Agriculture, Environment, and Biodiversity Division (AEB)

Director of the Agriculture-Environment-Biodiversity Division: Daniel Barthélémy

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

Administration and management support officer: Yasmine Lecuyer

Head of Administration and Long-Term Thematic Projects: Aude Montout

Head of the Human Resources Committee (HRC) for Biology and Agricultural Sciences: Pierre Czernic
Manager of the Human Resources Committee (HRC) for Biology and Agricultural Sciences: Sabrina Lecourt

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

Hub office

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

Strategic Steering Committee (SSC)

The Strategic Steering Committee acts as a link between the Research Cluster Research institutional partners. It helps define the Research Cluster's major scientific strategic orientations Research gives its opinion on the action plan proposed by the Director of the Research Cluster.

Pole Council

The Cluster Council provides advisory opinions on the direction and implementation of the Cluster's actions and strategy.

Human Resources Committee (HRC)

The Human Resources Committee deals with 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 Professors researchers.

Key figures

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

• Lead, communicate, highlight strategy and scientific foresight
• Bringing together and promoting partnerships
• Increase visibility and contribute to the Region's excellence in agronomy, the environment, ecology, and biodiversity at the national and international levels.
• Promoting the link between training and Research
• Facilitate collective reflection on platforms and infrastructure in connection with institutions and organizations.
• Lead a collective discussion on coordinated planning of jobs, skills, and human resources in conjunction with institutions and organizations.

The Center comprises 46 research, experimental, or service units as its main affiliates and 10 other laboratories as secondary affiliates. It encompasses agricultural, environmental, and water sciences, as well as ecology and evolution. It offers four long-term thematic projects in these disciplines:

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

Structured around these four interacting thematic areas, the AEB cluster forms a highly multidisciplinary group working on 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, health and environmental quality, explicitly taking into account the impact of environmental and global changes, particularly climate change, on all of these issues.

The AEB Cluster brings together agents from several research organizations:

• BRGM (Geological and Mining Research Bureau)
• 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 Research Institute Research Agriculture, Food, and the Environment)
• IRD ( Research Institute Research 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 Center for Advanced Mediterranean Agronomic Studies-Mediterranean Agronomic Institute of Montpellier)

It also maintains close ties (even hosting agents within 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 (National School of Chemistry of Montpellier), ARMINES ParisTech (IMT Mines Alès), EPHE (École Pratique des Hautes Études), UPVM (Paul Valéry University 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)
• Center for Functional and Evolutionary Ecology (CEFE)
• Bio-inspired chemistry and ecological innovations (ChimEco)
• Diversity, Genomes, and Interactions of Insect Microorganisms (DGIMI)
• Plant Diversity, Adaptation, and Development (DIADE)
• Water management, stakeholders, and uses (G-EAU)
• Montpellier Geosciences (GM)
• HydroSciences Montpellier (HSM)
• Agropolymers Engineering and Emerging Technologies (IATE)
• Host-Pathogen Interactions Environments (HPIE)
• Montpellier Institute of Plant Sciences (IPSIM)
• Montpellier Institute of Evolutionary Sciences (ISEM)
• Marine Biodiversity, Exploitation, and Conservation (MARBEC)
• Montpellier Ecology Evolution Biodiversity (MEEB)
• Infectious Diseases and Vectors Ecology, Genetics, Evolution, and Control (MIVEGEC)
• Montpellier Environmental Research Observatory (OREME)
• Plant Health Institute of Montpellier (PHIM)
• Integrated approach to obtaining high-quality food – QUALISUD
• Sciences for Oenology (SPO)

Partnership research structures:

• Biodiverse Agrosystems (ABSys)
• Agroecology and Sustainable Intensification of Annual Crops (AIDA)
• Water, soil, and plant analyses (Analyses)
• Animals, Health, Territories, Risks, and Ecosystems (ASTRE)
• Biomass, Wood, Energy, Bioproducts (BioWooEB)
• Center for Biology for Population Management (CBGP)
• DIASCOPE experimental unit (DIASCOPE)
• Functional ecology and biogeochemistry of soils and agrosystems (ECO&SOLS)
• Ecotron
• Forests and Societies
• 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 tomorrow's agriculture (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 Market Gardening Systems (Market Gardening EU0411 Experimental Unit on Agroecological Market Gardening 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 Spatial 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 Societies
• An International UNESCO Water Center (ICIREWARD)
• A Foundation for Scientific Cooperation: One Science Montpellier
• A Research Environment Research Observatory (OSU OREME), which is part of the Universe Science Observatories of the National Institute for Universe Sciences of the CNRS.
• A Digital Agriculture Convergence Institute #DigitAg
• A "Territoires d'Innovation" (Occitanum) Fablab
• A UNESCO Chair in " World Food Systems "
• Two Occitanie Regional Challenges: Biodivoc and Rivoc

• Analysis of Trace Elements in the Environment and Isotopes ( AETE ISO)
• Food Technology Workshop (ATA)
• Water Chemistry Laboratory
• SharedLaboratoryfor the Analysisof Stable Isotopes in Water (LAMA)
• Genotyping-Sequencing Platform (GenSeq)
• Microbex Platform
• Flow cytometry technical platform

Pricing

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