Three Horizon Europe projects for UPWr

GEORGIA – Increased Agricultural Resilience to Drought

Prof. Krzysztof Lejcuś, Director of the Institute of Environmental Engineering, will lead the GEORGIA (Green dEal cOmpliant iRriGation Increasing Europe’s Agriculture resilience to drought) project on behalf of UPWr. The project has a budget of nearly €5 million and involves 16 partners from 9 European countries. The goal is to enhance agricultural resilience to drought through more efficient water management, utilizing artificial intelligence among other technologies.

The Greek company Synelixis S.A., a provider of smart agriculture platforms, is the project leader. Over three years, scientists will test and evaluate innovative irrigation systems, such as eco-friendly recycling of sewage sludge and biological waste streams, and water-absorbing bio-geocomposites.

These technologies will be tested in seven pilot actions across six European countries, involving over 1,200 farmers with diverse types of crops and farming practices, from conventional to organic. Prof. Lejcuś's team will coordinate the pilot research efforts.

Experiments will be monitored using unmanned aerial vehicles and geospatial decision support systems (eXplainable-AI and Crop Digital Twins), enabling precise measurements and optimization of water management processes at various levels, from individual farms to entire catchment areas.

TRANSFORM² – Precise Detection of Seismic Activity

The TRANSFORM² (TowaRds AdvaNced multidiSciplinary Fault ObseRvatory systeMs²) project, led by the University of Patras in Greece, will conduct three years of research with a budget of nearly €3 million. The project aims to establish a new generation of Near Fault Observatories (NFOs) across Europe. NFOs are natural laboratories near densely populated cities where active and complex geophysical processes occur. Their goal is to understand the structure of seismically active faults and the mechanisms of earthquake formation through continuous and long-term collection of multidisciplinary, high-resolution data.

Researchers will focus on four areas:

• Utilizing innovative seismic sensors,
• Improving earthquake detection and characterization through a novel and automated system,
• Supporting decision-makers during seismic alerts with a new early warning platform,
• Testing and developing modern sensors and algorithms.

Prof. Jan Kapłon from the Institute of Geodesy and Geoinformatics at UPWr will lead tasks related to testing GNSS measurement technologies, including studying the sensitivity of low-cost receivers to natural seismic shocks and collaborating with the project consortium on applying machine learning methods to detect these shocks in high-frequency GNSS data.

FlavourFerm – Enhanced Taste of Fermented Plant-based Foods

Prof. Anna Michalska-Ciechanowska from the Department of Fruit, Vegetable, and Plant Nutraceutical Technology will lead the UPWr team working on the FlavourFerm project (Unleashing the Flavour Potential of Plant-based Foods via Fermentation). The project involves 17 partners from 10 European countries, including scientists, food producers, renowned chefs, and culinary experts. With a budget of €4.5 million, led by the University of Southern Denmark (SDU), the project aims to meet the growing consumer demand for plant-based products by focusing on three fermentation approaches:

• Precision fermentation using recombinant vegan casein,
• Biomass fermentation with mycelium obtained from legume fermentation,
• Traditional fermentation techniques for chickpeas and lupins.

All processes will be optimized to improve the taste, texture, and nutritional content, as well as the bioavailability of protein in plant-based cheese, meat, and milk. The project's final products will be scaled up and produced on a pilot and pre-commercial scale in collaboration with the industry and tested by consumers from various European countries.

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  UPWr Intensive Course Summer School

  The Wrocław University of Environmentaland Life Sciences organised an intensive summer programme in the first days of July, dedicated to developing the knowledge and skills of international doctoral students in the life sciences. This is one of many activities within the STER project - ‘International Interdisciplinary Doctoral School - at the HEART of BioBased University , headed by Prof. Małgorzata Korzeniowska.

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  UPWr students secure second places in SPAK competition for best theses

  In the latest edition of the Polish Landscape Architects Association (SPAK) competition for the best landscape architecture theses defended in the academic year 2022-2023, Wanda Ziętek received second place for her engineering thesis, and Mateusz Bartczak received second place for his master's thesis.