BERC Science Strategy

Our scientific vision is to document and understand Palestine plant and fungal diversity and its uses, bringing authoritative expertise to bear on the serious challenges facing local populations today.

A Palestine and global resource for plant and fungal diversity and related biotechnology knowledge

Strategy

BERC's Science Strategy 2019-2025
The core purpose of BERC’s science stems from a simple truth: all our lives depend on plants.

Strategic priorities
We have three strategic priorities:

  1. To document and conduct research into Palestinian plant and fungal diversity and its uses for humanity.
  2. To support the protection of the environment by encouraging the sustainable use of environmental resources. 
  3. To disseminate our scientific knowledge of plants and fungi, maximizing its impact in science, education, conservation policy and management. 

Strategic outputs:
In addressing these priorities, we will achieve the following strategic outputs:

  • Science in BERC
  • Training the Next Generation of Plant and Fungal Scientists
  • Plants of Palestine Online portal
  • State of the Palestine’s Plants
  • TAPHM Plants Portal
  • Digitizing the Collections

Our institutes and departments
These outputs will be led by multidisciplinary teams and will be facilitated by the structure of BERC’s Science Directorate consisting of 4 research departments supported by the Office of the President.

The research institutes and departments are: 

  1. Biodiversity and Biotechnology Institute (BBI)  
    • Conservation Science Department (CSD) 
      • Botanic Gardens Unit (Til-BGs) 
      • Collections Unit (CU): Seed bank and Herbarium 
    • Sustainable Agriculture Department (SAD)
  2. Traditional Arabic Palestinian Medicine Institute (TAPMI)  
    • Ethnobotany and Ethnopharmacology Department  (EED) 
      • Bio-Exploration Unit (BIOX-U)  
  3. Environmental and Engineering Technology Institute (EETI)  
    • Water and Wastewater Treatment and Reuse Department (WWTRD) 

With this new vision and strategy, we aim to make our scientific resources a national and global asset, bringing benefits to science, conservation policy and education worldwide.