News archive for Department of Biological Sciences (BIO)

On September 25th, the University of Bergen (UiB) organized a coastal cleanup for students and staff. As last year, the destination was Lisle Lyngøy, often referred to as “Plastic Island” off the coast of Hellesøy. The day was filled with strong impressions — and some good news for the island’s ecosystem.

This summer, PhD candidate Max Jordi Makem Pekouankouang from the Christiaen group at the Michael Sars Centre attended the prestigious Embryology course at the Marine Biological Laboratory in Woods Hole, USA. He shares how this experience transformed his approach to science.

In late June 2025, Janne Thomsen, PhD Candidate with the ACTIONABLE project, participated in the ISEE Summer School on Justice within Planetary Boundaries and presented her ongoing research at the ISEE Degrowth Conference in Oslo, which focused on Building socially just postgrowth futures - linking theory and action.

How is your garden related to the Anthropocene? This rather large question is the starting point of the documentary “Paradisets bakside”, now available with both Norwegian and English subtitles on Viten-TV.

PhD candidate Janne Thomsen and researchers Jarrod Cusens and Inger E. Måren from UiB's UNESCO Chair on Sustainable Heritage and Environmental Management recently had their review paper published in Current Opinion in Environmental Sustainability. The paper reviews recent ecosystem services approaches in the World Network of Biosphere Reserves and explores how ecosystem services research supports... Read more

On April 8–9, 2025, our team had the pleasure of organizing and participating in a hands-on student workshop on microplastics, hosted at the Espeland Marine Biological Station. Nestled by the coast just a short trip from Bergen, this site provided a perfect setting for students from the BIO316 course to immerse themselves in a critical issue facing our oceans: microplastic pollution.

UNESCO Chair Inger Måren peer reviewed recent UNESCO report on how UNESCO sites can be utilized in education for sustainable development.

The University of Bergen (UiB) will host another seven international research fellows after a very successful application round in this year’s competition for MSCA funding from the EU. The grants will fund the researchers' stay at UiB for two years.