Ljubljana, 27th August 2020 – The Chancellor of the University of Ljubljana (UL) Prof. Igor Papič, Ph.D., and the Director of the National Institute of Biology (NIB) Assoc. Prof. Matjaž Kuntner, Ph.D., signed a contract today by which the NIB became an associate member of the largest and the oldest university in Slovenia. The two institutions will cooperate intensively in the field of scientific, research, development, and educational activities.

The oldest and the largest university in Slovenia, which celebrated 100 years of existence last year, and the third-largest public research institute in the field of natural sciences in Slovenia, which is celebrating 60 years of existence this year, set a milestone in the field of joint action today. With the public signing of the contract, the NIB became an associate member of the UL. Among many other agreements, the two institutions will also cooperate in the applications and implementation of joint research programs and projects at home and abroad. They will strive to transfer the results to the economy. Habilitated NIB employees will be able to participate in the implementation of the pedagogical process at the UL in the form of supplementary work or part-time employment. The UL will actively support the investment project Biotechnological Hub of the NIB as a part of the UL scientific campus while the Ljubljana University incubator and the incubator of the Biotechnological Hub of the NIB will cooperate in supporting newly emerging promising biotechnology companies. From today on, the NIB will be able to use the UL affiliation in scientific articles and it is entitled to use the affiliation statement “The NIB, an associate member of the University of Ljubljana”.

The Chancellor of the UL Prof. Igor Papič, Ph.D., expressed his satisfaction with the successfully coordinated agreement on the associated membership of the NIB and the consent of the Government of the Republic of Slovenia which was necessary for this. “I sincerely thank my colleagues from the NIB for their constructive cooperation. I wish that other research institutes would follow their example. As it is known, the UL has been striving for a long time for a formal connection with important research institutes and to further strengthen cooperation with them in this way,” he said at the signing of the contract. The Director of the NIB Assoc. Prof. Matjaž Kuntner, Ph.D., is also happy about the strengthened cooperation and said on this occasion: “With the associated membership of the NIB, we are creating a new basis for scientific and educational excellence in Slovenian space. By building a new NIB infrastructure on the Večna pot in Ljubljana, we are creating an optimal research and pedagogical environment for scientists and students.”

The associated membership of the NIB enables a closer connection with the Biotechnical Faculty of the UL (UL BF) and other members of the UL. Some time ago, these units of Slovenian biology were already closely connected. “It is a step in the right direction,” said the Dean of the UL BF Prof. Emil Erjavec, Ph.D. “To raise scientific excellence and social relevance, it is necessary to concentrate the hitherto too fragmented knowledge, personnel, equipment, and institutional organization of the Slovenian research and higher education space,” he emphasized.

“The current challenges in the fields of organism biology, molecular biology, and ecology have highlighted the great vulnerability of the human species. Solving them requires a creative environment for the cooperation of top experts and the use of state-of-the-art research infrastructure,” added Prof. Marjana Regvar, Ph.D., the Deputy Head of the Department of Biology at the UL BF, and concluded: “At the Department of Biology, we see the NIB joining our university as an opportunity for closer cooperation between researchers of both institutions and a precondition for even more successful achievement of the set educational goals. With the top results of our scientists, not only researchers gain but also young generations of biologists and society as a whole.”

The UL and the NIB already share a common history. In 1960, the UL established the Institute of Biology on the premises of the Department of Biology of the Biotechnical Faculty of the UL. After 1994, the Institute was renamed in the NIB and the founding was completely taken over by the Government of the Republic of Slovenia. The UL and the NIB reunited again after a quarter of a century. In the process, both institutions will continue to maintain their business and program autonomy.