The overall objective of Re-Livestock is to evaluate and mobilize the adoption of innovative practices applied cross-scale (animal, herd, farm, sector and region) to reduce GHG emissions from livestock farming systems and increase their capacity to dealing with potential climate change impacts. To reach our aim, Re-Livestock have brought together the excellence scientific expertise in Europe and Australia and across disciplines, including co-innovation, animal feeding, breeding, welfare, farm management, environmental and socio-economic assessment and policy analysis, to develop novel and scientifically supported integrated approaches specific for different dairy, beef and pig systems and geographic regions in the context of climate change. Strong collaboration with industry stakeholders to identify the innovations and to co-design the validation will ensure relevance and maximise the adoption of best practices. National groups of farmers (case studies) and ‘stakeholder forums’ together with a ‘European multi-actor platform’ will allow for an engaged co-design of transition pathways whilst ‘learning from innovation networks’ will allow for the testing and sharing of latest innovative solutions. A ‘community of practice’ will extend the multi-actor approach to a broad range of stakeholders.

The development of assisted reproductive technologies (ART) has provided an alternative for people with difficulties conceiving naturally, and over 9 million babies have been born through ART since 1978. Moreover, the use of ART has increased dramatically (5.3-fold) during the last two decades and this trend will continue. While ART have undoubtedly made a positive impact on the lives of couples and individuals dealing with infertility, numerous studies reported potentially negative ART-derived effects on the health of offspring. The mechanisms involved and their consequences are poorly understood and there are critical unanswered questions, including whether the manipulations and the artificial environments in which gametes and embryos are cultured, or the increased paternal and maternal age at the time when the treatments are applied entail ART-derived health risks. Thus, there is a growing need to advance research on ART consequences and propose holistic solutions, as well as to develop innovative training programmes to prepare new researchers to deal with such concerns. The AFRODITA (Advancing Fertility and Reproduction thrOugh Dedicated and Innovative Technological Applications) consortium takes up this challenge and aims to implement jointly an innovative international, multi-sectorial, and multidisciplinary research and training programme (Joint Doctorate) by bringing together key scientific staff from the academia (5 European universities and 3 excellent research centres), the largest hospital in Denmark and the corporate world (8 enterprises) with a history of fruitful collaboration, that will guarantee excellent training and effective supervision for AFRODITA’s 15 doctoral candidates to enhance their career opportunities for different professional paths.