Bioceb Induction week August 22nd – 26th 2022

Bioceb welcomed its third intake in Reims, in the presence of staff from URCA and AgroParisTech. Aalto’s, ULiège’s and TalTech’s representatives, as well as a few students who could not be present in-person, took part to the event online, so that the whole consortium and the 24 students could be brought together.

The first day was dedicated to the presentation of the Bioceb programme and of the partner universities. Then the students introduced themselves by showing objects and pictures which define them and their country of origin. The backgrounds of the students (chemical engineering, biology and biotechnology, food, environmental and material sciences) and the diversity of their geographical origin (no less than 20 nationalities) confirmed the relevancy of a multidisciplinary and intercultural programme in this field.

The 2022 Induction week included time of exchange between students: speed meetings, buddy parties, theatre and intercultural workshops, outdoor lunch, etc.

The students also attended two lectures related to Bioeconomy: “The EU Bioeconomy Strategy: policy framework and practical implementation” by Linda Salamé, Policy Officer at the European Commission, and “Valorisation of a variety of biomass streams to high-value functional ingredients” by Sofie Lodens, Project acquisition coordinator at Bio Base Europe Pilot Plant (Ghent, Belgium).

In a session dedicated to the Green Line Project (GLP), the students discovered the six topics proposed this year to the cohort in relation with the different tracks:
–  Lignin-first biorefinery: design of a flexible process (track 1)
–  Biobased building blocks from microalgae (track 1)
–  Starch 3D – printing new materials (track 2)
–  Chemical and mechanochemical valorisation of cellulose in environment of ionic liquids (track 3)
–  Biotechnological production of aroma compounds for food and cosmetics (track 4)
–  Biobased polyesters: from synthesis to application (track 5)
They had the opportunity to exchange online with the 2nd cohort about the challenges raised by GLP.

On the last day, a trip to the Biorefinery site of Pomacle (15 km far from Reims) was on the agenda. All the participants could visit the European Center of Biotechnology and Bioeconomy (CEBB) and discovered the activities of the AgroParisTech Research and Development Unit “URD AgroBiotechnologies Industrielles”.

Cultural activities were not lacking during the week, with the famous online “Champagne quizz”, but also the discovery of Reims by night and the visit of the Champagne vineyards and cellars in Epernay and Mutigny.

Many thanks to the URCA team for organizing this warm and stimulating event and welcome to Bioceb’s third intake!