Montenegro becomes EMBO member

Montenegro became full-fledged member of the European Molecular Biology Organisation (EMBO), it was decided after an official vote at the EMBC Council on 27 November in Hamburg. The Montenegrin delegation was led by Minister of Science Sanja Damjanović.

At the EMBC and EMBL Council meeting on 27 and 28 November in Hamburg, Germany, the Ministry of Science's application for full membership was presented by Minister Sanja Damjanović and Danilo Mrdak from the University of Montenegro Faculty of Natural Sciences and Mathematics.

During the presentation, the education and training system for scientists in Montenegro was reviewed, as well as plans for the future development of scientific policies in the field of molecular biology and molecular medicine. The Council was briefed about examples of projects that are currently being implemented at universities in Montenegro, as well as projects that are in the planning stage. The delegates responded to the question related to investing in science and research, and the number of scientists who can work in these prestigious scientific organisations.

Minister Damjanović introduced the members of the Council with the current activities of the Ministry of Science of Montenegro, the Regional Project – the establishment of a scientific institute in Southeast Europe and joining CERN on CMS Experiment. Membership in EMBO and EMBL organisations would enable opportunity to build expertise for the first option of the Institute – "Synchroton light source", which is closely related to their fields.

In this context, the Minister stressed that Montenegro wants to join EMBO and EMBL since internationalisation, as well as the membership in international organisations and eminent scientific institutions are the Ministry's priorities, which will increase participation in the EU Horizon 2020 program, as well as reduce the outflow of talents and promote the launch of startups.