It’s official! After the INVEST Centre of Excellence kick-off meeting with the 14 principal investigators in December 2024, the Centre of Excellence research teams are now officially formed.
Thanks to the work of the principal investigators, more than 100 researchers willing to join the research community were recruited and onboarded in at least one of the seven research clusters:
- Sustainable, smart agriculture
- Green energy & energy transition
- Water resources management
- Education & capacity-building
- Urban-rural relationships
- Circular- & bio-based economy
- New businesses models & smart technologies
The official kick-off meeting took place online on Wednesday, 12th March. Hosted by the University of Reims Champagne-Ardenne with Essaid Ait Barka, Vice-Rector to the INVEST Alliance, and Eva Barteková-Hédoin, Manager of the INVEST Centre of Excellence, this meeting provided an opportunity to revisit the core mission of the INVEST Centre of Excellence, which is to:
- Establish a collaborative research initiative for joint excellence to answer regional sustainability challenges
- Foster an “innovation philosophy”, building inclusive, strong and lasting partnerships with governance, business and users
- Create networks within and beyond INVEST to connect communities and infrastructures
The principal investigators also joined the meeting to present the respective research clusters and guide participants in selecting the clusters that best aligned with their research expertise.
Finally, all the supporting system behind the INVEST Centre of Excellence was introduced, such as the:
- Taskforce on Networking Opportunities
- Taskforce on Funding Opportunities
- Project of a shared research infrastructure
- Seed funding opportunities
- Mobility opportunities
- Possibilities of PhD co-tutorship
- Organisation of events such as international conferences or hackathons
A comprehensive meeting to launch the work of each research team in the best possible way. Next major date: the official launch of the INVEST Centre of Excellence on Wednesday, 22nd October at the University of Reims Champagne-Ardenne (France).
If you are a researcher and are interested in joining the INVEST Centre of Excellence research community, you can still register here.
For more information, you can contact the INVEST team of the University of Reims Champagne-Ardenne via email: invest@univ-reims.fr
Additional information: https://www.invest-alliance.eu/en/Home/NewsInfo?link=116-invest-centre-of-excellence-advancing-transdisciplinary-research-for-sustainability
https://www.invest-alliance.eu/en/Home/Texts?link=62-center-of-excellence—research—innovation
