Title Promoter Affiliations Abstract "RADiation facility Network for the EXploration of effects for indusTry and research" "Paul Leroux" "Electronic Circuits and Systems (ECS)" "New applications in the industrial sectors of space, automotive, IoT, nuclear dismantling and civil applications, medical and accelerators among others require innovative radiation testing methodologies. As well, for coping with the industrial demand and market timelines, streamlined and coordinated testing becomes highly necessary.Although punctual exceptions exist, Europe does not count with a coordinated network of cost-effective testing facilities helping these purposes. Such a network could enormously help fast innovators such as SMEs who in many cases find difficult to access the required facilities and related test expertise. As well, it will offer a competitive advantage to large Corporations. Novel testing methodologies will also pave the way for generating new standards since the existing ones are mainly restricted to classical space applications and radiation-hardened components.Pan-European and National Research Infrastructures can play a key role for boosting European Industry by taking the first steps in the creation of a sustainable, coordinated and streamlined irradiation testing facilities network. It will also respond to the need of establishing a radiation hardness evaluation based on risk assessment and mitigation rather than on complete risk avoidance.This project aims at increasing and optimizing the access of system developers to irradiation facilities in which representative conditions of their final application are reproduced, and that can serve as a satisfactory validation for the end-users.Such optimization will be based on a network of irradiation facilities with a common entry-point, in which users can define, prepare, carry out and analyze their irradiation campaigns. A key point of such improvement would be that of advancing in the harmonization andstandardization of the system level testing methodology, so not to multiply efforts around the same common objective." "Integrated Database for Early Music" "David Burn" "Alamire Foundation, Musicology Research Group Leuven University" "This project aims to create a multifaceted database for researching, studying, and performing medieval and Renaissance music (up to the year 1600) in the Low Countries. IDEM intends to create a unique instrument for the preservation, study, and valorisation of the Low Countries’ cultural heritage, including both sources presently kept in the Low Countries, and sources held abroad but directly related to the region. The database will integrate digital images of primary musical sources (manuscripts and prints) with the most important tools for studying the sources’ immediate context.IDEM will offer a vital tool for researching and understanding medieval and Renaissance music in at least three respects.§  First, IDEM will offer much wider and freer access to the sources than is currently the case. Presently, much important musical patrimony is only selectively available to most scholars. Furthermore, given that much material is still held in smaller archives and ecclesiastical institutions rather than large research libraries, even when material is in principle available, it may still be difficult to obtain in practice.§  Second, the images that the database will hold will be of a quality far higher than typically offered by the reproduction services of the libraries, archives, and other institutions that hold the original sources.§  Third, the databases will offer not only images of the sources themselves but also state-of-the-art information on a varied range of aspects related to the sources and their contents. These will include physical aspects of the source, illuminations and other artistic elements, texts, recordings, editions of the pieces, and guides to performing directly from the original notation.The proposed database will cover not only polyphonic music but also Gregorian chant. This is vital to promoting better understanding of medieval and Renaissance music. The proposed database will stimulate a more holistic view by bringing the two into relation with one another.IDEM contributes not only to excellent and innovative research, but also to the long-term safekeeping and conservation of precious sources.By offering primary sources and secondary material under a single umbrella, the database will facilitate the research not only of musicologists, but also of literary and art historians, as well as performers and practice-based researchers. The database will thus counter increasing specialisation by providing an essential interdisciplinary research tool. By gathering together different sorts of information that are usually studied in isolation, the database will promote a novel synthetic and broadly interdisciplinary understanding of medieval and Renaissance music and musical culture.Constituent databases1. A thorough understanding of medieval and Renaissance music must begin with studies of the primary surviving sources. The core of the proposed database will thus consist of an image database that will contain images of