Institute for Environmental Sciences Institute for Environmental Sciences

Research projects

EcoArm2ERA

EU Cooperation Capacity Building of Center for Ecological-Noosphere Studies of National Academy of Sciences of Armenia: Towards Armenia’s integration into the ERA

The central goal of EcoArm2ERA is to reinforce the international research cooperation between Armenian leading institute in environmental and ecological studies CENS (Center for Ecological-Noosphere Studies of the National Academy of Sciences of the Republic of Armenia) and the European Research Area (ERA) in the critically important areas, specifically FP7 Themes as Environment, Knowledge Based Bio-Economy (KBBE) and Space (e.g. GIS technologies for environment). This goal will be attained through pursuit of the following specific objectives:

  • Objective1: To define and promote a sustainable development strategy for CENS focusing on the overall improvement of the institution’s capacities, visibility, and competitiveness.
  • Objective 2: To develop a strategic partnership between CENS and (i) Earth Sciences Institute, University College Dublin (UCD), and (ii) the Institute of Environmental Sciences, University of Geneva (UNIGE). To build CENS’ capacity to acquire and carry out international collaborative research partnerships.
  • Objective 3: To build the competencies needed by Armenian researchers and staff members in order to participate in the FP7/FP8 programme.

EcoArm2ERA brings together top-level partners from both ERA and Armenia: CENS created with the mission to integrate the Armenian research capabilities in the field of environment and sustainable development. CENS will be the main beneficiary of the project and will be directly supported through its European twinning partners: UCD – Earth Sciences Institute of the University College Dublin and Institute for Environmental Sciences, University of Geneva, who will provide and open up their scientific and networking capabilities, and serve as strategic link to the European RTD community. The consortium is accomplished by GIRAF (a specialist training provider and project management expert with expertise in institutional development and organisation).

The 3-year project runs from December 2011 to November 2014 and has a total budget of EUR 748’000.- (EUR 500'000 EC contribution) (EUR 110'000 for our team).

Coordinator: Shushanik Asmaryan. UNIGE lead: Nicolas Ray

Project website: www.ecoarm2era.eu