Staff members of the Institute of Hydrobiology of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine (S.O. Afanasyev, V.I. Yuryshynets, O.M. Lietitska, O.O. Hupalo) participated in the Anniversary Conference of the International Association for Danube Research.

This year celebrates the 70th anniversary of the founding of the International Association for Danube Research (IAD); to commemorate this occasion, the 46th IAD Conference was organized under the title “The socio-ecological future of the Danube: integrating riverine and terrestrial systems for a sustainable Danube", which took place in Baja, Hungary, on August 10–13, 2026 (official conference website: https://iad2026.uni-nke.hu).

In accordance with the conference program, researchers from the Institute made presentations on the history of research on the Danube River and current scientific issues.

The conference program included two days of scientific presentations of research results (August 10–11), one day of a field excursion to a nature reserve (August 12), and one day dedicated to fostering connections between projects, during which various European projects were presented to promote synergy among their activities (August 13).

During the conference, Ukrainian hydrobiologists actively participated in discussions on the catastrophic decline in water levels in the Danube basin, scientific presentations, and the development of new fields of international cooperation with scientific institutions in the Danube region.

Scientists from the Danube countries, IAD leadership, and conference participants were unanimous in recognizing the need for scientifically justified, well-considered, and internationally coordinated solutions to minimize the negative impact of the Danube’s low water on natural ecosystems and the economies of European countries.