Shandong University or SDU on Sept 30 signed a landmark accord via a video conference on extending scientific research and academic cooperation with the French National Research Institute for Agriculture, Food and the Environment, also known as INRAE.

SDU and INRAE sign an agreement via video on Sept 30. [Photo/view.sdu.edu.cn]

As a result, the INRAE unit – Optimisation des procédés en agro-alimentaire, agriculture et environnement, or OPAALE – and SDU's School of Environmental Science and Engineering will jointly develop a scientific research cooperation platform, as well as undertake graduate exchanges and joint training programs.

Fan Liming, president of SDU, said the two had previously achieved substantive results in scientific research cooperation in ecological and environmental protection.

Fan Liming, president of SDU, gives a speech at the ceremony on Sept 30. [Photo/view.sdu.edu.cn]

She expressed her hope that they would take the agreement as an opportunity to continue to deepen their joint training of graduate student. Fan added she wanted to see more collaborative innovation in scientific research and industrial technology transformation, with the two jointly exploring ways and methods to solve important global issues.

Hélène Lucas – president of the Bretagne-Normandie Centre at INRAE – gave a briefing about the body – and said that the accord demonstrated the good will of both sides in strengthening scientific cooperation.

She said both INRAE OPAALE and the School of Environmental Science and Engineering of SDU would further deepen their work together in the fields of ecological and environmental protection technology and in the joint training of doctoral students.

Hélène Lucas, president of the Bretagne-Normandie Centre of INRAE, comments at the signing ceremony on Sept 30. [Photo/view.sdu.edu.cn]

She also congratulated SDU on its upcoming 120th anniversary, due to take place on Oct 15.

INRAE is part of the French Ministry of Higher Education, Research and Innovation, as well as the Ministry of Agriculture and Food. It is a leading international research institute in agriculture, ecology and the environment.

OPAALE is a research unit of the Bretagne-Normandie Centre of INRAE, which focuses on interdisciplinary research in chemistry, physics and in process engineering.

The School of Environmental Science and Engineering at SDU and INRAE OPAALE have carried out a number of scientific research projects previously. They jointly applied for the European Union's horizon project, as a leading academic partnership unit in China and Europe.