In October 2024, HelEx was presented to the SPE (Plant Health and Environment) division of INRAE, one of the institute’s main scientific departments. The SPE community covers a broad range of research on plant health, pests, pollinators and environmental interactions, and plays a central role in shaping INRAE’s contribution to sustainable cropping systems.
Nicolas Langlade (INRAE), coordinator of HelEx, gave an overview of the project’s scientific roadmap, the partners involved and the concrete activities taking place across Europe, from wild Helianthus genomics and pollinator monitoring to agronomy trials and socio-economic analysis. The internal presentation allowed SPE researchers to see where their expertise could connect with HelEx, and how the project fits within INRAE’s wider strategy on biodiversity and climate resilience.
Visibility inside INRAE is important for HelEx because many of the skills and facilities needed for a project of this scale are spread across different INRAE units. Strengthening those internal links increases the scientific depth of the project and facilitates collaboration on shared infrastructures, datasets and long-term experiments.
