INFORMATION ON THE APPLICANT

Full legal name:
University of Zadar

Legal form :
Higher education institution

City, Country:
Zadar, Croatia

Contact information:
E-mail: znanost@unizd.hr
Phone No: +385 23 200 776

Brief description of the Applicant:
The University of Zadar is an integrated university with 27 departments – mainly in humanities and social sciences – and four research centres. It has about 5500 students, 440 faculty members and 204 staff. According to its vision, the University is research-oriented, with more than 60 ongoing projects and more than 150 project implemented within various international and national calls (HORIZON, ESF, IPA, ERASMUS, INTERREG, etc.) in period from 2014. A special effort is put into the development of scientific and teaching activities in natural sciences, engineering, biotechnology and biomedical sciences. Department of Ecology, Agronomy and Aquaculture was founded in 2006. Today, it has around 30 scientific and teaching staff involved, and teaching in two undergraduate studies: “Applied Ecology in Agriculture” and “Underwater Science and Technology”, and three master studies: “Sustainable management of aquatic resources”, “Mediterranean agriculture” and international master study “Marine biotechnology”. Special attention is given to the cooperation with local and regional communities through preparation and execution of joint projects, participation in creation of strategic development planning documents, the encouragement of the civil society development, organizing various activities with the aim to popularize science, encourage research and sustainable regard for cultural and natural heritage. The Department performs scientific, teaching and professional work, grows and progresses each day and contributes to general development.

Brief description of the Applicant capacity for initiative implementation:
The Department of ecology, agronomy and aquaculture has over 30 personnel involved in teaching and scientific research. In the field of aquaculture, fisheries and marine biotechnology, the Department is performing research directly in cooperation with the private sector, very often in industrial conditions aiming at the direct transfer on knowledge on the market. Furthermore, the Department is increasing its capacity to perform research under controlled conditions, improving its research facilities continuously. The Department has several laboratories, including 2 with aquariums (12 tanks each) with seawater and control of the environmental parameters. These are used to perform test on various aquatic organisms under controlled conditions. Also, there is separate laboratory for production of microalgae, equipped with a modern bioreactor for autonomous production of phytoplankton. These laboratories are followed by equipment for monitoring of numerous parameters, including the health of aquatic organisms, genetic analyses, etc. The Department has 2 research vessels used for working in the field, along with well-established diving team and new technologies for underwater monitoring, such as drones etc. Also, the Department has installed a research station in the commercial aquaculture production zone (a floating raft with numerous sensors for monitoring) aimed to perform controlled research in the field.

RELEVANCE OF THE PARTNERSHIP

Applicant’s role and contribution in the initiative:
Department of ecology, agronomy and aquaculture is becoming a leading institution in higher education in Croatia related to the sustainable management of aquatic resources, including marine aquaculture, fisheries and marine biotechnology. With close relationships to private sector from the mentioned fields, the Department is educating new generations of students to take a leading role in rapidly growing industry such as aquaculture. Special attention is given to scientific research aiming at market ready solutions and transfer of knowledge in cooperation with companies. Through this bilateral cooperation the applicant strives to achieve new advances in development of long-term sustainable aquaculture practice in the Mediterranean region. With planned initiatives, all stakeholders form the aquaculture sector in Croatia will benefit by upgrading the knowledge through exchange of ideas and common practice with Norwegian partners, as one of the leaders of modern and sustainable aquaculture in the world.

In activity 1, the University of Zadar will initiate and moderate workshops and exchange of scientific staff between the partners with of increasing the capacity of the staff. The aim is to create a small informal think thank between scientists from 2 countries for further initiatives within this project and for future applications on joint projects and initiatives.

In activity 2, the involved personnel will work closely with partners from Norway to compare, discuss and propose the solutions on how to create a pathway for achieving more sustainable aquaculture practice in future. Therefore, applicant will involve all crucial stakeholders, including scientist, practitioners, NGOs, governmental bodies and decision makers, resulting with creation of white paper on sustainability of aquaculture.

In activity 3, University of Zadar will foster the exchange of students and practitioners from the 2 countries, where each partner will be introduced to the specifics of the national and regional aquaculture practices. These visits will include on-site visits to the farms in order to gain in person experience with ongoing challenges in practice, especially focus will be on the younger generations from both gender.

In activity 4, University will organise a round table, including all stakeholders from the field of aquaculture, to bring the final conclusion that will be presented on the final conference.