The institute employs about 30 scientists covering a wide range of disciplines. It is governed by an international executive board representing funding agencies and has an advisory board representing Baltic Sea stakeholders.

Decision support system - Baltic NEST
A decision support system called the NEST model was developed within the research programme Marine Research on Eutrophication, MARE. MARE ended in 2006 and Baltic NEST continues to be maintained and developed within the Baltic Nest Institute (BNI) in Sweden, Denmark and Finland.

The NEST-model has been developed mainly to provide the scientific basis for decision-making at international negotiations. It is aimed at facilitating adaptive management of environmental concern in the Baltic Sea and can be used to calculate required actions needed to attain politically agreed targets for the Baltic Sea ecosystem.

Baltic Nest provides data and scenarios for the entire Baltic drainage basin and Baltic Sea, and links measures on land with effects in the sea.

With Baltic Nest it is possible to:

• Explore and synthesize information about the Baltic Sea environment
• Explore characteristics of the entire drainage basin and driving forces behind nutrient loads
• Calculate cost and effects on the marine environment of different management options
• Evaluate the effect of eutrophication and different fishery management options on fish stocks

Projects
In addition to the continuous development of the NEST-model, BNI is involved in various international projects, collaborating with managers along with social and natural scientist in developing and understanding management options. Research include projects funded by BONUS, HELCOM, EU, Formas, Swedish Government and other research funding organizations.