manuscripts and imprints containing Gregorian chant and polyphony. These images will be made with the most advanced technology available, and at a resolution-level that will enable the researcher to magnify and examine the tiniest details of the source. This is essential for the study of palaeographic aspects of a source, such as scribal hands, layers, palimpsest manuscripts, and erasures, and has significant implications for current conceptions of, for example, scribal workshops. Such images are far superior to the microfilm or paper copies that researchers are currently forced to use if they cannot examine the source in person. Indeed, they can actually offer invaluable data that is partly or entirely invisible to the naked eye, and thus only apparent via high-resolution images, which may subsequently be manipulated by digital restoration.2. A second image database will focus on music manuscript illuminations and handwriting. It is anticipated that substantial extensions to this database will be possible through partnerships with Illuminare, KU Leuven’s Centre for the study of the illuminated manuscript, and with similar centres. This database will make a significant contribution to the study of medieval and Renaissance manuscript iconography by offering both a comprehensive overview of illuminations found in musical, liturgical, historical and narrative sources, as well as comparative material for the study of the dissemination and function of iconographic topoi common or specific to certain periods, regions, or source types.3. A third database will focus on the texts of vocal works. This database will not only contain the texts found in the sources that are digitised, but will also offer the possibility of comparing variant text versions between sources and between works that set similar but not absolutely identical words. The thorough and detailed comparisons that this database will facilitate are an essential starting-point when researching the provenance, dating, and identification of medieval and Renaissance compositions. At the same time, this database will form an entry-point for scholars of medieval and Renaissance literary traditions, by offering an important tool, for example, for the study of the reception of Classical, biblical and humanistic texts. At a later stage of development, it is planned to add translations of all texts4. The fourth database will provide transcriptions and critical editions of sources in the image database.5. A fifth database will contain so-called “fake-similes”, that is, manuscript images that have been adapted for direct practical use through correcting scribal errors, bringing the words and the music into an unambiguous relationship (it is typical of medieval and Renaissance sources that words and music are matched only in a general way), and adding musica ficta (melodic inflections that were conventionally applied by singers of the time without having to be explicitly notated). The aim of such adapted images is to provide a stepping stone for those wishing to engage with primary musical sources in the same way as their original users did: as documents from which to perform. This database will be particularly stimulating for practice-oriented and practice-based research, and for the collaboration between researchers and performers of the same repertoire.6. The sixth database will contain audio files of the music in the image database. It is clearly vital that researchers, performers, and students of medieval and Renaissance music have the opportunity to come into immediate contact with the compositions not only as written entities but as sounding works. The database will aim in particular to gather rare recordings and recordings of rarely performed pieces. The database, however, will offer more than simply the opportunity to hear performances of works under study. The interpretation of the music of the Middle Ages and Renaissance is a hotly debated topic. Thus the possibility that the database offers for comparative research into performance practice, through providing different versions of the same work, will be of exceptional value. Such comparisons will reveal the extent to which different musical parameters are open to interpretation in performance, including tempo, style, text-underlay and pronunciation, rhetoric, and musica ficta. Furthermore, comparison of older and more recent recordings will enable the investigation of performance practice from a historical perspective.7. A final database will hold the necessary metadata pertaining to all source material. The database will offer material descriptions of the sources, employing the standard criteria of internationally recognised reference works and standard catalogues, such as CAO (Corpus Antiphonalium Officii), AMS (Antiphonale Missarum Sextuplex), RISM (Répertoire International de Sources Musicales), the Cantus Database, and the Census Catalogue of Manuscript Sources of Polyphonic Music, 1400-1550." "Scrutinizing selective Aurora Kinase A inhibition as a novel entry point for synthetic lethality in neuroblastoma" "Bram De Wilde" "Department of Biomolecular Medicine, Department of Internal Medicine and