INSTITUT POLYTECHNIQUE UNILASALLE

Their core work

UniLaSalle is a French polytechnic institute based in Beauvais, specializing in agricultural sciences, earth sciences, and environmental engineering. In H2020, they contributed expertise in soil and land management, geothermal energy systems, and circular economy approaches to waste valorization — particularly recovering phosphorus from dairy industry waste for use as fertiliser. Their work bridges applied environmental research with practical agricultural and energy applications.

What they specialise in

How they've shifted over time

UniLaSalle's earliest H2020 involvement (2015) was in agricultural land management through the LANDMARK project, where they contributed as a third party — consistent with their core identity as an agricultural polytechnic. From 2018 onward, they expanded into two distinct directions: deep geothermal energy (MEET, 2018-2022) and circular bioeconomy applied to dairy waste (REFLOW, 2019-2023). This shift suggests a broadening from traditional agriculture toward resource recovery and renewable energy, with environmental sustainability as the connecting thread.

UniLaSalle is moving from traditional agricultural research toward applied circular economy and renewable energy, making them a relevant partner for projects linking agri-food waste streams to resource recovery or clean energy.

How they like to work

UniLaSalle has never coordinated an H2020 project — they consistently join as a participant or third party, contributing specialist knowledge rather than leading consortia. With 65 unique partners across 20 countries from just 3 projects, they operate in large, diverse consortia (typical of RIA and MSCA networks). This suggests they are a reliable technical contributor comfortable working in multi-national teams, but not yet positioned as a project driver.

Despite only 3 projects, UniLaSalle has built a broad network of 65 partners across 20 countries, reflecting their participation in large pan-European consortia. Their reach spans widely across Europe without a single dominant geographic cluster.

What sets them apart

UniLaSalle's distinctive value lies in combining agricultural and earth sciences under one roof — few institutions can contribute equally to soil management, dairy waste valorization, and subsurface geothermal research. Their polytechnic structure means they bring interdisciplinary teams rather than narrow specialists. For consortium builders, they offer a French higher education partner with strong applied research credentials in both food-system circularity and geosciences.

Highlights from their portfolio

• MEET
  Largest funded project (EUR 815K) addressing geothermal energy demonstration across multiple sites, an unusual topic for an agricultural polytechnic that signals genuine geoscience depth.
• REFLOW
  MSCA training network linking dairy waste, phosphorus recovery, and new fertiliser development — directly at the intersection of UniLaSalle's agricultural heritage and circular economy ambitions.