Centres of excellence in research

Agroecology and new crops in the future climates

The Centres of Excellence in Research are scientific consortia aiming to develop cooperation and joint activities between research groups of exceptional excellence in Estonia in areas with high growth potential and to make a practical contribution to areas of importance for Estonia. High-risk, high-reward research leads to a breakthrough research result that significantly affects the current knowledge or practices of one or more fields.

One of ten centres in Estonia, the Centre of Excellence AgroCropFuture, ‘Agroecology and new crops in the future climates’, involves top-level research groups from the Estonian University of Life Sciences, the University of Tartu and the Centre of Estonian Rural Research and Knowledge. The head of AgroCropFuture is Professor Ülo Niinemets of the Estonian University of Life Sciences.

The Centre of Excellence will operate for seven years, until the end of 2030. The budget for the whole period is €7 million. The funding is provided by the Estonian Ministry of Education and Research.

Sustainable Land Uses

Researchers at the Estonian University of Life Sciences, under the leadership of Professor Eve Veromann, have been involved in the work of the “Sustainable Land Use” Center of Excellence, which is managed by the University of Tartu. The goal of the “Sustainable Land Uses” Center of Excellence, led by Evelyn Uuemaa, is to identify the connections between biodiversity and carbon fluxes and to integrate this new knowledge with satellite data into machine learning models. This information can be used as decision support in land use planning for both policymakers and landowners and land users. The research group from the Estonian University of Life Sciences is focused on issues related to agricultural ecosystems. The project is funded by the Ministry of Education and Research and the Estonian Research Council.