Partners
Established in 1928, Aarhus University has since developed into a major Danish university with a strong international reputation across the entire research spectrum.
The main campus of Aarhus University (AU) is located in the middle of Aarhus. Rooted in strong disciplines, researchers and students have been generating new knowledge here for over 90 years. Aarhus University is Denmark’s second-largest university, with 38,000 students, five faculties, research activities all over the country and campuses in Aarhus, Herning and Emdrup.
Aarhus University's Social Ecological Systems Simulation Centre (SESS), a part of the Department of Ecoscience, leads the PollinERA project. Professor Christopher John Topping is the project coordinator, as well as the SESS centre leader. The SESS centre is a pioneering, multi-disciplinary team consisting of programmers, engineers, geographers, biologists and social scientists, all working closely together to improve our understanding of social-ecological systems. Through a variety of European (H2020, HE, EFSA) as well as national (Danish EPA, ORG RDD, German EPA) research projects, SESS has gained extensive experience in the development of simulation as a tool to explore the implications of management decisions on the environmental, societal and economic aspects of managed systems. This includes developing modelling for honey bees for European regulatory risk assessment of pesticides and developing a roadmap to advance the environmental risk assessment of chemical pesticides for insect pollinators. The Animal Landscape and Man Simulation System, is a major component within SESS, providing an integrated framework for the simulation of landscapes, farming and physical-chemical environment. It is based on 25 years of research and development, steered by Prof. Topping, and supported by transdisciplinary expertise and knowledge built-up by SESS team researchers. The SESS team is mainly involved in PollinERA pollinator modelling (WP3), development of systems approach for pollinator environmental risk assessment, including stakeholder activities (WP5), project management (WP7), as well as supporting developments regarding predictive activities (WP2), and communication, dissemination and exploitation activities (WP6).
The SESS team is mainly involved in PollinERA pollinator modelling (WP3), development of systems approach for pollinator environmental risk assessment, including stakeholder activities (WP5), project management (WP7), as well as supporting developments regarding predictive toxicology (WP2), and communication, dissemination and exploitation activities (WP6).
Founded in 1364, the Jagiellonian University (JU) is the oldest higher education institution in Poland and one of the oldest in Europe. Today, the university comprises 16 Faculties, where nearly 4 thousand academic staff conduct research and provide education to almost 40 thousand students, within the framework of more than 150 different fields of study. Eminent researchers and state-of-the-art infrastructure make the JU one of the leading Polish scientific institutions, collaborating with major academic centres from all over the world.
Jagiellonian University’s Institute of Environmental Sciences has extensive experience in various aspects of ecotoxicology and landscape modelling. Research conducted within PollinERA covers the effects of pesticides on pollinating insects, as well as landscape modelling and ALMaSS simulations. The team is mainly involved in WP1 (acute and chronic bioassays), WP4 (monitoring pesticide contamination of pollen, nectar, plants, soil and water in Poland) and WP (integration of toxicological models, ecotoxicology and animal-landscape modelling).
Lund University (LU) was founded in 1666 and is one of the world's top universities. The University has approximately 45,000 students and 8,600 staff. United with the mission to understand, explain and improve the world and the human condition, the university offers one of the broadest ranges of programmes and courses in Scandinavia, based on cross-disciplinary and cutting-edge research. The unique disciplinary range encourages boundary-crossing collaborations both within academia and with society at large, creating excellent conditions for scientific breakthroughs and innovations. LU has a strong international profile, with partner universities in some 75 countries.
The University of Bologna is a public research university in Bologna, Italy, founded in 1088. Research is one of the strategic areas on which the identity, history and vocation of the Alma Mater is based. Through Research, the University promotes the development of all fields of knowledge to safeguard scientific diversity, encouraging an interdisciplinary and collaborative approach also in the international sphere, by participating in strategic networks and networks for the development of research projects.
The Department of Agricultural and Food Sciences of the University of Bologna has a long experience in studying the impacts of pesticides on bees and other insect pollinators. In PollinERA, UNIBO will lead WP1, which aims to cover the ecotoxicological gaps in pesticide exposure and impact on pollinators. In collaboration with other partners, UNIBO will perform laboratory studies and develop standardized protocols to assess the sensitivity of different pollinator species to individual pesticides and mixtures. UNIBO will also collaborate in WP4 in developing and testing a co-monitoring scheme for pesticides and pollinators across European cropping systems and landscapes, and in developing pesticide risk indicators. Data provided by UNIBO activities will be crucial in developing the PollinERA models and open the way towards a holistic and systems-based ERA for pesticides.
Osnabrück University (UOS) was founded in 1974 and offers teaching and research areas in Humanities, Natural Sciences, Social Sciences, Science, Law and Business Administration/Economics for over 14000 students and PhD students. Both its structured PhD programs and modular degree programs feature high standards of quality and lead to the conferral of internationally recognized degrees. The combination of different scientific disciplines in research and teaching is also reflected in the university’s interdisciplinary institutes.
UOS has extensive experience in the development and application of mechanistic effects models, from individual to population levels. In PollinERA, UOS will be leading work package 3 on the development of pollinator species models. This includes the development and implementation of new population models for a number of pollinator species, more specifically a moth, a butterfly, and two hoverfly species. While the species model development will be carried out by partner AU, UOS will be responsible for and perform the development and implementation of toxicokinetic-toxicodynamic (TKTD) models, that connect exposure of pollinators via different routes to internal exposure and the development of effects over time. Apart from that, UOS will be involved in the adjustment of toxicity tests for matching with the TKTD models, in bridging between QSAR methods and TKTD models, and in the indicator development.
