The trade-off/synergy dilemma between economic development and ecosystem services is one of the major issues of sustainable rural development. The main research objective of TRUSTEE is to disentangle the complex relationships between economic development and ecosystem services at different spatial scales and on a large European gradient of rural and rural/urban areas. The project implements an interdisciplinary approach bringing together economists, geographers, agronomists, and ecologists. Sub-objectives are: (i) analyse the multi-scaled determinants of economic development and ecosystem services; (ii) increase our understanding of how to achieve mutual benefits for economic development in rural areas and ecosystem services; (iii) identify and assess the governance mechanisms and policy instruments that enhance sustainable rural vitality; (iv) produce synergies among international researchers of varied disciplines and between researchers and various stakeholders at different governance scales. The work plan relies on seven work packages that involve a cross-cutting strategy linking analyses at various scales (Pan European, gradient of EU countries, local case studies). TRUSTEE will provide a first quantification of the many–to-many relationship between ecosystem services and economic development. It will also produce (i) a large scale inventory of the socioeconomic and policy drivers of ecosystem service sets (ii) a large scale assessment of unlocking ecosystem service potential for rural economic development and (iii) a first internalization of ecosystem services in models of economic development. TRUSTEE will also produce analytical tools incorporating scenarios and policy instruments for the assessment of ecosystem services and their impact on rural development. Last, TRUSTEE will build capacity for interaction between a broad range of academics, experts, stakeholders and policy makers.

In line with the purpose to elaborate a new agro-food business model and promote Mediterranean local food products, the project aims to establish new knowledge and to explore the feasibility to obtain an innovative product that can contribute to improve human health and to face some of the challenges of the Mediterranean area. In this contest, polyunsaturated fatty acids take part in numerous physiological processes. Moreover, there is evidence that linen derived products (linen plant, linen straw, linseed, linseed bran) and some species of algae, rich in a-linolenic acid, the essential precursor of O-3, may have beneficial effects on human and animal health. An unbalanced diet in terms of O-6/O-3 ratio contributes to increase the cardiovascular diseases, obesity, diabetes and to reduce the human fertility, especially male fertility, in western Countries. On the light of this data, flax and algae supplementation in animal diet is a valid method to increase the productive and reproductive performances, the sanitary conditions of the farm and to produce nutritionally beneficial animal products such as rabbit meat. Finally, these innovative animal products, rich in O-3 and with reduced O-6/O-3 ratio, could be considered an innovative and valid functional food for the improvement of human health and fertility. Thus, the project has the following aims: 1 – to develop specific feeds for reproducing and growing rabbit based on the supplementation of linen derived products and algae, to reach a higher omega-3 fatty acids content in meat, and to assess the role of "omega-3 fixation booster"; 2 - to increase the fertility of rabbits to make more efficient the rabbit farming systems, including in hot climatic conditions also related to “global warming”; 3 – to improve the sanitary status in the rabbit farms through a higher resistance to infectious diseases, by increasing the immunological response of the animals and thus leading to reduce the use of antibiotics and to improve the animal welfare; 4 – to produce a new innovative, high quality and functional food (O rabbit meat) that can be produced by SMEs and can link local agricultural producers to urban, national, and international markets; 5 – to develop an innovative method of packaging that allows a prolongation of the shelf-life of the rabbit meat contributing to its commercialization in the domestic market and also for export (to reverse the import trend in the agricultural sector in some Mediterranean countries); 6 – to create a new market and supply food chain (O rabbit consortium) that includes under its disciplinary and logo, farmers, breeders and research centres that produce O rabbit meat as a guarantee of a high quality product and under the principle “from the farm to the fork”. According to the purpose to strengthen horizontal integration, the Consortium O rabbit includes the whole food chain that produces the innovative functional food: O rabbit meat. The research centers included in the consortium evaluate the quality of the O rabbit meat, the sanitary condition of the animals and their fertility. Another innovative aspect is the devise of a special packaging that can extend the shelf-life of the O rabbit meat. The dissemination of the results may contribute to the launch of this new healthy product in the market (vertical integration). The consortium and the O rabbit meat production may have a positive socio-economic impact for local market, exportation, and knowledge-based job. O Rabbit can increase the protein consumption in some areas and can concur to balance the diet O-6/O-3 ratio in other countries with beneficial effects on human health.

Population growth drives up local demand for food and energy resources and induce a negative impact on the ecosystems due to waste accumulation and greenhouse gas emissions. Slaughterhouses produce large amounts of solid and liquid waste, containing a high organic load, which constitutes a threat to ecosystems and a risk to human health. Their management is even more challenging as it is complicated by the overconsumption of water. The blood, stomach contents, urine and faeces of the animals and possibly other organic constituents are drained with the cleaning water to the sewage system. Because the slaughterhouse waste (SHW) contains large amounts of fats, proteins, lipids, and organic matter, it becomes a potential source for producing biogas (methane), biohydrogen and other value-added products. The bioenergy produced can support addressing rural population energy needs in rural areas, and energy self-sufficiency for slaughterhouses. In this context, an integrated approach will be developed to overcome these environmental and socio-economic problems and to develop effective strategies to recover and valorize effluent streams for applications mainly in energy production. The BIOTHEREP project which is mainly within topic 1 and 5 of the call, aims to develop an integrated strategy to produce bioenergy from slaughterhouses wastes, and to implement solutions responding concretely to the global and regional objectives of sustainable development in a circular economy aspect. The BIOTHEREP approach combines biochemical (BCC) and thermochemical conversion (TCC) (pyrolysis, gasification) processes to produce renewable energies. The obtained solid digestate from BCC will be processed by a TCC to produce biochar by pyrolysis, and syngas by gasification. The biochar will be used as a precursor for improving CH4 and H2 production, and for in-situ CO2 removal. Syngas (mainly H2 and CO) could be used as a fuel to produce thermal energy. This hybrid system outputs are contributing to the bioenergy production, and they are good local and regional alternatives to imported activated carbons and conventional energy sources. The use of the proposed approach will be justified in the context of ensuring economically and environmentally sustainable development both at the regional and international levels. The mechanism for such an assessment will be based on an integrated approach, including a qualitative and quantitative assessment of the internal and external sustainability of the proposed project. The integrated approach will be developed in collaboration between the eleven R&D institutions from Morocco, Algeria, Egypt, South Africa, Italy, Germany and France, including two private companies from Germany and South Africa. It will be implemented under eight Work Packages (WP) for 24 months. Each partner will be responsible for its own WP or task and could be involved in other WPs led by other partners to ensure synergy between the teams.

