Our Consortium

The University of Belgrade, Institute of Chemistry, Technology and Metallurgy (UB-ICTM) is the leading institution on the BIOLAWEB project. UB-ICTM is one of six national institutes of the Republic of Serbia that established itself in recent years not only in the national framework but also as an internationally recognized research institution. UB-ICTM currently hosts 17 research groups and two national Centers of Excellence. Approximately 20% of UB-ICTM research staff contributes to the water-related research domain and share: (1) the common view that the DNA approach in water research including the study of aquatic organisms and their metabolites will boost UB-ICTM capacities and scientific results in the next decade and (2) the common ambition to make UB-ICTM an excellent research institution and regional scientific hub recognized and respected at the EU level. In 2020, UB-ICTM staff published 202 papers in peer-reviewed scientific journals (natural and technological sciences), 94 in the top 30% of peer-reviewed journals.

The Norwegian Institute for Water Research (NIVA) is one of Europe’s leading institutes for fundamental and applied research on marine and freshwater. The institute is Norway’s leading competence center for environmental and resource issues relating to the field of water. NIVA plays a vital role in water resources management as a provider of research-based studies and advisory services on water-related issues. Since 2000, NIVA has developed most of the indices for ecological status assessment according to the EU WFD in Norway and has been involved in the intercalibration of indices within the EU. NIVA has over the years contributed to projects in over 70 countries. The institute has participated in projects under all the Framework Programmes and was part of 24 projects under the EU Framework Programme for Research and Technological Development (FP7). NIVA is a partner in 29 projects under the EU Framework Programme for Research and Innovation (Horizon 2020) and a coordinator of two.

The French National Research Institute for Agriculture, Food and Environment (INRAE) was established in January 2020 by the merger of INRA (The National Institute for Agricultural Research) and IRSTEA (The National Research Institute of Science and Technology for the Environment and Agriculture) in France. INRAE is comprised of 14 research divisions and it is a leading research institution, ranking as the 10th organization with the highest number of publications by quotation in ecology and environment worldwide. Moreover, INRAE staff participated in 280 projects funded under FP7 programs and more than 312 projects under H2020 (coordinating 94). INRAE’s Division UMR Carrtel is working on lakes and aquatic ecosystems functioning. Their staff has specialized in DNA metabarcoding with more than 10 years of experience, participating in relevant networks (such as DNAqua-Net), coordinating Diat.barcode barcoding library, etc.