This project aims at formalizing and thus reinforcing international academic and industrial partnerships for the creation of a Coordinated European-Brazilian project in the field of advanced biofuels to be submitted to the H2020 LCE: 22-2016 call “International Cooperation with Brazil on advanced lignocellulosic biofuels”. It targets especially the A topic of this call: “Gasification of bagasse to syngas and advanced liquid fuel production, including biofuels for aviation”, with a deadline on 08/09/2016. It will highlight the collaboration between top-level scientific teams from both continents. In this sense, our project proposes to boost chemical and biorefinery industries with novel, innovative, groundbreaking and nanotechnology-based inorganic and inorganic-organic nanostructured materials. These materials used as advanced catalysts will enable selective and efficient synthesis of biofuels and valuable compounds from products obtained from biomass gasification. This challenge will be specifically addressed by studying, at the laboratory and the industrial pilot scales, catalysts and processes and bring the existing knowledge from TRL 3-4 to corresponding TRL 4-5. It will address appropriate synergies between new and existing technologies, regional approaches and other socio-economic and environmental aspects. A life-cycle analysis will be performed. It will involve at least 14 European and Brazilian partners (academic and industrials) in a highly collaborative network.

Sponges (phylum Porifera) are widely distributed across the oceans and form highly-structured habitats (sponge grounds, gardens and reefs) that play key functional roles and deliver numerous ecosystems goods and services. They serve as habitat and nursery to numerous other species including commercially exploited fish, and bath sponges have been harvested for centuries for commercialization of their spongin skeleton, thus supporting local communities’ livelihoods. They are also recognised as prolific sources of compounds with pharmacological potential, thereby providing additional societal and economic benefits to humankind. However, sponges and their habitats are increasingly threatened by human activities (e.g. fisheries, climate change, deep-sea mining, general pollution) in areas within and beyond national jurisdictions (EEZs, ABNJs). Despite significant advances in recent years, knowledge of their biodiversity, distribution, biology and ecology is still sparse and largely fragmentary. This gap in knowledge integration hampers their inclusion in conservation frameworks, compromising the establishment of ecologically representative, interconnected and resilient networks of protected areas, and consequently the achievement of strategic biodiversity targets and commitments. SponBIODIV will use an interdisciplinary approach to build a common and enhanced knowledge base on the biodiversity, biogeography and connectivity patterns of sponges and sponge habitats across the Atlantic Ocean and Mediterranean Sea. The project is anchored on the establishment of a trans-European and pan-Atlantic network of research organizations that will engage with key stakeholders to co-produce, analyse, synthesise and co-deliver data, knowledge and tools in support of evidence-based policies for management and conservation of marine biodiversity, from coastal areas to open ocean and deep-sea ecosystems. Legacy samples and data available at partner institutions will be complemented with new ones collected through a multi-national survey on several case study areas, selected along both environmental and spatial protection gradients, and further integrated with data available in public repositories. Using the latest biophysical and species distribution modelling techniques and genomic sequencing technologies, hotspots of sponge biodiversity, from genes to ecosystems, will be identified and the most significant ecological and evolutionary drivers of their distribution uncovered. Generated knowledge and tools will allow the design of conservation and monitoring strategies, and support the implementation of agreements and policies that will ensure a better management and protection of marine biodiversity, from national to European scales and beyond, in line with the global agenda for sustainable development and conservation of biodiversity.

Once a promising material for the future, plastic has exponentially become an environmental threat with ubiquitous distribution. The UN and the G7 have recognised marine litter and microplastic pollution to have negative effects on aquatic ecosystems and, potentially, on human health. Despite the scientific progress in this field so far, researchers are only starting to unveil the tip of the iceberg. After being released in the marine environment, plastics undergo weathering and biofouling processes shaped by environmental conditions that lead to the fragmentation of larger items into microplastics (MPs). These increase the difficulty of accurately estimating abundances and polymer types in aquatic ecosystems. MicroplastiX aims to overcome knowledge gaps concerning MP weathering, degradation and fragmentation processes. MicroplastiX distinctively develops a holistic approach combining field data with laboratory experiments; deploys a comprehensive quality assurance scheme; evaluates MP interaction with biota (including release of plastic chemicals and sorbed pollutants); creates an inventory of colonization taxa; assesses horizontal and vertical transport, gradients and temporal distribution, all which will contribute to advanced multiscale models to predict fate and pathways. An experienced research team from several countries and diverse backgrounds will study a wide geographical area of ecologic and economic relevance, including Brazil, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Spain and Sweden (including two regions of upwelling, which is a novelty). Efforts for a synergistic collaboration ensure successful achievement of scientific objectives. MicroplastiX will thus contribute to the UN Sustainable Development Goals towards healthy and sustainable marine ecosystems and its results will potentially serve as benchmark guidelines for future work on MPs dynamics in the Atlantic Ocean and Mediterranean Sea, while complying with European and international policies.