Pediatrics" "Neuroblastoma is the most common extra-cranial solid tumor in children. Currently, despite multi-modal therapy, survival rates remain disappointingly low and survivors often suffer from major long-term effects of intensive therapy. Aurora kinase A (AURKA) has previously been identified as a potential drug target in high-risk neuroblastoma. However, despite the promising preclinical data for first generation inhibitors including alisertib, barasertib and tozasertib, these pan-Aurora kinase targeting compounds did not make it successfully to the clinic due to toxicities resulting from additional AURKB/C inhibition. Recently, a highly selective AURKA inhibitor, LY3295668, which potently inhibits proliferation in a broad panel of cancer cell lines, was shown to induce apoptosis and to be highly effective in xenograft and PDX pre-clinical tumor models. These successes have prompted the selection of LY3295668 for phase I clinical trials in high-risk relapsed/refractory neuroblastomas. Single agent therapeutic strategies however often result in therapy resistance. In this project, I will exploit selective AURKA inhibition as a novel entry point for synthetic lethality in neuroblastoma through in vitro CRISPR and drug screening. Finally, I will execute for the first time a pre-clinical evaluation of AURKA-degrading PROTACs." "Construction of an integral chain valuation tool for sustainable valorization multiple pathways of plant production" "Jeroen Buysse" "Department of Agricultural Economics, Department of Agricultural economics" "The general objective of this dissertation is to generate key insights to address organisational challenges of local biomass value chains in the context of the biobased economy. Several societal challenges, of which the most important is probably climate change, drive the increased interest to transform our fossil resources based economy into a biobased economy. Research aiming to enhance this transformation often focuses on the technical and technoeconomic aspects of converting biomass into value-added products, but often fails to take into account the non-technical aspects, especially the organisational challenges related to local biomass value chains. These organisational challenges originate from the unique characteristics of both the biomass itself, such as low bulk density and seasonality, and the unique characteristics of the economic agents involved in the value chain, such as the wide dispersion of the producers. In order to gain insights in these challenges, we apply a complex adaptive systems lens and use a mixed-method approach, including semi-structured interviews and agent-based modelling. We focus on local value chains of maize, and divide our research into four specific case studies. In the first case study, we investigate the already existing silage maize market and the competition for this locally traded biomass source between farmers and biogas plant managers in Flanders, the northern region of Belgium. We analyse the relative importance of contextual factors that contribute to the difficulty of obtaining a stable and affordable supply of silage maize by biogas plant managers. We find that the late entry of the biogas plant managers in the established market has a significant influence on the price volatility and increases silage maize prices for the farmers, especially if competition is fierce. Moreover, we find that the use of different institutional arrangements, such as building up long-term trust relationships, hardly affects the silage maize prices, nor the price volatility. In the second case study, we investigate the influence of competition for corn stover on the development of a new corn stover value chain. We find that the presence of a large-scale centralized processor stimulates the development of a corn stover value chain, compared to when only small-scale decentralized processors are present. However, we conclude that under a spot market governance structure, there is little potential for a corn stover value chain in Flanders, as farmersU+2019 participation rate and hence corn stover supply is largely fluctuating, making investments too risky for curstim harvesters and processors. In the third case study, we investigate the influence of governance structure on the development of a new corn stover value chain. We find that there is limited potential for a corn stover value chain when corn stover is directly traded between the farmers and the processor. Also, when custom harvesters act as middlemen between the farmers and processors, there is a limited potential, because it leads to a largely fluctuating corn stover supply to the processor. A corn stover value chain under a cooperative governance structure has more potential, as corn stover supply is more stable. Nevertheless, the amount of stover that is supplied to the processor remains limited. Therefore, we conclude that a corn stover value chain in Flanders is preferable directed towards the creation of high value products, which can be produced in smaller-scale processes. For large-scale processes, feedstock flexibility has to be ensured. In the final case study, we investigate how the process of new