NCB - National Centre for Biosystematics

National Centre for Biosystematics

NCB - National Centre for Biosystematics - is an interdisciplinary research centre with core funding from The Research Council of Norway and The Natural History Museum, University of Oslo. Building on a shared theoretical and methodological platform, first of all a state-of-the-art molecular laboratory, NCB integrates basic research and education in the taxonomy and systematics of plants, fungi, and animals. In our research on selected groups of organisms, we also address general problems in biology and contribute to the development of biosystematic concepts. Of particular importance is the merging of expertise in molecular systematics with expertise in field- and collection-based taxonomy. The natural history collections in the Museum are the largest in Norway. The NCB activities also contribute to the development of a DNA bank for the Norwegian biota.

NCB: a centre for education and research

A major goal of the NCB is to educate Master, PhD and postdoctoral candidates in an interdisciplinary and internationally oriented research environment. The current NCB staff, in addition to senior scientists and technicians, includes more than 30 students and research fellows. Several guest researchers and students from foreign institutions are also resident members. Collaboration and student exchange with many international research groups contributes to the development of a stimulating research environment.

Vision

To develop an internationally reputed research and training centre to meet the society's need for knowledge in taxonomy and biodiversity

Goals

• to investigate the systematics of selected organisms and use them as models to address basic questions such as: How do species originate? How will biodiversity be affected by climate change?
• to develop methodology and concepts by interdisciplinary approaches
• to educate new generations and fill the society's need for experts in its management of biodiversity
• to increase basic knowledge necessary for areas such as genomics, biotechnology, infectious disease biology, and climate change biology

"Without taxonomy to give shape to the bricks, and systematics to tell us how to put them together, the house of biological science is a meaningless jumble." Robert May, 1990.