PANEPISTIMIO THESSALIAS

Their core work

The University of Thessaly is a mid-sized Greek university with strong applied research across ICT infrastructure, agricultural sciences, and public health. Their technical teams contribute to 5G network architecture, IoT sensor systems, and data analytics platforms, while their life sciences departments work on dairy nutrition, aquaculture performance, and environmental monitoring. They also run major science communication programs across Greece, organizing Researchers' Night events in multiple cities. Their work bridges fundamental research and real-world deployment, particularly in smart water management, livestock efficiency, and digital infrastructure for rural and urban settings.

What they specialise in

How they've shifted over time

In the early H2020 period (2014–2017), UTH focused heavily on science outreach events across Greek cities (Researchers' Night in Athens, Thessaloniki, Patras, Heraklion) and foundational digital infrastructure projects like 5G backhaul and datacenter disaggregation. From 2017 onward, their portfolio shifted markedly toward IoT-driven monitoring, artificial intelligence applications, and applied agricultural science — coordinating projects on water management, aquaculture, and dairy nutrition. The transition reflects a move from capacity-building and networking toward deploying sensor-based, data-driven solutions in food systems and environmental management.

UTH is converging its digital infrastructure expertise (IoT, AI, sensors) with agricultural and environmental applications — expect future work in precision farming, smart water, and climate-adaptive food production.

How they like to work

UTH operates primarily as an active partner (45 of 61 projects), but takes the coordinator lead often enough (14 projects, ~23%) to demonstrate project management capability, especially in MSCA-RISE and applied research actions. With 963 unique consortium partners across 49 countries, they are a highly networked institution that connects broadly rather than clustering with repeat partners. This makes them a reliable consortium member who brings both technical depth and access to a wide European network.

UTH has collaborated with 963 distinct partners across 49 countries, making them one of the more broadly connected Greek universities. Their network spans Southern and Western Europe heavily, with strong Greek domestic ties and significant links to Mediterranean and Central European institutions.

What sets them apart

What sets UTH apart is their unusual combination of telecom/ICT infrastructure expertise with hands-on agricultural and environmental science. While many Greek universities focus on either digital or life sciences, UTH bridges both — they can build the IoT sensor network AND interpret the agronomic or hydrological data it generates. Their location in Thessaly, Greece's agricultural heartland, gives them direct access to real-world farming and water management testbeds that urban universities cannot offer.

Highlights from their portfolio

• PerformFISH
  Coordinated with EUR 580K — their largest funded coordination role, integrating aquaculture research for sea bream and sea bass across industrial applications.
• Water4Cities
  Coordinated a smart water management platform combining groundwater monitoring, data analytics, and urban planning — a signature project bridging their ICT and environmental expertise.
• 5G-XHaul
  Received EUR 624K (near their max single-project funding) for optical-wireless backhaul architecture, demonstrating deep telecom infrastructure capability.