local biomass value chain development can be governed. Therefore, we compare two in-depth cases of attempts to develop a corn stover value chain. The first case considers the corn stover value chain in Ontario, Canada, which has been successfully developed. The second case considers the development of a corn stover value chain in Flanders, which remained unsuccessful up to now. Applying the integrated analytical framework described by Lamprinopoulou et al. (2014), we are able to deduce four factors that help in governing the development of new local biomass value chains: (1) determine the goal of the value chain; (2) consider the whole value chain and actively involve all stakeholders; (3) create trust and excitement amongst all stakeholders; and (4) obtain funding at the right point in time. The insights gained from these four case studies guide us in answering three general research questions: (1) To what extent is a complex adaptive system lens suitable to study local local biomass value chains for the biobased economy, taking into account their specific characteristics and those of its actors? (2) How can the use of a mixed-method approach, comprising semi-structured interviews and agent-based modelling help in examining the mechanisms that drive the organisational challenges of local biomass value chains in the context of the biobased economy? (3) What are the mechanisms behind the organisational challenges of local biomass value chains in the context of the biobased economy and how can they be addressed? First, we evaluate to what extent local biomass value chains can be considered as CAS. After analysing the four case studies, we find that local biomass value chains are indeed characterised by the four properties (aggregation, non-linearity, flows and diversity) and can be described by the three mechanisms (tagging, internal models, and building blocks) common to all CAS. Hence, we conclude CAS theory provides a suitable lens to investigate organisational challenges for local biomass value chains in the biobased economy. Next, we evaluate how the use of a mixed-method approach, comprising semi-structured interviews and agent-based modelling, can help in examining the mechanisms that drive the organisational challenges of local biomass value chains in the context of the biobased economy. We conclude that using a combination of semi-structured interviews and agentbased modelling, and especially the interplay between this qualitative and quantitative approach, allows us to yield better understanding of the different mechanisms that contribute to the organisational challenges of local biomass value chains. The interplay between the two methods presents itself in three ways. First, insights gained from semi-structured interviews provide a solid basis to identify the most important economic agents in the value chain and to formulate their behavioural rules. Second, insights gained from scenario analysis using agentbased modelling allow us to assess the relative contribution of the different contextual factors influencing local silage maize prices, price volatility and supply for biogas plant managers. Furthermore, they help us to identify the drivers and challenges associated with developing a corn stover value chain. As such, agent-based modelling helps to gain deeper understanding of the findings from the semi-structured interviews. Finally, after acquiring this more profound understanding, going back to the semi-structured interviews and conducting additional semistructured interviews, helps us to derive strategies to address the organisational challenges identified and to further contextualize our findings. Given the CAS lens and using the proposed mixed-method approach, we are able to identify three organisational challenges of local biomass value chains for new applications in the context of a biobased economy. First, we find that new entrants in well-established biomass value chains for competing applications, might have difficulties to obtain a stable and affordable supply of local biomass for their new applications in the context of the biobased economy. Secondly, also when new biomass value chains are established for new applications in the context of the biobased economy, processors risk to be confronted with an insecure input supply. Thirdly, we become aware of a lack of financial support to develop new biomass value chains for new applications in the context of the biobased economy. We are able to generate several key insights to address these challenges, which is also the main research objective of this dissertation. We formulate five recommendations for practitioners: (1) Working with intermediaries is recommended as a way to mitigate the negative effects of a late entry into an already existing local biomass market. Working with intermediaries can somehow U+201CundoU+201D this late entry and reduce transaction costs. (2) Keeping an adequate level of flexibility is recommended for all stakeholders involved in the value chain. Farmers can keep flexibility by planting multiple-purpose varieties or crops, custom harvesters can keep flexibility by investing in equipment that can be used to harvest