Agriculture, Environment, and Biodiversity Division (AEB)

Director of the Agriculture, Environment, and Biodiversity Division: Daniel Barthélémy

Deputy Director of the Agriculture, Environment, and Biodiversity Division: Rutger de Wit

Administrative and Management Support Officer: Yasmine Lecuyer

Administrative Officer and Manager of Long-Term Thematic Projects: Aude Montout

Head of the Human Resources Committee (HRC) for Biology and Agrosciences: Pierre Czernic
Administrator of the Human Resources Committee (HRC) for Biology and Agrosciences: Sabrina Lecourt

Head of the Human Resources Committee ( HRC ) for Biology , Ecology, Evolution, Environment, Earth and Water Sciences : Mathilde Dufaÿ
Administrator of the Human Resources Committee (HRC) for Biology, Ecology, Evolution, Environment, Earth and Water Sciences: Yasmine Lecuyer

Division Office

The AEB division has an office staffed by the director, the deputy director, and the managers of long-term thematic projects.

Strategic Steering Committee (SSC)

The Strategic Steering Committee serves as a link between the Research Cluster Research its institutional partners. It helps define the Research Cluster’s major scientific strategic directions Research approves the action plan proposed by the Director of the Research Cluster.

Division Council

The Cluster Council issues advisory opinions on the direction and implementation of the Cluster’s initiatives and strategy.

Human Resources Committee (HRC)

The Human Resources Committee addresses issues specific to the staff of the University of Montpellier. Each Human Resources Committee issues an advisory opinion in accordance with the statutory provisions specific to the Professors researchers.

Key Figures

• 37 Laboratories in Agriculture, Environment, and Biodiversity
• 9 Service, research support, experimental, or scientific platform units
• 9 Partner Institutions
• 1 Main doctoral school (GAIA: Biodiversity, Agriculture, Food, Environment, Earth, Water)
• 19 ongoing ERC (European Research Council) projects in 2024
• 1,800 Professors researchers
• 175 dissertations defended each year
• 38 CIFRE contracts
• 1 UNESCO Water Center ICIREWARD
• 1 UNESCO Chair in Global Food Systems

• Facilitate, Communicate, Highlight Strategy and Scientific Outlook
• Bring People Together and Foster Partnerships
• To increase visibility and contribute to the Region’s excellence in agronomy, the environment, ecology, and biodiversity at the national and international levels
• Strengthening the link between education and Research
• Facilitate a collective discussion on platforms and infrastructure in collaboration with institutions and organizations
• Facilitate a collective discussion on coordinated planning for jobs, skills, and human resources in collaboration with institutions and organizations

The Cluster comprises 46 research, experimental, or service units as primary affiliates and 10 additional laboratories as secondary affiliates. It encompasses agricultural, environmental, and water sciences, as well as ecology and evolution. Within these disciplines, it carries out four long-term thematic projects:

• Plant Adaptation to Global Change
• Agroecology and Food Systems
• Biodiversity, Ecology, Evolution
• Georesources, Risks, and Society (presentation document)

Structured around these four interrelated thematic areas, the AEB cluster forms a highly multidisciplinary group that addresses a wide range of issues and questions related to the promotion of sustainable and ecologically innovative agriculture, food safety and security, the characterization, documentation, management and conservation of biodiversity, the structure and functioning of ecosystems, and environmental health and quality, explicitly taking into account the impact of environmental and global changes—particularly climate change—on all of these topics.

The AEB Cluster brings together staff from several research organizations:

• BRGM (French Geological Survey)
• CIRAD (Center for International Cooperation in Research for Development)
• CNRS (National Center for Research )
• IFREMER (French Research Institute Research Exploitation of the Sea)
• INRAE (National Institute for Research Agriculture, Food, and the Environment)
• IRD (French National Research Institute Research Sustainable Development)

or higher education:

• University of Montpellier
• Institut Agro (National Institute of Higher Education for Agriculture, Food, and the Environment) / Montpellier SupAgro
• CIHEAM-IAMM (International Centre for Advanced Mediterranean Agronomic Studies–Mediterranean Agronomic Institute of Montpellier)

It also maintains close ties (and even hosts researchers in its laboratories) with other research organizations such as INRAP (National Institute for Preventive Archaeological Research) and INRIA (National Institute for Research in Digital Science and Technology), as well as higher education institutions: AgroParisTech (Institute of Life and Environmental Sciences and Industries), ENSCM (Montpellier National School of Chemistry), ARMINES ParisTech (IMT Mines Alès), EPHE (School of Advanced Studies), UPVM (Paul Valéry University of Montpellier), UPVD (Perpignan Via Domitia University), University of Avignon, University of the Antilles, University of Réunion, University Center of Mayotte.

