Unite · Innovate · Inspire: UM Launches Key New Initiatives Under the I-SITE Excellence Program
The I-SITE program of excellence is continuing its strategy of supporting the scientific communities that define the site’s unique identity and is designating five new key initiatives. For three of these—focused on water, nutrition and food systems, and infectious and vector-borne risks within a One Health approach—the goal will be to expand the initiatives already underway at the international level. Two new key initiatives have been created, focusing on public policies for transition and local collaborative research efforts on plant and agrosystem health.
These five new initiatives were officially unveiled on Wednesday, April 24, 2024. The event provided an opportunity for Philippe Augé, president of the University of Montpellier, to highlight the financial investment of over €6 million mobilized to support the nine key initiatives (Kim) focused on the following themes: food and health; biomarkers and therapy; data for the life sciences; water, the sea, and the coastline; climate risks and health challenges; risks and vectors; blood sciences; and vine and wine sciences. Most of these initiatives have benefited from the momentum generated to flourish within broader frameworks, such as the Occitanie Region’s Key Challenges—Vinid’Occ (vine and wine), Rivoc (infectious risks and vectors)—as well as the WOC Key Challenge and the UNESCO International Centre Icireward certification for water for Kim Water.
Strengthen international strategic partnerships
If there is one key objective to keep in mind when understanding the challenges of these three major international initiatives, it is the strengthening and consolidation of the international strategic partnerships of I-SITE members led by UM. These initiatives are funded by the UM2030 project under the France 2030 – IDéES program, “Integration and Development of Idex and I-SITE .” Each key UM2030 initiative receives €200,000 in funding per year.
The Water and Foods initiatives are focused on a single goal: to create an international doctoral platform to foster transdisciplinarity and develop the science-policy-society interface in order to advance the international career prospects of young researchers. Foods is part of a network of 19 partners and already welcomed its first cohort in March 2024, which demonstrated the value of collaborative work during the Montpellier Global Days 2024.Water, for its part, benefits from the foundation of the UNESCO International Centre and the momentum of the “water family” on an international scale to develop its platform,“Initiative for PhD: the international, intercultural, interdisciplinary water network,” in collaboration with 13 partner universities worldwide.
VECT-OH has focused its efforts on the impact of science on local communities by building a global alliance with six leading universities to achieve sustainable vector risk mitigation as part of a comprehensive health approach (animal, human, and plant health). Particular attention is given to the issue of urban greening and its potential implications for the transmission of vector-borne diseases.
Building multidisciplinary communities
The key initiatives funded by the I-SITE Excellence Program aim to bring together communities from various research institutions in Montpellier around interdisciplinary themes in order to enhance their regional, national, and international visibility. Each key initiative under the I-SITE Excellence Program receives €300,000 in funding over two years to carry out its activities.
The key initiative“Public TransitionPolicies” (KIPPT) brings together a multidisciplinary community spread across some fifteen research units on the campus. The research focuses on the pillars of I-SITE (Feed – Care – Protect), but not exclusively, as transportation, energy, education, and digital technology will also be addressed to support public actors in transitioning toward new, more sustainable and equitable development models.
Clapas is the acronym chosen for the key initiative“Local Collaborative Research Initiatives on Plant and Agrosystem Health.” This unifying theme at the site level will help further integrate the topic of plant and agrosystem health into the scientific ecosystem, particularly by establishing links with researchers working on animal health, human health, and the social sciences.