multiple crops throughout the year, and processors can keep flexibility by designing the processing plant in a way that it can process multiple feedstock types. Finally, also researchers and value chain developers should be flexible and willing to adjust their initial plans when developing new value chains. For example, when feedstock risks are considered too high, other valorisation trajectories could be considered. (3) Making a well-considered choice about governance structure, reflecting the aspirations of the different economic agents involved in the value chain, increases the chance that these agents will actually participate and therefore the potential of the new value chain developed. (4) In developing new value chains, one needs to make sure all stakeholders are involved. Forgetting one stakeholder can hamper the development of the whole value chain. While lots of research has been conducted on farmersU+2019 willingness to participate in biobased economy value chains, our research demonstrates that the other stakeholders also play a role. For example, we find that if custom harvesters are not willing to invest in the necessary harvesting equipment, the stover cannot be harvested and value chain development is hampered. (5) Finally, when developing new local biomass value chains for new applications in the context of the biobased economy, we recommend practitioners to pay special attention to create trust and excitement for the new value chain amongst all stakeholders involved. This can be realized by organizing focus groups, harvest demonstrations, and/or technologydemonstrations. Furthermore, research results, including risks, should be honestly and openly communicated and discussed. Also, it is advisable to involve policy makers from the start of the value chain development. Finally, we formulate two recommendations for policy makers: (1) If the biobased economy is to become successful, not only technical or techno-economic research projects should be supported, but funds may also be necessary for projects that take a value chain approach. In such projects, knowledge of both researchers and practitioners should be brought together. This can be realized by the establishment of a kind of advisory committee, involving producers, custom harvesters, representatives from industry, representatives from civil society and policy makers, guided by a proficient boundary spanning actor. (2) Because an uncertain subsidy environment is detrimental to attract investments for the biobased economy, we advise policy makers to move away from operational subsidies, which can often not be guaranteed over the long term, and go for investment and value chain development subsidies instead. Such subsidies can for example be provided in the form of tax allowances for investments in new biobased economy projects, tax reductions on the interests gained from investments in biobased economu projects, governmental investment credits with low interest rates, or investment subsidies." "SUstainable federatioN of Research Infrastructures for Scaling-up Experimentation in 6G" "Sofie Pollin" "Waves: Core Research and Engineering (WaveCore)" "6G is expected to emerge as key enabler for the intelligent digital society of 2030 and beyond, providing superior performance via groundbreaking access technologies, such as joint communication and sensing, cell-free, Radio Intelligent Surfaces, and ubiquitous wireless intelligence . Most importantly, 6G is expected to trigger a total rethink of network architecture design, which builds on the key idea of new stakeholders entering into the value chain of future networks. The SUNRISE-6G approach is inspired by the “network of networks” concept of 6G Networks, aiming to integrate all private and public infrastructures under a massively scalable internet-like architecture. SUNRISE-6G similarly aspires to create a federation of 6G test infrastructures in a pan-european facility that will support converged Testing as a Service (TaaS) workflows and tools, a unified catalogue of 6G enablers publicly accessible by experimenters, and cross-domain vertical application onboarding. Experimentation and vertical application onboarding are offered via a Tenant Web Portal, that acts as a single-entry point to the facility, serving end users (e.g. experimenters) and tenants (e.g. vertical developers, infrastructure owners, 6G component manufactures). The project execution is based on 4 pillars, delivering: (a) the Implementation of new 6G enablers, complementary to existing ones being developed in SNS Phase 1 projects, (b) A truly scalable and 3GPP compliant Federation solution that provides access to heterogeneous resources and devices from all Europe, (c) A Federated AI plane aligned with AIaaS and MLOPS paradigms, which promotes a collaborative approach to AI research which benefits immensely from scaling-up datasets and models and (d) a commonly adopted Experimentation Plane, which offers common workflows to experimenters." "LipoMacs: functional Lipidomics to unlock Macrophage-mediated therapy" "Charlotte Scott" "Department of Biomedical molecular biology, Hasselt University, KU Leuven, Vrije Universiteit