The head of the Center of Excellence is professor Ülo Niinemets (Estonian University of Life Sciences) and co-leader is professor Martin Zobel (University of Tartu). Ilmar Tamm, the senior researcher leads and coordinates the research at the Centre of Estonian Rural Research and Knowledge.

 

The Coordination Committee

Ülo Niinemets, Head of the Plant biology and crop science group, Professor, Institute of Agriculture and Environmental Sceineces, Estonian University of Life Sciences, Head of the Centre of Excellence AgroCropFuture

Martin Zobel, Co-leader of the Plant-microbe interactions group, Professor, Institute of Ecology and Earth Sciences, University of Tartu, Co-leader of the Centre of Excellence AgroCropFuture

Urmas Kõljalg, Head of the Biodiversity informatics and data science group, Professor, Institute of Ecology and Earth Sciences, University of Tartu

Ülo Mander, Head of the Ecosystem functions and services group, Professor, Institute of Ecology and Earth Sciences, University of Tartu

Mari Moora, Head of the Plant-microbe interactions group, Professor, Institute of Ecology and Earth Sciences, University of Tartu

Meelis Pärtel, Head of the Ecosystem services and biodiversity conservation group, Professor, Institute of Ecology and Earth Sciences, University of Tartu

Marina Semchenko, Head of the Plant-soil feedbacks group, Professor, Institute of Ecology and Earth Sciences, University of Tartu

Leho Tedersoo, Head of the Microbial biodiversity and ecology group, Professor, Institute of Ecology and Earth Sciences, University of Tartu

Ilmar Tamm, Head of the Crop research and breeding group, Senior Researcher, The Centre of Estonian Rural Research and Knowledge

Tiia Kurvits, project maganger, Estonian University of Life Sciences

 

The International Scientific Board

The centre of excellence is advised by external experts who form an international scientific advisory board:

Marcel van der Heijden, Head of the Plant-Soil-Interactions Research Group, Agroscope, Zürich (plant science,microbial ecology, agroecology

Morten Lillemo, Professor, Faculty of Biociences, Norwegian University of Life Sciences (crop breeding)

Josep Peñuelas, Research Professor, Global Ecology Unit CREAF-CSIC, Barcelona (plant science, global ecology).

 

The Centre of Excellence Office

The office of the center includes coordinators Tiia Kurvits (Estonian University of Life Sciences), Kersti Püssa (University of Tartu) and Ilmar Tamm (The Centre of Estonian Rural Research and Knowledge).

The task of the coordinators is to help the leaders of the research groups coordinate the work of the 8 research groups and organize joint events such as thematic think tanks, doctoral schools, conferences, meetings with farmers and other interest groups, trainings for target groups.