The overall objective of AgriBioPack is to develop bio-based active packaging solutions (films, mats, and coatings) that can modulate the microbiome in Mediterranean products, hence contributing to improving their marketability by extending their shelf life and reducing food waste. More specifically, the bio-based packaging solutions will be derived from agrifood residues, both for the structural and functional components. This ambitious objective will be pursued by AgriBioPack by (1) ranking in a sharable database the most promising Med agrifood residues (for supply chain, composition and functionality of the main components), (2) extracting valuable molecules and/or (3) microbiome from the residues through green technologies or fermentation processes, (4) optimizing the formulation of bio-based and biodegradable packaging (starting from PLA and pea proteins as basis), using the recovered extracts with reinforcing or antimicrobial properties, (5) evaluating the performance and safety of the developed packaging solutions in extending the shelf life of Med food products (meat, fish, fruit), (6) developing ICT solutions to reduce food waste through in-pack sensors and apps, and (7) assessing the environmental impact and the economic feasibility of the newly developed products. The project, which falls on the spectrum from ‘idea to application’, will be carried out by an interdisciplinary team of universities for the research and innovation activities, with the direct participation of a company for the ICT solutions, and external support of food and packaging manufacturers, for a multi-actor approach towards the development of novel packaging solutions and new products of interest for the Mediterranean local communities, involved also through specific market analysis and business plans adapted to their needs. AgriBioPack will develop bio-based packaging solutions for Mediterranean foods, such as poultry meat, fish fillets and burgers, intermediate-moisture fruits, and fruit bars. By using sustainable materials from agrifood residues through mild processing technologies, it is expected to reduce the environmental impact of food packaging while maintaining high standards of food safety and quality. The project will promote the development of new environmentally-friendly techniques to reduce food waste. Several agrifood residues are investigated as starting materials to fully exploit the functionality of the different components. After the preliminary screening, the efficacy of the optimized bio-based materials for packaging will be demonstrated, with the expected output to improve food safety (SRIA, priority 3.2) and reduce food waste that meets market requirements. The project awareness and dissemination activities are designed to showcase a new positive paradigm of innovation, in which traditional local and diversified products are valorized (priority 3.1), the activities of local food companies are promoted, and the health benefits of traditional ingredients are amplified. Consumers' awareness will have an impact on food, health, societal and cultural education and will renew the growth/competitiveness of the industries of healthy food products (priority 3.3). The project will influence policymakers, as need analysis, cutting-edge technologies, quality control approaches, and scientific findings of impact on public health will all be shared with regulatory agencies and public authorities. Overall, the proposed approach can be considered as fully aligned with the Agro-Food Value Chain 2022 and the topic 2.3.

Prostate cancer (PCa) is the most common cancer in male in Westernized countries and is a clinically heterogeneous disease with substantial variability in progression. Emerging studies support a crucial role of metabolic plasticity of prostatic tumor cells with fatty acids and sterols being demonstrated to represent hallmarks of aggressiveness in PCa. In this context, targeting prostate cancer cell metabolism and more specifically lipid metabolism show great promise for developing alternative adjunct therapies to be used in combination with chemotherapy and androgen deprivation therapy. Moreover, alterations in the epigenome, due to modulation of histone and DNA modification enzymes that results from metabolic reprogramming driven by oncogenes and expression of metabolism-associated genes have been associated not only with neoplastic transformation, but also with cancer aggressive biology. The overall objective of our research and training network PROSTAMET, is to enhance the knowledge and understanding of metabolic changes that occur at the primary as well as the metastatic sites of prostate cancer in order to identify new markers of aggressiveness and/or new therapeutic targets related to lipid metabolism. Study of the lipid metabolism of tumor cells and the impact of cellular components of the microenvironment together with the design and assay of new pharmacological compounds will be used as a platform to develop an interdisciplinary training program on tumor aggressiveness, cell metabolism, structural biology, and the development of novel metabolism modulators. The overall goal of our project is to assemble a consortium of world-renown experts in prostate cancer, lipid metabolism and development/screening of novel anti-tumor drugs in order to train the new generation of young researchers involved in the field of cancer. Our consortium will combine research-based training in the field of metabolism, epigenetics and prostate cancer research and development together with training in relevant transferable skills such as IP management, communication, personal and career development and entrepreneurship into an Initial Training Network (ITN) proposal. To achieve this goal, we have assembled a core consortium of relevant experts with international repute. The MRSEI grant will allow us enlarging and consolidating this core consortium with additional complementary partners from the public and private sectors. Combining the skills in cancer research and analytics with industrial quality management and transferable skills will increase the chances of our early stage researchers of productive and successful careers in their chosen sectors.