Brussel" "Macrophages are increasingly recognized as key regulators of common diseases such as neurodegeneration, cancer and liver disease. Central to macrophage functionality is their ability to attain different activation states, ranging from inflammation-inducing to inflammation-resolving and healing states. The precise phenotype and functions adopted are highly context dependent and have been shown to be driven by the local microenvironment in which the macrophages reside. Emerging evidence indicates that many pathological conditions are associated with alterations in macrophage phenotypes/functions due to a shift in their activation state, however whether this is a result of true macrophage plasticity or the recruitment of a phenotypically distinct macrophage population is also disease-specific. Crucially, recent studies have demonstrated a role for lipids and altered lipid metabolism in regulating the phenotypes and functions of disease-associated macrophages. In this project, we bring together unique complementary expertise from both academia and industry to design strategies for the functional reprogramming of macrophages by interfering with lipid metabolism. To this end, and instructed by the real-world needs of the industrial partners, we will set up a comprehensive technology pipeline involving state-of-the-art lipidomics approaches to map the heterogeneous landscape of macrophage phenotypes in terms of lipid metabolism in healthy and diseased tissue. Using gold-standard preclinical models, we will identify and validate key enzymes in lipid metabolism as potential targets and will provide proof of concept of pharmacological and/or nutraceutical approaches to regulate macrophage functions. This pipeline can be used for unbiased discovery but also offers multiple entry points to validate predefined targets in a hypothesis-driven manner." "LipoMacs: functional Lipidomics to unlock Macrophage-mediated therapy" "Immunology & Infection" "Macrophages are increasingly recognized as key regulators of common diseases such as neurodegeneration, cancer and liver disease. Central to macrophage functionality is their ability to attain different activation states, ranging from inflammation-inducing to inflammation-resolving and healing states. The precise phenotype and functions adopted are highly context dependent and have been shown to be driven by the local microenvironment in which the macrophages reside. Emerging evidence indicates that many pathological conditions are associated with alterations in macrophage phenotypes/functions due to a shift in their activation state, however whether this is a result of true macrophage plasticity or the recruitment of a phenotypically distinct macrophage population is also disease-specific. Crucially, recent studies have demonstrated a role for lipids and altered lipid metabolism in regulating the phenotypes and functions of disease-associated macrophages. In this project, we bring together unique complementary expertise from both academia and industry to design strategies for the functional reprogramming of macrophages by interfering with lipid metabolism. To this end, and instructed by the real-world needs of the industrial partners, we will set up a comprehensive technology pipeline involving state-of-the-art lipidomics approaches to map the heterogeneous landscape of macrophage phenotypes in terms of lipid metabolism in healthy and diseased tissue. Using gold-standard preclinical models, we will identify and validate key enzymes in lipid metabolism as potential targets and will provide proof of concept of pharmacological and/or nutraceutical approaches to regulate macrophage functions. This pipeline can be used for unbiased discovery but also offers multiple entry points to validate predefined targets in a hypothesis-driven manner." "LipoMacs: functional Lipidomics to unlock Macrophage-mediated therapy" "Johan Swinnen" "Laboratory of Lipid Metabolism and Cancer, Laboratory of Tumor Inflammation and Angiogenesis (VIB-KU Leuven), VIB-Vlaams Instituut voor Biotechnologie, Universiteit Hasselt, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Universiteit Gent" "Macrophages are increasingly recognized as key regulators of common diseases such as neurodegeneration, cancer and liver disease. Central tomacrophage functionality is their ability to attain different activation states, ranging from inflammation-inducing to inflammation-resolvingand healing states. The precise phenotype and functions adopted are highly context dependent and have been shown to be driven by the localmicroenvironment in which the macrophages reside. Emerging evidence indicates that many pathological conditions are associated withalterations in macrophage phenotypes/functions due to a shift in their activation state, however whether this is a result of true macrophageplasticity or the recruitment of a phenotypically distinct macrophage population is also disease-specific. Crucially, recent studies havedemonstrated a role for lipids and altered lipid metabolism in regulating the phenotypes and functions of disease-associated macrophages. Inthis project, we bring together unique complementary expertise from both