INSTITUT PO BIORAZNOOBRAZIE I EKOSISTEMNI IZSLEDVANIYA BALGARSKA AKADEMIYA NA NAUKITE

Their core work

The Institute of Biodiversity and Ecosystem Research (IBER) is part of the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences and focuses on biodiversity monitoring, ecosystem functioning, and long-term ecological research across terrestrial and marine environments. They contribute ecological data, field expertise, and biodiversity assessments to European research infrastructure networks such as eLTER and DiSSCo. More recently, they have expanded into Black Sea marine ecosystem research, studying ecosystem resilience, biogeochemistry, and sustainable fisheries management.

What they specialise in

How they've shifted over time

In their early H2020 period (2015–2017), IBER focused almost exclusively on terrestrial long-term ecosystem research infrastructure — contributing to the eLTER network with work on critical zone observatories, LTER sites, and data integration platforms. From 2020 onward, their profile broadened significantly: they maintained their eLTER infrastructure commitment but added marine ecosystem research (Black Sea blue growth, fisheries, biogeochemistry) and biodiversity data infrastructure (DiSSCo). Keywords like "ecosystem resilience," "multi-stressors," "start-ups," and "capacity building" in recent projects signal a shift from pure infrastructure building toward applied ecosystem services and economic impact.

IBER is evolving from a pure research infrastructure contributor toward applied marine and ecosystem services research with growing emphasis on economic outputs like blue growth and start-up support.

How they like to work

IBER operates exclusively as a participant — they have never coordinated an H2020 project, which is typical for national academy institutes contributing specialized field data and regional expertise to large pan-European consortia. With 133 unique partners across 38 countries, they are deeply embedded in broad international networks rather than working in tight, repeated clusters. This makes them a reliable, low-risk consortium partner who brings regional ecological knowledge and established infrastructure connections without competing for leadership.

With 133 unique consortium partners across 38 countries, IBER has one of the broadest collaboration networks relative to its project count — a direct result of participating in large-scale research infrastructure projects with 30+ partners each. Their reach spans all of Europe plus associated countries.

What sets them apart

IBER is Bulgaria's primary gateway into European long-term ecosystem research infrastructure networks (eLTER, DiSSCo), providing irreplaceable access to Balkan and Black Sea ecological monitoring sites and biodiversity data. Their dual positioning in both terrestrial LTER networks and Black Sea marine research is unusual — most institutes specialize in one or the other. For consortium builders, they offer a credible Bulgarian partner with deep EU infrastructure experience and direct links to ecologically significant but under-represented Southeastern European ecosystems.

Highlights from their portfolio

• BRIDGE-BS
  By far their largest funded project (EUR 382,750 — 47% of all their H2020 funding), focused on Black Sea blue growth and ecosystem resilience, signaling a major strategic commitment to marine research.
• eLTER
  The foundational project that anchored IBER in European long-term ecosystem research infrastructure, leading to three follow-on projects (Advance_eLTER, eLTER PPP, eLTER PLUS) spanning a decade.
• DiSSCo Prepare
  Connects IBER to the ESFRI-listed Distributed System of Scientific Collections, positioning their natural history collections within a pan-European digitization effort.