The European seed sector is facing major challenges in the years to come, especially growing world population and an increasing role of European food production the impact of climate change and environmental stresses on agricultural production and the need for a more sustainable agricultural system. The European seed sector will therefore have to develop new high-yielding plant varieties and new seed innovations.However, to tackle these challenges, the European seed sector will require well trained breeding project leaders with in-depth knowledge of both, traditional plant breeding techniques and biotechnological techniques, who can communicate between those two worlds, who have project management experience and who have had international experience to be able to grasp the bigger picture. Those profiles are currently very rare on the job market and are more and more asked for. There is a strong need for this profile of human resources for the development of the European seed sector.The University of Gent, Ege University, Polytechnic University of Valencia, Swedish University of Agricultural Science and Polytechnic Institute UniLaSalle have decided to join forces to develop the European Plant Breeding College (EPBC) to:- Share knowledge and experience for the benefit of their students- Improve the academic quality of their Plant Breeding Master Programmes- Improve the employability of their alumni- Create a European dialogue with the seed sector on human resource policy- Increase the excellence, international visibility and integration among European Plant Breeding education programmes- Increase the number of joint projects among EPBC participantsTo achieve these objectives, the EPBC has:- Shared knowledge and experience with their students via innovative teaching methods such as online courses, webinars and pilot cases- Facilitated mobility of their students and immersion in new cultural contexts and teams through Intensive Study Programmes and mobilities in the speciality of the partner universities- Boosted the transition of EPBC students from university to the labour market through a pan-European Internship Network- Interacted through Multiplier Events with prospective students, and professionals from the seed sectorAs a result, EPBC has contributed on its scale to ensuring European food supply, the development of the seed sector in Europe and to a more competitive and sustainable European agriculture through student training, integration of programs Masters in Plant Breeding and the creation of a Erasmus Mundus Master's Program of Excellence (emPLANT).

The Multidisciplinary Integration and Networking for Increased sustainability of Geothermal HEAT (MININGHEAT) project aims at training a cluster of fifteen Early-Stage Researchers (ESRs) within a panel of internationally recognized academic and industrial actors. The program is structured in six work packages covering the project management, field and laboratory investigations, data integration, training and networking plus communication. Interactions between ESRs permit the create the link between all research activities while ensuring dissemination of scientific results and project communication. MNINGHEAT aims at understanding fluid/rock interaction processes in geothermal systems within a large range of pressure and temperature conditions. Rock alteration induces precipitation of new minerals and brine enrichment in high economic value and strategic elements (Lithium). Alteration processes are also responsible of a change in both petrophysical and mechanical properties of the reservoir. Understanding these properties is prerequisite to ensure a sustainable utilization of geothermal reservoirs while avoided any devlopment of mechanical instabilities. Field and laboratory studies will allow to reconstruct fluid flow pathways and their evolution with time in geothermal reservoirs recording an history of geothermal fluid circulations and fluid rock interaction processes at low, medium to high and high to super high temperatures. Rock microfabrics and petrophysical plus mechanical data are expected to be used for upscaling purposes using indirect geophysical data. Multiscale integrated simulations are planned to give guidelines for geothermal reservoir exploration and safe exploitation strategies overcoming the difficulties to predict potential mechanical instabilities development, thus decreasing social and economic risk. The training program will permit ESRs to develop critical transverse skills required for successful careers that go far beyond the pure research environment. ESRs will learn how to transfer their knowledge and research methodology into the development of successful industrial strategies through responsible use of geothermal reservoirs in various geological settings. ESRs will use modern communication channels to reach both a technical audience and the large public. MININGHEAT ESRs will achieve significant impact within the geothermal community and increase the social perception of geothermal energy by the population.

"Water scarcity refers to long-term water imbalances, combining low water availability (exacerbated by climate change) with a level of water demand exceeding the supply capacity of the natural system. In 2020, the European Environmental Agency assesses that 1 387 groundwater bodies are currently affected by water abstraction. Poor quantitative status of groundwater resources increases tension among the water stakeholders may lead to negative impacts such as risk of public water shortages, poor crop yields or poor ecological status of surface water bodies This project aims at increasing the resiliency of Hauts-de-France toward climate change negative impacts on groundwater resources. It will focus on a specific chalk aquifer which supply 95% of the drinking water in Northern France. Specifically, we aim at carrying out this project in the Aronde watershed located in the Oise district which is affected by significant quantitative issues since 2000’s. The objectives of this project are to produce knowledge and tools for decision makers to improve the quantitative management of groundwater resources. We specifically aim at: - WP1: Improve the knowledge about the current water withdrawals from the groundwater to design maps of hot-spots of water withdrawals and identify the seasonality of water abstraction. This WP will be addressed with common tools of geospatial analysis embed in GIS software. - WP2: Predict the future water withdrawals due to crop irrigation and domestic use, based on the crop rotations and on the rate of urban expansion.This requires specific geospatial analysis. The rate of the urban expansion will be derived from past GIS and census bureau datasets. Determining the crop rotation will be based on successive years of Land Parcel Identification System GIS dataset. - WP3: Design a tool that can predict the dynamic of the groundwater depth depending on the current and future water withdrawals and the recharge by the precipitations (according to the climatic scenarios). To predict the vertical flow and assess the recharge process, several methods will be set up: - Analyze long meteorological datasets, - Perform isotopic tracing and pumping experiments on the UniLaSalle hydrogeological facility, - Improve existing model created by Zghibi et al. (2016). - WP4: Explore alternative solutions for artificial groundwater recharge, considering sanitary and environmental risks and writing good practices adapted to the local context. This will be based on a state of the art approach and visit of existing pilot sites in France. The consortium involves 3 partners with complementary skills: - Institut Polytechnique UniLaSalle (coordinator). The research group involved is AGHYLE that studies the critical zone by characterizing cycles of water and chemical elements to understand ecosystems and agrosystems functioning. AGHYLE accesses a hydrogeology facility equipped with boreholes to monitor the groundwater depth, or perform specific experiments and pumping tests. - Université Technologique de Compiègne, UTC. The consortium includes 2 research groups of UTC: ""Transformations Intégrées de la Matière Renouvelable"" (EA 4297 TIMR) and “Avenues”. They develop research activities on hydrological modelling, chemical engineering and water/soil and supply engineering. - Syndicat Mixte Oise Around. SMOA is a local board in charge of the management of the water resources in the Oise-Aronde watershed (788 km²). SMOA is specifically in charge of the Aronde watershed which suffer from excessive groundwater abstraction. This project aims at providing the following deliverables: - provide a predicting tool of water withdrawals and aquifer recharge to local decision makers and water management boards. - writing an action program to secure the public water supply and the crop irrigation. - writing good practices of aquifer artificial recharge adapted to the local context. - scientific dissemination (conference)."