academia and industry to design strategies for the functionalreprogramming of macrophages by interfering with lipid metabolism. To this end, and instructed by the real-world needs of the industrialpartners, we will set up a comprehensive technology pipeline involving state-of-the-art lipidomics approaches to map the heterogeneouslandscape of macrophage phenotypes in terms of lipid metabolism in healthy and diseased tissue. Using gold-standard preclinical models, wewill identify and validate key enzymes in lipid metabolism as potential targets and will provide proof of concept of pharmacological and/ornutraceutical approaches to regulate macrophage functions. This pipeline can be used for unbiased discovery but also offers multipleentry points to validate predefined targets in a hypothesis-driven manner." "SBO Project : LipoMacs: functional Lipidomics to unlock Macrophage-mediated therapy" "Jo Van Ginderachter" "Hasselt University, KU Leuven, Ghent University, Research Foundation - Flanders, Cellular and Molecular Immunology, Department of Bio-engineering Sciences" "Macrophages are increasingly recognized as key regulators of common diseases such as neurodegeneration, cancer and liver disease. Central to macrophage functionality is their ability to attain different activation states, ranging from inflammation-inducing to inflammation-resolving and healing states. The precise phenotype and functions adopted are highly context dependent and have been shown to be driven by the local microenvironment in which the macrophages reside. Emerging evidence indicates that many pathological conditions are associated with alterations in macrophage phenotypes/functions due to a shift in their activation state, however whether this is a result of true macrophage plasticity or the recruitment of a phenotypically distinct macrophage population is also disease-specific. Crucially, recent studies have demonstrated a role for lipids and altered lipid metabolism in regulating the phenotypes and functions of disease-associated macrophages. In this project, we bring together unique complementary expertise from both academia and industry to design strategies for the functional reprogramming of macrophages by interfering with lipid metabolism. To this end, and instructed by the real-world needs of the industrial partners, we will set up a comprehensive technology pipeline involving state-of-the-art lipidomics approaches to map the heterogeneous landscape of macrophage phenotypes in terms of lipid metabolism in healthy and diseased tissue. Using gold-standard preclinical models, we will identify and validate key enzymes in lipid metabolism as potential targets and will provide proof of concept of pharmacological and/or nutraceutical approaches to regulate macrophage functions. This pipeline can be used for unbiased discovery but also offers multiple entry points to validate predefined targets in a hypothesis-driven manner.." "Adapting to climate-resilient farming systems in Western Kenya: the sustainable path by embedding agroecology in research, education and outreach(ADCLIM)" "Jan Diels" "Soil and Water Management, Bioeconomics, Crop Biotechnics, Forest, Nature and Landscape" "ADCLIM envisages the co-creation of agroecology-based strategies for climate change adaptation, using the UoE’s Outreach Centre as the entry point. Exploratory studies using modelling and data from long-term field experiments will identify promising technology options which will be refined, tested and validated in on-farm field trials. The long-term experiments were designed between 17 and 20 years ago, to explore the sustainability of several Integrated Soil Fertility Management (ISFM) options including the combination of organic and inorganic inputs, improved germplasm and local adaptation, all geared towards improving efficiency of inputs, risk spreading and preserving biodiversity. These options mirror several elements of agroecology.The co-created knowledge will be the cornerstone for capacity building with relevant stakeholders within the community, especially targeting youth in agriculture. This involves short courses for farmers, scientists of various disciplines, and agricultural extension officers. They will be organised and implemented by the UoE Outreach Centre to ensure a continuous engagement of the UoE in the communities. Teaching & research at the UoE will be strengthened by (i) an enriched hands-on approach and by (ii) incorporating topics of agroecology and climate change in the curricula.We envisage that this will not only attract students to the agriculture-based BSc but will also enhance the relevance of MSc and PhD Programmes. As an integrative exercise, a two-week field course will be embedded in selected MSc programs. In this course students have to resort to a multidisciplinary approach allowing them to tackle the interconnected societal challenges imposed by climate change. We are confident that the multidisciplinary approach,coupled with hands-on training will exert a direct impact on the sector since UoE graduates are commonly absorbed in extension services, agricultural research institutions, academia, outreach programmes and policy"