EU-LI-PHE has a new regional hub. The EU-LI-PHE South-East Europe Hub (PhenoSEE), a Hub of COST Action CA22112 EU-LI-PHE, connects research groups working on livestock phenomics, genomics and data analysis in Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Kosovo*, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Romania, Serbia and Slovenia.
The region has a lot to offer. Endangered Balusha sheep in Kosovo*, Borike Arabian horses in Bosnia and Herzegovina and Romanian water buffalo are only a few of the local populations studied here, alongside experimental farms, sensor systems, genomic data and computing resources. What the region has lacked is a place where these groups can find each other. PhenoSEE wants to be that place.
For researchers in the region, the hub means being visible within the Action, finding partners across the border for projects and joint papers, and getting more out of what EU-LI-PHE offers, from Working Groups to training schools and mobility grants. Young researchers in particular have much to gain.
The first groups have already joined, and Montenegro, not yet part of the Action, is on board through the University of Montenegro.
PhenoSEE was started by Prof. Maja Ferenčaković (University of Zagreb) with the support of Prof. Radovan Kasarda (Slovak University of Agriculture in Nitra), who has already built a similar hub in Slovakia and will advise PhenoSEE. His advice is simple: start small, and bring in breeders and other stakeholders step by step.
The name follows the region: the hub was first called “Balkan Hub”, but South-East Europe is a name everyone in the region can share.
Want your group on the map? Write to mferencakovic@agr.hr
* This designation is without prejudice to positions on status, and is in line with UNSCR 1244/1999 and the ICJ Opinion on the Kosovo declaration of independence.
