A Working Group comprises a Working Group Chair or Co-Chairs who drive the progress of the group and report back to the Steering Committee, and the working group members. The scientists come from various universities and research institutes around the world, and their expertise is diverse but pertinent to the project the working group is tackling. This ensures that ridge-related research projects are addressed from different perspectives.
Current Active Working Groups
| Theme | Objective | WG-Chair |
| Deep earth sampling | strengthen the ties to, and use of, global deep earth sampling facilities such as IODP, ICDP, etc. | Benoit Ildefonse, Montpellier, France |
| Hydrothermal Energy and Ocean Carbon Cycles | will plan a revised consideration of the diverse pathways of biomass generation driven by hydrothermal processes and the potential contribution that they may make to the global ocean carbon cycle | Nadine le Bris, France and Chris German, USA |
| Long-Range Exploration | identify vehicles with the necessary reliability, depth and endurance capability for long-range exploration of the mid-ocean ridge | Colin Devey, IFM-GEOMAR, Germany |
| Mantle Imaging | promoting experiments to image the mantle structure at one or two ridge systems | Nobukazu Seama, Japan |
| Seafloor Mineralization | examine SMS deposit distribution, maturation and evolution and to investigate the processes (biological, chemical, geological) that are responsible for their formation and preservation | Maurice Tivey, WHOI, USA |
| Vent Ecology | foster cutting edge collaborations and other studies that will contribute to our understanding of the ecology of hydrothermal vents | Stephane Hourdez, France, and Yoshi Fujiwara, Japan |
