Meriem Fournier, President of the INRAE Grand Est Nancy Center

This new letter shows that research in Lorraine is very active, despite the pandemic which is wearing us out.

For our specialized and finalized research establishment like INRAE, the National Research Institute for Agriculture, Food and the Environment, the Lorraine site, with its “human size” and its immense talents is an exceptional place to experiment. new ways of carrying out research, for a strong social and economic impact that is not disconnected from academic excellence and training.

I thus have a mandate from our CEO to set up a new site agreement in 2021 with the University of Lorraine and AgroParisTech around the themes of “risks and adaptations of ecosystems and bioeconomic systems” and “Open innovation and participatory sciences”.

Two points of view which encourage us to think beyond our historical identity (well known around the forest, but INRAE ​​in Lorraine is not only that) and which also recognize how far we have come. We are thus proud to have all together, among research partners, supported the emergence of the * Tous Chercheurs * platform which offers a model and tools for the development of participatory sciences, a platform whose organizational and economic model must be consolidated. , and which is now connected to the world of innovation with the ** LF2L platform of the ERPI ** and the start-up Sol & Co from the LSE and the LIEC.

But also proud of the recognition of all kinds, especially the legion of honor of Francis Martin, director of LABEX ARBRE, “highly cited researcher” who promotes his teams and the site, formidable popularizer of the biology of fungi that live under trees.

Happy New Year to all of us, let us remain more courageous, generous and enthusiastic than ever.

Meriem Fournier, President of the INRAE Grand Est Nancy Center (© JF Hamard)