• Institute for Genetic Improvement and Adaptation of Mediterranean and Tropical Plants (AGAP Institute)
• Botany and Modeling of Plant and Vegetation Architecture (AMAP)
• Animals, Health, Territories, Risks, and Ecosystems (ASTRE)
• Center for Functional and Evolutionary Ecology (CEFE)
• Bio-inspired Chemistry and Green Innovations (ChimEco)
• Diversity, Genomes, and Microorganism-Insect Interactions (DGIMI)
• Plant Diversity, Adaptation, and Development (DIADE)
• Water Management, Stakeholders, and Uses (G-EAU)
• Geosciences Montpellier (GM)
• HydroSciences Montpellier (HSM)
• Agro-Polymer Engineering and Emerging Technologies (IATE)
• Host-Pathogen-Environment Interactions (HPE)
• Montpellier Institute of Plant Sciences (IPSIM)
• Montpellier Institute of Evolutionary Sciences (ISEM)
• Marine Biodiversity, Exploitation, and Conservation (MARBEC)
• Montpellier Ecology, Evolution, and Biodiversity (MEEB)
• Infectious Diseases and Vectors: Ecology, Genetics, Evolution, and Control (MIVEGEC)
• Montpellier Environmental Research Observatory (OREME)
• Plant Health Institute of Montpellier (PHIM)
• An Integrated Approach to Producing High-Quality Food – QUALISUD
• Sciences for Oenology (SPO)

Partnership-based research organizations:

• Biodiverse Agricultural Systems (ABSys)
• Agroecology and Sustainable Intensification of Annual Crops (AIDA)
• Water, Soil, and Plant Testing (Testing)
• Biomass, Wood, Energy, Bioproducts (BioWooEB)
• Center for Biology and Population Management (CBGP)
• DIASCOPE Experimental Unit (DIASCOPE)
• Functional Ecology and Biogeochemistry of Soils and Agrosystems (ECO&SOLS)
• Ecotron
• Forests and Society
• Ecological Operation and Sustainable Management of Banana and Pineapple Agrosystems (GECO)
• Agroecological Functioning and Performance of Horticultural Cropping Systems (HortSys)
• Innovation and Development in Agriculture and Food (INNOVATION)
• Technologies and Methods for the Agriculture of Tomorrow (ITAP)
• Laboratory of Environmental Biotechnology (LBE)
• The Laboratory of Plant Ecophysiology under Environmental Stress (LEPSE)
• Laboratory for the Study of Soil–Agrosystem–Hydrosystem Interactions (LISAH)
• Experimental Unit on Agroecological Vegetable Farming Systems (Vegetable Farming UE0411 Experimental Unit on Agroecological Vegetable Farming Systems)
• Montpellier Interdisciplinary Center on Sustainable Agri-Food Systems (Social and Nutritional Sciences) (MoISA)
• Pech Rouge Experimental Unit (PECH ROUGE)
• Recycling and Risk
• Mediterranean and Tropical Livestock Systems (SELMET)
• Knowledge, Environment, Societies (SENS)
• Territories, Environment, Remote Sensing, and Space Information (TETIS)
• Vassal Experimental Unit (VASSAL)

Locally:

• Four long-term thematic projects:
  • Plant Adaptation to Global Change
  • Agroecology and Food Systems
  • Biodiversity, Ecology, Evolution
  • Georesources, Risks, and Society
• An International UNESCO Water Center (ICIREWARD)
• A Foundation for Scientific Cooperation: One Science Montpellier
• The Research Environmental Research Observatory (OSU OREME), which is part of the Observatories of the Sciences of the Universe at the National Institute of Sciences of the Universe (INSU) of the CNRS.
• A Convergences Institute for Digital Agriculture #DigitAg
• A "Territoires d’Innovation" Fablab (Occitanum)
• A UNESCO Chair in “ World Food Systems”
• Two Regional Challenges in Occitanie: Biodivoc and Rivoc

• Analysis of Trace Elements in the Environment and Isotopes ( AETE ISO)
• Food Technology Lab (ATA)
• Water Chemistry Laboratory
• JointLaboratoryfor the Analysisof Stable Water Isotopes (LAMA)
• Genotyping and Sequencing Platform (GenSeq)
• Microbex Platform
• Flow Cytometry Facility

Pricing

• GM EDSB
• GM Rare Gases
• GM Isotop
• GM MAGE
• GM New Tracers
• HSM CGEO
• HSM LAMA
• HSM Mi2H
• MEEB
• MICROBEX MARBEC
• OREME SMEL
• OREME AETE ISO
• ATA