List of staff on standby for purposes of control.
Interreg AVIATOR Project Kick-Off Conference
The opening conference of the project “Adaptation and Increased Resilience of Birds through Awareness-Raising, Monitoring, Treatment and Raptor Protection Management – AVIATOR” was held in Belgrade on Tuesday, September 23. The project is funded by the European Union through the Interreg Danube Region Program.
The project aims to strengthen resilience, support adaptation, and improve the protection of raptor populations in the Danube Region in the context of climate change, through the development and testing of coordinated and harmonized measures across transnational ecological regions. These measures are designed to mitigate the negative impacts of infectious and parasitic diseases on raptor populations, as well as to reduce overall pressures on biodiversity and ensure the conservation of endangered species.
The conference opened with welcoming remarks from Dr. Branislav Kureljushić, Director of the Institute of Veterinary Medicine of Serbia, and State Secretary of the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Water Management, Željko Radošević.
Dr. Vesna Milićević, Project Manager at the Institute of Veterinary Medicine of Serbia, the lead partner of the project, also addressed the audience. She presented the AVIATOR project, its pilot activities, and the joint methodological framework for raptor protection.
Dr. Ljubiša Veljović from the Institute of Veterinary Medicine of Serbia shared results from the pilot vaccination program for raptors, while Károly Erdélyi of HUN-REN presented prevention and risk assessment models for protected areas.
The conference included presentations on the importance of raptor conservation, highlighting regional threats, the effects of climate change, emerging infectious diseases, and wildlife poisoning. Experts from Serbia and neighboring countries shared insights and research findings, stressing the need for collaborative action.
Fund for European Affairs and Development of the AP of Vojvodina outlined the project’s communication plan, while Dr. Dejan Laushević from the Diagnostic Veterinary Laboratory in Podgorica spoke on “Mapping Local Stakeholders for Project Implementation.” The event concluded with Ana Vasić from the Institute of Veterinary Medicine of Serbia presenting the “Joint Methodological Framework.”
The AVIATOR project is being implemented with the participation of the following partner institutions from Europe:
- Austrian Agency for Health and Food Safety – Austria
- University of Sarajevo, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine – Bosnia and Herzegovina
- Trakia University, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine – Bulgaria
- Association BIOM – Croatia
- Institute of Dipterology / Association for the Promotion of Mosquito Control – Germany
- Veterinary Medical Research Institute, HUN-REN – Hungary
- Diagnostic Veterinary Laboratory – Montenegro
- Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Natural Sciences in Iași – Romania
- Fund for European Affairs and Development of the AP of Vojvodina – Serbia
- University of Ljubljana – Slovenia
- Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Zagreb – Croatia
- Danube Delta National Institute for Research and Development – Romania
The AVIATOR project has a total budget of €2.16 million, including €1.73 million in EU grant funding. Launched in 2025, the project will run until 2027.
