FAO AGRIS continues to expand its global network of data providers with the addition of new institutions contributing scientific knowledge from diverse research areas, regions and disciplines. These new partnerships strengthen the visibility, accessibility and international exchange of agricultural research through open and interoperable metadata.

The latest institutions joining the FAO AGRIS network reflect the breadth and diversity of today's agricultural and environmental research landscape, spanning applied technology, biodiversity, medicinal plants, climate change and molecular sciences.

University of Qom (UQ), Iran

The University of Qom, established in 1980, is a prominent public higher education institution located in the historic city of Qom, approximately 120 kilometres south of Tehran. Home to six specialized faculties, seven research and technology centres and 33 academic departments, the university offers 164 academic programmes at undergraduate, master's and doctoral levels.

Its contribution to FAO AGRIS — currently comprising 79 records — brings a distinctive focus on medicinal plants, ethnobotany and indigenous knowledge, alongside research on climate change, water resources and food security. This collection adds an important dimension to the global agricultural knowledge commons, highlighting the intersection of traditional ecological knowledge and contemporary environmental challenges in an arid and semi-arid regional context.

Academy of Sciences of Albania (ASA), Albania

The Academy of Sciences of Albania (ASA), established in 1972, is the highest public institution for scientific research and academic excellence in Albania. Through its research institutes, scientific journals and international collaborations, the Academy contributes to the advancement of knowledge in natural sciences, agriculture, fisheries, biodiversity, environmental sciences, social sciences and the humanities.

Committed to the principles of Open Science, the Academy provides free online access to its scientific journals and conference publications. Its contribution to FAO AGRIS includes research on environmental monitoring, water quality, public health, fisheries, aquaculture, aquatic ecosystems and biodiversity — reflecting the diverse environmental and natural resource challenges facing the Western Balkans.

Oklahoma State University (OSU), United States of America

Oklahoma State University, founded on 25 December 1890 as Oklahoma Agricultural and Mechanical College, has grown into one of the United States' premier land-grant universities and the largest university system in the state of Oklahoma. Its land-grant mission — rooted in making higher education more accessible — continues to guide a research agenda closely tied to agricultural practice and rural communities.

OSU joins FAO AGRIS with a substantial collection of 4,593 records, covering a wide thematic range that includes plant diseases, insect pest management, pesticides, beef cattle, farm management, agricultural economics, wheat, cotton and poultry. The scale and depth of this contribution significantly strengthens FAO AGRIS's coverage of applied agricultural research from North America.

Lira University, Uganda

Lira University is a public institution in Northern Uganda, established in 2009 and granted autonomous status in 2015. Focused on applied sciences, technology and health, and home to a teaching hospital, the university has grown to include six faculties and 33 accredited programmes, with the vision of becoming a Beacon Centre of Applied Science and Technology.

Its contribution to FAO AGRIS brings valuable research grounded in the realities of smallholder farming and tropical agriculture in East Africa. The collection includes studies on banana production systems and pest management, biological control of plant-parasitic nematodes, soil fertility amendments and crop genetics — including work on pigeonpea genomics and the use of spent mushroom substrate as a sustainable tool for nematode management. Research on ecological organic agriculture and community-based approaches to knowledge dissemination further reflects the university's applied and locally embedded research mission.

We warmly welcome all new institutions to the FAO AGRIS network and look forward to the knowledge they will contribute to the global agricultural research community. Together, we continue to build a more open, inclusive and interoperable system of agricultural knowledge for all.