It is well established that world’s climate change influences the emergence of diseases particularly vector-borne diseases (VBDs). This project deals with Bluetongue (BT) which has been one of the most feared VBDs affecting the Mediterranean region. BT virus (BTV) is characterized by having multiple serotypes with scarce to null cross-reactivity between them causing obvious consequences in terms of prophylactic countermeasures. The majority of the recent BTV epidemics occurring in the Mediterranean region have been shown to be strictly related. Considering the high costs of recent European BTV incursions which ranged from 85 million to 1.4 billion/year, a coordinated surveillance program and common research projects within Mediterranean countries are of fundamental importance. The BlueMed consortium, which encloses important Institutions from Italy, France, Tunisia and Egypt, through a multidisciplinary approach, intends to develop an integrated operating model to prevent, tackle and control BTV epidemics in the Mediterranean region. The capacity to define, detect and respond to the emergence of new BTV strains or re-emergence of old strains will be achieved through an integrative surveillance program where entomological, virological and serological data will be integrated with relevant climatic and environmental variables. New applications with a web interface and technologies will be created and used to develop models and integrate this multiple source surveillance data. We will provide an up-to date molecular epidemiological map of BTV strains circulating in the Mediterranean region and we will verify the capability of portable next generation sequencing platforms to identify BTV, directly in the field. This project will also characterize antigenically the isolated strains by antigenic cartography providing crucial information upon the best strain to be used for vaccine production

While outbreaks of highly pathogenic avian influenza viruses (HPAIV) in Europe used to be rare and geographically contained, the situation has dramatically changed in the last few years with thousands of outbreaks reported in domestic poultry and wild birds. Despite being an intensive field of research, many unknowns remain as we are still struggling to predict HPAIV emergence, avoid viral spread and limit the socio-economic impact entailed predominantly by control measures. Vaccination of domestic poultry against avian influenza, is now being given full consideration, as it is becoming clear that traditional prevention and control approaches alone will not curb the accelerating pace of occurrence of devastating HPAIV epidemics. On 1 October 2023, France became the first EU country to implement a nation-wide vaccination campaign in ducks. However, vaccinating domestic poultry does not come without important challenges. VIVACE therefore aims at putting together a doctoral network to contribute to fully integrate poultry vaccination approaches into efficient management strategies for HPAIV. We will do so by unravelling the impact current and upcoming EU vaccination policies will have on avian influenza virus evolution, surveillance and control strategies and societal burden of HPAI. This will be done through a combination of disciplines from life sciences, epidemiology, computer sciences and social and behavioural sciences. The training program proposed here includes scientific and transferrable skill sessions, builds on the integrated added values of complementing expertise (virology, immunology, modelling, spatial and molecular epidemiology, social psychology, economics and policy), and full access to state-of-the-art technologies in excellent environments. The consortium gathers 15 universities or research institutes and 5 private companies, securing both inter-sectoriality and wide geographic distribution with tailored epidemiological and vaccination contexts.

One of the grand challenges to sustain the modern society is to develop low-energy solutions for low-cost water production, preferably based on renewable source of energy. The IDEA project aims to address the aforementioned challenge and will focus on the process intensification of the desalination process by further developing and introducing in the desalination process highly innovative membranes augmented by the innovative process design to develop (a) aNanofiltration membrane (NF) unit replacing the traditional reverse osmosis (RO) units and (b) a membrane distillation/membrane crystallization (MD/MCr) unit. One lab-scale proof of concept unit will be constructed and optimized to demonstrate the merit of the aforementioned process intensification. Several NF and MD/MCr and NF membranes will be further developed to attain exceptional high water flux, high selectivities and low fouling tendency will be used utilizing recently developed nanotechnology methodology. All the membranes will be characterized and evaluated by innovative combinations of in-situ and ex-situ techniques. The thorough evaluation and nanostructure optimization will be combined also with the the development and validation of nano fluidic models for water mobility in nano confined environment in order to provide deep insight, predict and optimize the performance of the IDEA membranes. Inand biomimetic approach. One of the NF and MD membranes under evaluation will be up-scaled and utilized in the integrated NF/MD/MCr system. The specific objective of the IDEA project is the effective utilization of novel nanostructure membranes combined with innovative process design to reduce the energy consumption below 1 kWh/m3, to increase the overall water recovery factor, to reduce/eliminate liquid discharge and to produce valuable crystalline products (e.g. NaCl, MgSO4·7H2O). The use of renewable energy resources (i.e. solar) is also recognized as a tool to further minimize both the energy consumption and the greenhouse gas emissions in the membrane-based desalination system to be demonstrated. One of the main objectives of IDEA is to reduce the carbon footprint and increase the economic and social well-being at regional level (the Mediterranean) while, developing methodologies to manage risks associated with water supply and sanitation and/or cross-boundary water management issues. Thus, IDEA aims to develop, install in Northern Africa and demonstrate the next-generation renewable powered integrated membrane systems lab scale, demonstrating and disseminating the novel technologies to reduce the high energy demands of the established Reverse Osmosis (RO) technology. The main target is to reduce the current cost of 2 euro per cubic meter for solar powered desalination by 40% in order to meet the drinking and irrigation water demands in Northern Africa and Middle East, and strengthen competitiveness of the European water sector.