Project description
Serbia builds capacity in cutting-edge biodiversity monitoring
The growing negative impact of humans on the environment and natural ecosystems has increased the urgency of improved monitoring to support biodiversity conservation. Environmental DNA, or eDNA, metabarcoding is a pioneering survey method for the large-scale taxonomic identification of complex terrestrial and aquatic samples to assess biodiversity. It can identify multiple species based on high-throughput sequencing. The EU-funded BIOLAWEB project will strengthen the research and innovation capacity in biodiversity assessment and biomonitoring at the Institute of Chemistry, Technology and Metallurgy, University of Belgrade via application of such cutting-edge methods. The advances accomplished by the twinning project will attract talented researchers and be applied to water bodies monitoring in and around Serbia.
Objective
BIOLAWEB aims at building a sustainable cooperation between the Institute of Chemistry, Technology and Metallurgy, University of Belgrade (UB-ICTM), and leading EU institutions – The French National Research Institute for Agriculture, Food and Environment (INRAE, France) and the Norwegian Institute for Water Research (NIVA, Norway), thereby strengthening the research and innovation capacity of UB-ICTM in biodiversity assessment and biomonitoring. BIOLAWEB will (1) bring UB-ICTM up to current standards with respect to methods that are currently applied across the European Union, and (2) apply newly emerging metabarcoding and eDNA technology to develop new and improved methods using eDNA. In order to strengthen research and innovation capacity, BIOLAWEB will establish a research management office at UB-ICTM to support project application, management and reporting at international level. Staff exchange, common field and laboratory work, and a variety of courses will be used for an effective knowledge transfer from the partnering institutions to UB-ICTM. Recently emerging technology will be implemented to develop new tools for water management, which will be useful across Europe. The methods developed in BIOLAWEB will pave the ground for further research and innovation in the assessment of biodiversity and ecological status. BIOLAWEB foresees that the methods developed during the project lifetime will later be applied in regular watercourse monitoring in Serbia and the region. The implementation of the BIOLAWEB results will raise the research profile of coordinator and partner institutions and contribute to UB-ICTM's vision of becoming a lighthouse for attracting the best talents and tackling the burning issues of environmental assessment.
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Funding Scheme
HORIZON-CSA - HORIZON Coordination and Support ActionsCoordinator
11000 Belgrade
Serbia