Field of expertise:

Situated in the centre of Kristiansand vattenrike (the rich wetlands of Kristiansand) in Southern Sweden – a Biosphere Reserve recognized by Unesco’s Man and Biosphere programme – the University of Kristiansand (HKR) was founded in 1977 from the merging of the much older higher education schools for teacher's training (1835), nursing (1893) and engineering (1912). Today, about 11,000 students attend more than 30 programmes and 250 subject courses leading to Professional, Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees, in the field of humanities, social, natural, behavioural and health sciences, business administration and engineering.
HKR is member of the Oresund University, a consortium of twelve universities (eight Danish and four Swedish) based in the Oresund / lower Baltic region founded in1997, which aims to increase quality and efficiency among participating institutions by opening up all courses, libraries and other facilities to all students and researchers on both sides of the Oresund. The education and research of both countries thus complement each other in making Oresund a scientific and educational stronghold and contributing to a more integrated Europe.
Linkages with Partner Universities from over 30 countries further strengthen the international teaching platform and perspective, through HKR students and staff going abroad, as well as international student enrolment and visiting lecturers. A range of programmes and courses are consequently held in English: e.g. Environmental Education, Strategic Management Studies, MBA in International Business and the International Master in Ecological Engineering – specialisation water management. Moreover HKR provides a wide range of distance learning studies and summer courses.
Kristiansand University is also committed to both fundamental and applied research, with emphasis sets on Education Science, Environmental Sciences, Occupational & Health Sciences and Water & Water Resources Management. HKR is particularly involved in the development of evidence-based practice and in undertaking new collaborative projects that lead to the advancement of theory, policy and practice in the guidance field at local, national and international levels.
Over 200 research projects have been carried out at HKR over the past 5 years, with funding from local, regional, national agencies, as well as from the European Community. Although a small university (about 160 teachers/scientists), HKR is an active partner and in some cases the responsible coordinating institution of large scale international research programmes, including those financed by the European Community.

Role in the project:
: HKR are the head of aquatic biomass in the project and will be in charge of the development of the Report of Sustainable Criteria in Biomass and Bio-products Production. For carrying out this deliverable it will take part of the identification of the sustainable aspects to be considered to reduce environmental impacts and to enhance the potential of biomass.
As the rest of partners, HKR will also participate in the review of existing literature about biological feedstock and current research related to biomass.