The Environmental and Evolutionary Biology Research Unit (URBE) operates as a collaborative ecosystem, bringing together skills to advance research into organisms and their dynamic interactions with the environment.  Its mission is to study aquatic organisms and their interactions with the environment. It combines comparative biology (several species studied) and integrative biology (several levels of biological integration).

The research teams focus on 4 main areas, ranging from the study of genomes to ecosystems, organisms and populations. Cutting-edge laboratory techniques are combined with field studies in various aquatic ecosystems. The URBE is closely involved in student training, in particular via the Masters in Organismal Biology and Ecology co-organised with UCL.