[Inauguration] Avignon University inaugurates the GeEAUde partnership chair on 31 May 2024

The founding members of GeEAUde (from left to right): Georges Linarès, President of Avignon University, Konstantinos Chalikakis, Chair holder, André Chanzy, INRAE Research Director and Director of UMR EMMAH, and André Fourno, IFPEN R&D engineer.

On 31 May 2024, Avignon University, in partnership with the Institut national de recherche pour l'agriculture, l'alimentation et l'environnement (INRAE) and IFP Énergies nouvelles (IFPEN), launched the GeEAUde partnership chair: "Dynamics of groundwater resources and interactions with associated ecosystems".

The overall aim of GeEAUde is to develop, test and promote holistic tools and approaches for characterising and modelling groundwater resources, and to propose sustainable management strategies adapted to the Mediterranean context in the context of global change. The research work will focus in particular on groundwater recharge and availability, and will benefit from the expertise of numerous socio-economic, private and public, national and international partners, as well as regional players involved in water-related issues.

The GeEAUde Chair, the only one of its kind in France, has a twofold ambition: to bring together researchers, political decision-makers, managers, industrialists and water users, and to set up top-class operational research to develop decision-making tools to ensure sustainable and equitable management of groundwater resources.

At the inauguration, a number of speakers emphasised the importance of this initiative. Carole De Souza, director of the Institut Agrosciences, Environnement et Santé, opened the session, followed by speeches from Gaëlle Mesgouez, vice-president of the Avignon Université research committee, Mohamed Naaim, head of the aquatic sciences department at INRAE, and Olga Vizika-Kavvadias, scientific director of IFPEN.

Konstantinos Chalikakis, holder of the GeEAUde chair and deputy director of UMR EMMAH, presented the general framework, objectives and scientific programme, accompanied by André Chanzy, INRAE research director and director of UMR EMMAH, Anne-Laure Cognard-Plancq, senior lecturer at UMR EMMAH, and André Fourno, IFPEN R&D engineer.

A round-table discussion on the regional and local issues surrounding groundwater resources brought together a number of stakeholders, including Christian Mounier, Vice-Chairman of the Vaucluse Department, Julia Brechet, Director of the Syndicat Rhône Ventoux, Laurent Rhodet, Director of the Syndicat Mixte du Bassin des Sorgues, Eric Lahaye, Regional Director of Veolia, Alexandre Duzan, Group Lead Expert in Water Resources at SUEZ, and Jérôme Gelly, Director General of Technical Services at Grand Avignon. The round table was moderated by Andrée Brunetti, journalist with l'Écho du Mardi.

Georges Linarès, President of Avignon Université, concluded the event by thanking all those involved in making this project possible.

>> Discover the GeEAUde Chair website
>> UMR EMMAH: Mediterranean Environment and Modelling of Agro-Hydrosystems
>> Feature story in Tuesday's Echo: "GeEAUde: the history of water in the chair at the University of Avignon". 
>> INRAE news