The Cavanilles Institute of Biodiversity and Evolutionary Biology (ICBiBE) was founded by the University of Valencia in 1998 with the mission of carrying out fundamental and applied research, training researchers, and providing services and assistance to the society in the fields of biodiversity and evolutionary biology. It is named in honour of Antoni Josep Cavanilles i Palop (1745-1804), a Valencian naturalist and pioneer of Spanish science in the Age of Enlightenment.

The ICBiBE emphasizes an integrative and multidisciplinary approach. The institute thus addresses any question related to biodiversity and biological evolution from multiple facets, from morphology to animal behaviour, from molecular genetic variation to the human impact on species richness and the functioning of ecosystems. The institute thus integrates theories and methods from complementary areas such as molecular biology, genetics, paleontology, taxonomy, ecology, neurobiology or ethology. The institute can apply this capacity to studies on the main groups of living beings, from bacteria to vertebrate animals and higher plants, as well as their biological interactions.

The ICBiBE hosts more than seventy-five researchers, many of whom are also professors at the Faculty of Biological Sciences. Its permanent research staff belongs to the following areas of knowledge: Cell Biology, Botany, Ecology, Genetics, Paleontology, and Zoology. In addition, it includes a significant number of PhD students and postdoctoral researchers and is recipient of visiting researchers from different parts of the world.