The Institute of Nature Conservation of the Polish Academy of Sciences (INC-PAS) in Krakow is a research institution of the Second Department of Biological and Agricultural Sciences of the Polish Academy of Sciences. The primary task of the Institute is to create scientific foundations for nature conservation and environmental protection by conducting high-quality scientific research in the fields of ecology, conservation biology, and geology, documenting the state of and threats to biodiversity and implementing scientific research results into practice.
INC-PAS has extensive experience in insect ecotoxicology including acute bioassays and chronic tests on solitary bees and other NTAs, using different exposure routes. The main responsibility within PollinERA is to fill ecotoxicological data gaps to enable realistic prediction of the source and routes of exposure and the impact of pesticides on pollinators and their sensitivity to individual pesticides and mixtures. INC-PAS is leading the work on mixture effects and will support other partners in developing and testing a co-monitoring scheme for pesticides and pollinators across European cropping systems and landscapes, developing risk indicators and mixture exposure information.
Founded in 1963 as a non-profit organisation, the Mario Negri Institute for Pharmacological Research (IRFMN) operates in the field of biomedical research. From patients to experimental models – at the cellular and molecular level – and back to patients, the Institute conducts research to improve people's health and well-being. Researchers investigate the functional mechanisms of living organisms, the underlying causes of diseases, and the processes that take place in organisms in the presence of foreign substances.
IRFMN has a long experience in toxicity and environmental modelling, participating in and coordinating several national and international projects. It developed the VEGAHUB platform. It is in charge of the maintenance of the EFSA database OpenFoodTox and of the development of in silico models to populate it. Within PollinERA, it leads the WP2 and, in particular, is responsible for the development of in silico models to assess the toxicity towards pollinators, the co-exposure and the assessment of the mode of action of the plant protection products. All these models will be implemented in the free and open-source platform VEGA and distributed to several stakeholders (like EFSA and ECHA).
BeeLife European Beekeeping Coordination is a science-based solution-oriented non-profit organisation working to improve conditions for bees, pollinators and us all. BeeLife aims to: (1) achieve a Risk Assessment of pesticides on bees and insect pollinators that recognises all existing routes of exposure, and specially those leading to chronic toxicity and sub-lethal effects; (2) re-evaluate pesticides taking into account the amendments proposed in Risk Assessment and real data from field observations and phytopharmacovigilance; (3) integrate a Systems-based approach in Risk Assessment methodologies and (4) improve collaborations between pollinators, agriculture and society, ensuring a win-win situation for sustainability, biodiversity and food security.
BeeLife European Beekeeping Coordination has been working for the improvement of the Environmental Risk Assessment of bees and other insect pollinators and the implementation and enforcement of pesticide and other related regulations since its foundation in 2013 and before, since 2009, as a scientific task force. This is the reason why, within PollinERA, BeeLife is in charge of monitoring relevant decision-makers' discussions and regulatory developments. BeeLife also identifies and interacts with relevant stakeholders to ensure scenario definitions are in line with existing decision-making and pesticide authorisation processes. Furthermore, these engagement activities contribute to the Communication, Dissemination and Exploitation activities of PollinERA. BeeLife has developed the EU Pollinator Hub in collaboration with ZIP, a data-driven platform aiming at centralising and standardising pollinator-related data. The data collected within the project and many other datasets that would be relevant for the pollinator community will be integrated into the Hub, and BeeLife is in charge of the Data management plan, incl. a data governance framework, a plan for metadata management and a definition of the data pipeline.
The Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences (SLU) is a world-class international university with research, education and environmental assessment within the sciences for sustainable life. SLU conducts education, research and environmental monitoring and assessment in collaboration with society at large. Through their focus on the interaction between humans, animals and ecosystems and the responsible use of natural resources, they contribute to sustainable societal development and good living conditions on our planet. SLU Centre for Pesticides in the Environment (CKB) is a partnership forum within the area of chemical pesticides for researchers at SLU and interested parties outside the university. The Centre focuses mainly on the fate and effects in the environment of pesticides used within agriculture.
SLU´s main contribution to PollinERA is the pesticide residue analysis of all field samples collected in PollinERA (WP1 and WP4). The pesticide concentration data will contribute to the source and route characterization of pesticide exposure in the key pollinator groups (wild bees, butterflies, hoverflies, moths, WP1) as well as assessment of pollen, nectar water, plant matrices and soil for co-monitoring scheme that could support benchmarking in predictive risk assessment (WP4). SLU will also contribute to the development of pesticide risk indicators for pollinators (WP4) and overall support the project. The project group from CKB has long-term experience with monitoring pesticides in environmental samples, including expertise in the development of analytical methods to detect pesticide residues in complex environmental matrices.
Pensoft Publishers is an SME specialising in academic, open-access book and journal publishing, software development and web design, project dissemination, and science communication. The company’s project department is a motivated team of active scientists, project managers and science communicators offering services including consultancy and development of communication strategies, plans for dissemination and exploitation, and data management plans.
Pensoft is leading WP6 Communication, Dissemination and Exploitation, supporting the communication and dissemination activities for the entire project. Moreover, the team will contribute to the stakeholder mapping process and will assist in the organisation of various workshops and other events. In addition to supporting WP6, PEN will also contribute to WP7 Project Management.
As a web development SME, ZIP Solutions is a result-driven full-service digital agency crafting innovative concepts and useful digital products for businesses. The agency brings together strategists, analysts, geeks and creatives with one goal in mind: to connect people and brands in more meaningful ways. Over time ZIP Solutions has built and is supporting several pollinator-related web services in Europe, like Austrian Varroa monitoring services and the EU Pollinator Hub.
With its web-development expertise, ZIP Solutions main role is providing the results of the project in a friendly and usable format, as well as integrating them within the EU Pollinator Hub.