On the 3rd and 4th December 2020 ... we celebrated 2 incredible years of MicrobiomeSupport!
The 2nd Annual MicrobiomeSupport Meeting was not able to be held in person this year in light of COVID-19, but this did not stop the consortium from gathering to commemorate all MicrobiomeSupport achievements.
Before diving into what happened in 2020, let's take a step back and look at the bigger picture...
What is MicrobiomeSupport?
MicrobiomeSupport is an EU-funded Coordination & Support Action project that aims to make changes in our current food systems and raise awareness of the potential that microbiomes have in our health, food and the circular economy. Following the FOOD2030 initiative of the EU, MicrobiomeSupport aims to make changes to our food systems, in our society and economy by adopting a systems thinking approach.
The importance that microbes and microbiomes have in our food systems (for instance, in animal and soil health, crop productivity and handling practices) has only recently been discovered, yet their full potentials haven't been fully taken into account, with research currently being fragmented.
This is why MicrobiomeSupport is acting towards researching this innovative potential: by improving the regulation, standards and practices in microbiome research & aligning the research and innovation agendas, harmonizing microbiome definitions, as well as engaging critical stakeholders and raising awareness on the topic.
Microbiome research has an incredible potential!
What are the expected outcomes of the project?
- Provide support to coordinate national and EU funding in microbiome research
- Create a collaborative international network
- Agreement on microbiome definition and standards worldwide
- Support an improved international framework of bioeconomy research
- Knowledge exchange across the scientific and political community
- Promote the investigation of the potential impact on the bioeconomy market
How is MicrobiomeSupport making a difference?
By engaging with critical stakeholders, the project aims to reach a variety of groups to maximise impact:
- Funding-, policy-, decision-makers and opinion leaders
- Industry and Small- and Medium-Sized Enterprises (SMEs), including farmers
- General public
- Scientific community
With the intended end date being in October 2022, the project is already halfway through its course, and has already achieved some incredible outputs. Check out below our 3 top tweets of 2020!
A BIG thank you to everyone who has engaged with us over the last year. Now, back to reporting on the Annual Meeting 2020.
What happened during the Annual Meeting this past December?
The meeting was organized online and split into 2 days:
Conversation on the first day was very positive and fruitful, with all the partners reflecting on the progress achieved within the Work Packages, the next expected steps and outlook on the next 2021 period. The topic of COVID-19 was not neglected, with discussions around the planning of future activities, events and in-person/virtual workshops being brought up.
The second day had a more engaging approach, with the consortium partners being invited to retrospect and give their perspective on the direction that the project is going towards. After a short reflection on the communication and dissemination activities so far, the interactive stakeholder engagement session took place, where the discussion focused on the sustainability of the communication &dissemination activities. The talk proceeded to introduce the Sustainable Stakeholder Engagement Plan and an online Community of Practice (yep, there are some exciting things in development and we count on you to support us when we are ready to share more!). The event was finalized by a brainstorming session around events and activities for engagement in 2021, and a quick wrap-up and a warm see-you-later.
Are you interested in the communication and dissemination of MicrobiomeSupport? Check the brainstorming below!
How can I learn more about the project’s coming steps for the year 2021?
To keep up-to-date with all the latest news & events, and all the incredible upcoming plans MicrobiomeSupport has lined up, you can sign up to our newsletter, keep checking the news section of our website, and follow us on Twitter to not miss a thing!
We're excited to see what 2021 will bring for MicrobiomeSupport.
Until next time!
