FLOWER – 2020-2021 retrospective
More than two years after the official launch of FLOWER project, it is actually at more than the half of its four-year duration (September 2022). The article present a summary of the latest works carried out in last months months by the 8 partners Université de Bretagne Sud, INRAe Nantes, Université de Portsmouth and Cambridge, Kairos, EcoTechnilin, Teillage Vandecandelère et Howa-Tramico. The results obtained in each activities are very encouraging and bring the partners closer to the targeted developments, namely new lightweight flax performs and their integration into industrial demonstrators. Thus, significant progress was done both in technical activities and in project management and communication. TECHNICAL AND SCIENTIFIC ACTIONS Despite a slight delay because of the actual health crisis, many significant advances have to be noted since the project launch. Scientific and technical activities could intensify thanks to the recruitment of additional staff. The FLOWER team now count about 30…
First European Summer School on Bio-Based Composites – 6-8 July 2021 : From plant and wood fibres to advanced composites.
The European Summer School on Bio-based Composites (ESBBC) is a unique event in Europe for master students, PhD students and young researchers working on bio-based composites wishing to learn, exchange experience and technical information on this multidisciplinary scientific field. This Summer school is planned from the 6th to the 8th July 2021 fully online, with 8 sessions and co-organised by 4 European projects: SSUCHY FLOWER NETFIB FibreNet Registrations are open since the 15/04/2021 and end on the 15/06/2021. Be careful, prices increase for late registrations. Check the program here Link to the ESBBC website for more information: https://events.femto-st.fr/ESBBC The ESBBC is sponsored by BBI-JU (Bio-Based Industries Joint Undertaking), Interreg France (Channel) England and EIPHI graduate school (Engineering and Innovation through Physical Sciences, High-technologies, and cross-disciplinary research).
[Feedback on] The “Biobased Composites in Marine Environment” Conference
The third conference planned in the framework of the European project FLOWER (co-financed by the Interreg France (Manche) England Programme) was held on the Thursday 22nd and Friday 23rd April 2021. After INRAe of Nantes in 2019 and the University of Portsmouth in 2020, the lead partner University of South Brittany was the main organiser of this new event that took place remotely because of the COVID19 health crisis. The event was waiting for 140 registered participants and gathered more than 90 people simultaneously. This conference allowed to have an overview of the project progress, but also to share the latest scientific and technical research works as well as the industrial developments on biocomposites materials used in marine applications. The thematic sessions over the 4 half-days have been introduced by keynotes presentations of about 30 minutes by Prof. Jörg Müssig (University of Bremen), Prof. Aart Willem Van Vuure (KU Leuven), Dr…
FLOWER – 2018-2019 RETROSPECTIVE
2 years after the selection of the project in January 2018 and its official launch in September 2018, FLOWER is almost half way of its duration (end: September 2022). This article gather the actions carried out by the 8 partners Université de Bretagne Sud, INRA Nantes, Universities of Portsmouth and Cambridge, Kaïros, EcoTechnilin, Teillage Vandecandelaère and Howa-Tramico in the last few months. Scientific and technical activities Technical activities could start and intensify with the acquisition of the necessary and the recruitment of missing staff. In addition to the administrative and technical staff already working in each partner’s organisation and dedicating a certain amount of time to FLOWER, the partnership is composed 6 full-time people: a project manager, 4 PhD students (2 INRA and 2 UBS) and a post-doctoral researcher at the University of Portsmouth. The main actions either carried out jointly by the partners or individually are the following: Selection…
2nd conference – University of Portsmouth
1 year after the 1st conference held in Nantes (organised by partner INRA), we are pleased to announce the second FLOWER conference intitled: “Advanced Biobased Materials and Composites for Engineering Applications“. The event is hosted by University of Portsmouth and will take place on Thursday 17th September 2020 as a Webinar. Topics Fabrication, processing parameters and influences on properties Environmental aspects, long term durability, aging and characterisation of natural composites and biocomposites Plant biobased materials physico-chemisty /functionalities /mechanical properties Structure and properties relationship of natural fibre composites and biocomposites Natural fiber composites applications and end of life (EoL) evaluation Recycling Invited Speakers : Professor M. Sain, University of Toronto (Canada) : Circular biobased materials and composites technology: a fast emerging industry 4D Professor Ian Hamerton, University of Bristol: The use of HiPerDiF (high performance discontinuous fibre) technology to manufacture hybrid composites from more sustainable feedstocks Mr Andy Smith, Director of…
The registration for FLOWER’s first conference is open !
We are happy to announce that the first conference organised by the FLOWER project is scheduled next 24,25, 26th April 2019 and will take place in Nantes in Westotel Nantes Atlantique (La Chappelle sur Erdre, 44, FR). This event is organised by the partner INRA, jointly with the GDR SYMBIOSE. All the information for submission and registration can be found in the conference website: https://symbiose-flower.sciencesconf.org/ The registration for these three days is free but mandatory. You can join us by submitting an abstract before 05th March for an oral presentation or a poster or just participate without communication. The organisation of these common days has a twofold aim: On the first hand, the idea is to bring together scientific communities having mutual concerns about cell walls knowledge, relation between structureand performances of these walls and research of application solutions. On the other hand, the respective contribution of these two groups…
SAVE THE DATE – FLOWER 1st Conference
After the kick-off last September, we are happy to communicate the date of the new event of FLOWER project The first conference will be organised by INRA – Nantes and held April, 25th 2019 in Nantes (Westotel). FLOWER got associated with GDR SYMBIOSE (INRA) to organise a Common Day More information with practical details and call for abstracts will be communicated in January. Save the date in pdf version here
News November 2018
The highlights of November were several working meetings between FLOWER partners: meetings and conference calls were scheduled between academics and industrial partners to launch the technical and scientific activities. The first steps were dedicated to the specifications of the new reinforcements and the quality and choice of varieties of the flax fibres necessary for the semi-products. After INRA’s PhD students in October, the partner University of South Brittany welcomed at the beginning o the month the 2 new PhD students who will be working on the scientific subjects and issues of FLOWER. A warm welcome to Maxime Gautreau (INRA), Emmanuelle Richely (INRA), Delphin Pantaloni (UBS) et Alessia Melelli (UBS) in FLOWER team ! The University of Portsmouth is currently recruiting as well, expected for beginning of 2019 : Click here to find the job description and apply for the job ! The other key event of the month was…
News October 2018
FLOWER Partners had the opportunity to meet several times during October: October, 3rd : Partner University of South Brittany went to INRA, Nantes for two meetings. The morning was dedicated to the organisation of the next conference scheduled for april 2019 in Nantes. The afternoon, they discuss about the first actions to implement for the thesis of Maxime Gautreau, co-supervised by Johnny Beaugrand and Fabienne Guillon from INRA and Alain Bourmaud from UBS. (→ More information abouth the thesis). October, 16th: Partners UBS, INRA, Depestele and Kaïros met in Concarneau (Kaïros) to define the specifications of the reinforcement developed by Depestele that will be integrated in the foiler sailboat. It was also the opportunity for Emmanuelle Richely, Maxime Gautreau (new PhD students in INRA) and Davy Duriatti (Depestele) to visit Kairos premises. Two days later, on October 18th, all the FLOWER partners gathered together in Paris to attend the…