What is Biosystems Engineeing

Biosystems Engineering is a field of engineering which integrates engineering science and design with applied biological, environmental and agricultural sciences. It represents an evolution of the Agricultural Engineering discipline applied to all living organisms not including biomedical applications. Therefore, Biosystems Engineering is ‘the branch of engineering that applies engineering sciences to solve problems involving biological systems.

Background

During the last decade, Agricultural Engineering University studies in Europe faced dramatic problems such as decrease of student enrolment, reduced prestige, declining funding, etc. The dramatic situation within this specific field of studies along with its chaotic state in terms of programme content was the motivation behind the establishment of a previous Thematic Network, namely USAEE Thematic Network. It defined the traditional Agricultural Engineering discipline as an application - based discipline related to the production and processing of goods of biological origin from the field and the farm to the consumer (i.e. plant and animal production, post-harvest technology, process engineering, etc.). In fact, Agricultural Engineering was traditionally related to the protection of the natural environment and the preservation of the natural resources (i.e. soil conservation, rational water management, air pollution control, waste management, preservation of natural habitats, etc.) … read more

ERABEE - Thematic Network

The ERABEE Thematic Network, was a follow-up of the USAEE Thematic Network and was co-financed by the European Community in the framework of the LLP Programme. Its lifetime began on October 1^st 2007 and ended on September 30^th 2010. The partnership consisted of 35 participants from 27 Erasmus countries, out of which 33 were Higher Education Area Institutions (EDU) and 2 were Student Associations (ASS). 13 Erasmus participants (e.g. Thematic Networks, Professional Associations, and Institutions from Brazil, Croatia, Russia and Serbia) were also involved in the Thematic Network through synergies. On the whole, a large percentage of Institutions / Universities involved through their programs of studies and/or research activities in the evolving discipline of Biosystems Engineering throughout Europe, had participated in the network.

Objectives

The innovative and novel goal of the Thematic Network was to promote the critical transition from the traditional discipline of Agricultural Engineering to the emerging discipline of Biosystems Engineering, exploiting along this direction the outcomes accomplished by the EU funded predecessor; the USAEE - Thematic Network. It also aimed at enhancing the compatibility among the new programmes of Biosystems Engineering, aiding their recognition and accreditation at European and International level and facilitating greater mobility of skilled personnel, researchers and students. … read more.

Target Groups

The ultimate target of ERABEE was the highly and dramatically transformed sector of the European Agriculture and the rapid developments in the field of the bio-engineering science and technology, requiring high level and internationally competitive technical support. The strong universal competition in the transformed high quality and low-input agriculture requires well educated Biosystems engineers specialised in the application of engineering sciences to all living organism applications, including agriculture, and this was what constituted the long-term objective of the proposed project. … read more