climate (ODC) was officially established through one agreement signed by IOC and the host institute, the First Institute of Oceanography (FIO) of China at the 8th Intergovernmental Session of UNESCO/IOC Sub-Commission for the Western Pacific (WESTPAC-VIII) in Bali, Indonesia on 11 May 2010, which was the first RTRC of the UNESCO/IOC. ODC was officially inaugurated on 9 June 2011 in Qingdao. And the cooperation agreement with the work plan for 2015-2020 was renewed through the exchange of letters in 2015.
      ODC center aims to promote the international cooperation and enhance the research capacity and capability in WESTPAC region on ocean dynamics, air-sea interactions, climate change and numerical modeling through the provisions of international annual training courses and workshops to junior scientists and doctoral/master students mainly from the member states of IOC in the Western Pacific. ODC center is hosted by the First Institute of Oceanography (FIO), Ministry of Natural Resources (MNR) of China. The organization includes the directors, scientific committee, organization committee, expert database, executive secretary and technique support on high performance computing, data and numerical modeling.
     Since its inauguration in 2011, ODC center has organized nine training courses with the subjects of Ocean Models (2011), Ocean Dynamics (2012), Air-Sea Interaction and Modeling (2013), Climate Models (2014), Climate Change (2015), Ocean Dynamics and Multi-scales Interaction (2016), Development of Coupled Regional Ocean Models (2017), Ocean Forecast System (2018), Climate Dynamics and Air-sea Interactions (2019) and Regional Application of Coupled Climate models(2021). Till now, total of 522 young scientists from 51 countries have participated in these training courses. These activities have not only promoted the capacity building in ocean and climate science, but also enhanced the cooperation among IOC member states. In addition, solid technical support was provided to several international cooperation projects of IOC/WESTPAC, such as the OFS (Ocean Forecast Systems) and MOMSEI (Monsoon Onset Monitoring and its Social and Ecosystem Impacts) .