LifeWatch ERIC Explores Synergies with the Mediterranean SOLE Energy Efficiency Project 

SOLE Project

Last week, the LifeWatch ERIC ICT-Core & FEDERTech office, located in the Cartuja Science and Technology Park in Seville, hosted partners from seven Mediterranean countries composing the backbone of the SOLE Project. It focuses on energy efficiency in public buildings, framed within the ENI CBC MED programme, and involves regional corporations, municipalities, public agencies and research centres from Italy, Egypt, Greece, Tunisia, Jordan, Spain and Lebanon. The ICT-Core & FEDERTech technological and project management team held an extensive working meeting with the 17 SOLE delegates, exploring how to model future collaborations to better face the challenges of climate change.

SOLE, “High Energy Efficiency for the public stock buildings in Mediterranean”, aims to develop joint strategies that support profitable and innovative energy rehabilitation of public buildings. The energy situation in the building sector in Mediterranean countries is critical due to the age of most buildings. A lack of renovations over time has led to high energy use in both summer and winter, increasing annual energy consumption and CO2 emissions. On a more positive note, the Mediterranean region is characterised by similar construction methods, and what’s more, thanks to its geographical position, there is a strong potential in the use of renewable energy sources.

In SOLE, the cross-border exchange of know-how will inform the Pilot Actions in selected public buildings. As explained by the coordinator of the SOLE Project, Valentina Bucchi from ANCI Toscana, and meeting coordinator Joaquín Villar from the Andalusian Energy Agency, the SOLE pilot projects are: a public nursery in Italy; the laboratories of the School of Architecture in Athens (Greece); the headquarters of the Andalusian Energy Agency in Seville; the Faculty of Engineering of Alexandria University (Egypt); a public school in Jordan; the headquarters of the municipality of Mnihla in Tunisia, and a public sports complex in Lebanon.

LifeWatch ERIC CTO, Juan Miguel González-Aranda, and LifeWatch ERIC Artificial Intelligence researcher, Rohaifa Khaldi, explained cooperation initiatives in e-biodiversity that LifeWatch ERIC is already promoting in the Mediterranean, such as support for the Arab States Research and Education Network (ASREN) in the preservation of Arab ecosystems. They also spoke about potential synergies, such as in relation to concentrated solar power generation, a technology developed by EU-Solaris ERIC.

SOLE members: Associazione Nazionale Comuni Italiani Toscana – ANCI Toscana (Italy), Agenzia Regionale Recupero Risorse (Italy), National Technical University of Athens (Greece), Federation of Egyptian Chambers of Commerce  – Alexandria Chamber (Egypt), Confederation of Egyptian European Business Associations (Egypt), Royal Scientific Society/National Energy Research Centre (Jordan), Municipality of Jounieh (Lebanon), Andalusian Energy Agency (Spain), Fédération Nationale des Villes Tunisiennes (Tunisia) and Municipalité de Mnihla (Tunisia).

Strengthening Cooperation at the AERAP Africa-Europe Science & Innovation Forum

AERAP 2023

This week, LifeWatch ERIC participated in the AERAP Africa-Europe Science and Innovation Forum, an event to reinforce the contribution of research and science through digital technologies and advance collaboration between European and African institutions through strategic innovation programmes. The forum was held in the South African Embassy in Brussels, and focused on the EU Partnership Strategy with Africa, the African Union-European Union Innovation Agenda, the EU Biodiversity Strategy for 2030, compliance with the SDGs, and the Strategy on Research Infrastructures.

LifeWatch ERIC Chief Technology Officer, Juan Miguel González-Aranda, presented in the session ‘Microbial sciences for a sustainable future’, which also featured the participation of Stefano Bertuzzi, CEO of the American Society for Microbiology; Eugene Lottering, of the National Research Foundation in South Africa, and Zeinab Osman, director general of the National Centre for Research in Sudan.

He demonstrated how LifeWatch ERIC promotes synergies in science, technology and innovation between entities and researchers from Africa and Europe, through partnership agreements which foster the green transition and access to energy. Within the AERAP platform, he co-chairs the Green Deal subgroup together with Georgina Ryan, Deputy Director for Green Economy of the Government of South Africa. Furthermore, he explained how LifeWatch ERIC cooperates with the Arab Science Research and Education Network (ASREN) and is helping the coordination of the Indigenous Knowledge Research Infrastructure (IKRI) to support the implementation of the UN Food System Summit. He also made a special mention of African researchers working in the LifeWatch ERIC Artificial Intelligence team, Rohaifa Khaldi and Yassir Benhammou, who just recently were awarded a prize at the AI4Science Workshop by a jury that included representatives from DeepMind and Google.

LifeWatch ERIC Agroecology Coordinator, José Manuel Ávila Castuera, spoke in the session ‘Science for Climate Resilient food systems in Africa’, which included speakers Petronella Chaminuka, Head of the Economic Analysis Unit, Agricultural Research Council of South Africa; and Intisar Soghayroun, who was Minister of Higher Education and Scientific Research in Sudan.

He explained the relevance of LifeWatch ERIC as a distributed e-Infrastructure to support agricultural research and innovation in climate-resilient food systems and foster cooperation between Africa and the EU, as a facility that provides resources and services for biodiversity and ecosystems research communities in the long-term. Likewise, he detailed the involvement of LifeWatch ERIC in the structuring of the EU partnership on agroecology, through projects such as AE4EU and ALL-READY, among others. He explained the ten elements of agroecology to change the production paradigm and achieve new models for food provisioning in a globalised context. Adoption of agroecology principles can drive towards biodiversified agroecosystems, which are more sustainable from an environmental, economic and social perspective. This whole path of innovation could facilitate the implementation of an Africa-EU Research and Innovation Partnership on Food and Nutrition Security and Sustainable Agriculture.

Voices of Women at LifeWatch ERIC for International Women’s Day

Voices of Women

In preparation for this year’s International Women’s Day, LifeWatch ERIC International Gender Officer, Africa Zanella, had a clear request: amplify women’s voices. As explored in the “Gender, Equity and Research” campaign for last year’s International Day of Women and Girls in Science, statistically, we know that while more women than ever are getting involved in STEM, there are significant obstacles still to overcome for women in research. 

In light of International Women’s Day 2023, we have therefore created a podcast miniseries specifically dedicated to learning more about authentic experiences of women working in LifeWatch ERIC fields of interest. We asked scientists from our eight member states to talk candidly about their work and experience. The guests were invited to speak in pairs, which produced spontaneous and insightful conversations on these topics, facilitated by LifeWatch ERIC podcast host, Julian Kenny. Being of all ages and hailing from a diversity of backgrounds, the end result produced is an enriching range of experiences and contemporary points of view of women working in research today. Listening to their voices, our eyes are opened to their contribution to society, to science, and the potential offered by the European Union’s Gender Equality Strategy, which LifeWatch ERIC actively supports and incorporates into its everyday work life.

The guests featured in “Voices of Women” are:

The episodes will be released over the course of the week beginning 6 March and will be consolidated with an overview and considerations from LifeWatch ERIC International Gender Officer, Africa Zanella, interviewed by Chief Communication Officer, Sara Montinaro, to be released on 8 March (International Women’s Day). This podcast will examine the progress of the infrastructure as a whole in terms of achieving gender sustainability and equity, a year on from the appointment of LifeWatch ERIC’s International Gender Officer, and explore future plans to continue the commendable and tangible work that she has already set in motion.

The podcasts are available here below. They can also be found on Spotify, Google, Apple, and Amazon.