NRD - Desertification Research Centre

The Desertification Research Center – NRD is a research center of the University of Sassari that promotes multidisciplinary research and studies on desertification. Founded in 1992 by Prof. Giuseppe Enne as a multidisciplinary research group, NRD began its activity by studying the impact of agro-pastoral activities on soil degradation in Mediterranean areas. In 2000, NRD was officially recognized as an Interdepartmental University Center with Rectoral Decree no. 60 of 9 June 2000, with the aim of promoting the development and management of research and international cooperation projects to combat desertification and environmental degradation, within the framework of the principles established by the UN Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD).

NRD's activities are carried out within the framework of programmes funded by the EU, international agencies, the national government and the Autonomous Region of Sardinia.

Today, the NRD Center, which is located at the Department of Agriculture of the University of Sassari, includes about 40 scholars and approximately twenty young researchers and PhD students from various disciplines such as agronomy, environmental sciences, hydrogeology, pedology, plant protection, animal husbandry, but also economics, sociology, law, ... The specific skills are combined with the transversal ones of research managers, financial managers and efficient administrative officers, who play a key role in the success of international cooperation and research planning. NRD constantly hosts university students who have chosen to carry out their thesis work or training internships alongside researchers and project managers involved in the various research projects. The NRD Center offers them an extraordinary opportunity for training, in synergy with various national and international mobility programmes.

Over the years, NRD has gained increasing visibility on the international scene, assuming the role of general secretariat of DesertNet International, a think-tank of researchers involved in the fight against desertification, accredited to the UNCCD. NRD also leads the Global Network of Dryland Research Institutes (GNDRI), an association of institutions (not individual researchers) active in dryland research, which aims to promote institutional interactions to strengthen cooperation in research, training and the third mission on sustainable use of drylands.