Located in Switzerland, Eawag, the Swiss Federal Institute of Aquatic Science and Technology (eawag), is among the world’s leading aquatic research institutes. Its strengths and successes are based on a long-established portfolio of activities – research, education and consulting & knowledge transfer. The combination of natural and social scientists and engineers permits a wide range of water research, across the continuum from relatively unperturbed aquatic ecosystems to fully engineered wastewater management systems. Staff at eawag (about 450 people) benefit from a unique scientific environment, allowing researchers, specialists and students to pursue questions that yield new scientific insights and meet fundamental societal needs. Particular attention is paid to innovative transdisciplinary projects. To ensure that new findings and approaches can be translated into practice as rapidly as possible, eawag also maintains close contacts with experts from industry, government and professional associations. The Department of Systems Analysis, Integrated Assessment and Modelling (SIAM) conducts research in ecological modelling, uncertainty analysis, and decision support in environmental management.

The main tasks of eawag are to support the development of a probability network model that summarises the knowledge on the dependence of freshwater biodiversity on external driving forces in WP7, Forecasting Biodiversity and Ecosystem Service Provision, and the development of a management concept for increasing the aquatic biodiversity based on multi-criteria decision analysis in WP8, Ecosystem-based Management towards Policy Objectives.  These tools are tested in the case study on the biodiversity of invertebrates and fish in Swiss rivers and applied to other case studies jointly with AQUACROSS partners.