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Background

History

Denmark’s National Environmental Research Institute (NERI) was established as a sector research institution in 1989 in an amalgamation of five specialised laboratories under the Danish Environmental Protection Agency (the Marine Pollution Laboratory, the Freshwater Laboratory, the Air Pollution Laboratory, the Analytical-Chemical Laboratory and the Centre for Terrestrial Ecology). The microbiology laboratory of what was then the Danish Veterinary and Foodstuffs Directorate was also transferred to NERI. In 1990, the Division of Wildlife Management was transferred from the Ministry of Agriculture to NERI and in 1996, the Greenland Environmental Research Institute was amalgamated with NERI.

When the laboratories were removed from the Danish Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), it was agreed that, within the scope of its grant, NERI should provide a number of public sector consultancy services (monitoring and data centre tasks, international convention work, chemical control and reference tasks, as well as biotechnology tasks).

As part of the general planning of responsibilities in the Ministry of the Environment, a number of tasks and the corresponding funding were transferred from the administrative agencies to NERI during the period 1994 to 2006. This mainly involved tasks relating to monitoring nature and the environment, as well as risk assessment.

On 1 January 2007, NERI became an independent main academic area at Aarhus University. The integration of sector research at the universities, as well as the university amalgamation, were products of the work of the Globalisation Council, in which the government wanted fewer but larger research institutions in Denmark.

In 2010, NERI had a turnover of DKK 367 million and a staff of 450 (full-time equivalent), 190 of whom were employed within the job structure for academic staff.

On 1 January 2011, NERI became a unit under the new Faculty of Science and Technology.

On 9 March 2011, the Board of Aarhus University decided on a new structure for the university with fewer departments.

On 1 July 2011, this decision led to the reorganisation of the former research departments at NERI, which were divided into two new departments: the Department of Environmental Science and the Department of Bioscience. The former cross-disciplinary coordination of society-oriented research and communication of nature and the environment was transferred to a newly established centre at Aarhus University: DCE – Danish Centre for Environment and Energy.

NERI’s former research departments have now been reorganised in two new departments at Aarhus University as follows:

Department of Bioscience (18 sections)

Department of Environmental Science (5 sections)Department of Environmental Science