SZKOLA GLOWNA GOSPODARSTWA WIEJSKIEGO

Their core work

SGGW (Warsaw University of Life Sciences) is Poland's leading agricultural and life sciences university, with deep expertise in sustainable food systems, forestry, and rural development. Their H2020 work focuses on improving European agri-food value chains — from grassland management and livestock farming to food processing innovation and environmental contracts for farmers. They also maintain a distinct biomedical research line in targeted cancer drug delivery using macrophage-based systems, which they coordinate independently from their agricultural portfolio.

What they specialise in

How they've shifted over time

In the early period (2015–2018), SGGW spread across diverse topics — animal health, energy-efficient buildings, genetic resource management, and surprisingly, cancer drug delivery research using macrophages. From 2019 onward, their agricultural work sharpened noticeably toward sustainability-focused themes: agri-environmental contracts, co-creation with farmers, ecosystem services, water retention, and nature-based solutions. The cancer research line continued in parallel but remained a distinct, self-coordinated effort rather than part of their broader agricultural identity.

SGGW is converging toward sustainability-driven agriculture — agri-environmental policy, ecosystem services, and nature-based solutions — making them a strong fit for Green Deal and Farm-to-Fork consortia.

How they like to work

SGGW operates almost exclusively as a consortium partner (18 of 21 projects), joining large European networks rather than leading them. Their two coordinator roles are both in biomedical research (McHAP, TROJAN), suggesting they lead where they hold niche scientific expertise but prefer to contribute specialized agricultural knowledge within broader consortia. With 350 unique partners across 42 countries, they are a well-connected hub — easy to integrate into multi-actor projects and experienced in large, diverse teams.

Extensively networked across 42 countries with 350 unique consortium partners, indicating broad European reach and experience working with diverse institutional types. Their partnerships span Western and Eastern Europe, with strong connections in agricultural and environmental research communities.

What sets them apart

SGGW combines the breadth of a full life sciences university with unusual depth in both sustainable agriculture and targeted cancer therapeutics — a combination almost no other agricultural university offers. Their strength is practical, farmer-facing research: they work on agri-environmental contracts, co-creation with food chain actors, and modular food processing rather than purely lab-based science. For consortium builders, they bring reliable Polish institutional capacity, experience in multi-actor approaches, and a track record of contributing to large networks without coordination overhead.

Highlights from their portfolio

• McHAP
  Their largest single grant (EUR 1.4M) and a coordinator role — a macrophage-based cancer drug delivery project that reveals a surprising biomedical capability within an agricultural university.
• CO-FRESH
  Substantial funding (EUR 238K) for co-creating sustainable fruit, vegetable, and protein crop value chains — represents their mature agricultural expertise at its most applied.
• OPTAIN
  Their second-largest agricultural grant (EUR 256K), focused on water and nutrient retention in small catchments — connects their farming expertise to environmental restoration, a growing EU priority.