{"id":3295,"date":"2026-08-28T10:19:00","date_gmt":"2026-08-28T10:19:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/iculture-project.eu\/?p=3295"},"modified":"2026-08-28T10:21:52","modified_gmt":"2026-08-28T10:21:52","slug":"iculture-summer-school-successfully-brought-together-an-international-community-around-sustainable-macroalgae-biorefineries","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/iculture-project.eu\/index.php\/2026\/08\/28\/iculture-summer-school-successfully-brought-together-an-international-community-around-sustainable-macroalgae-biorefineries\/","title":{"rendered":"iCULTURE Summer School successfully brought together an international community around sustainable macroalgae biorefineries"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
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iCULTURE Summer School successfully brought together an international community around sustainable macroalgae biorefineries<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t
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The iCULTURE Summer School \u201cMacroalgae Biorefineries in the Circular Bioeconomy: Technologies, Innovation and Sustainability\u201d successfully concluded<\/strong> after five days of online learning, discussion, and networking dedicated to one of the most promising areas of the circular bioeconomy. A few months after the event, the organisers have taken the opportunity to analyse participation data, review participant feedback, and reflect on the outcomes achieved. The results confirm the success of the initiative<\/strong>, which created a valuable international learning experience and fostered knowledge exchange on the role of sustainable macroalgae biorefineries in Europe\u2019s bio-based transition.<\/p>

Organised by the Renewable and Sustainable Energy Systems Lab at the Technical University of Crete (ReSEL@TUC)<\/a>, the Summer School attracted 181 registrations from 50 countries<\/strong>, highlighting the strong international interest in macroalgae-based solutions and their potential contribution to a more sustainable and circular economy. During the five-day programme, the event maintained active participation from participants worldwide, reaching a peak attendance of 86 participants<\/strong> during the opening session and maintaining active participation across the entire programme with an average attendance of 62 participants per session.<\/p>

The Summer School provided an interdisciplinary overview of the entire macroalgae biorefinery value chain<\/strong>, exploring the potential of macroalgae as a renewable biomass resource and addressing key aspects such as cultivation and harvesting strategies, biomass conversion technologies, high-value bio-based products, sustainability assessment, and Life Cycle Assessment (LCA). The programme also highlighted emerging innovations in biotechnology, including enzyme engineering and microbial cell factories, as well as future challenges related to scaling up sustainable biorefinery approaches. The final session focused on scientific communication and public speaking, providing participants with practical tools to effectively communicate research findings to both scientific and non-scientific audiences. The scientific programme featured lectures delivered by internationally recognised experts from leading academic institutions, research organisations, and industry<\/strong>, offering participants the opportunity to explore cutting-edge research and real-world applications.<\/p>

The Summer School successfully reached its main target audience of undergraduate and postgraduate students<\/strong>, while also attracting researchers, academic staff, and industry professionals. Participants represented a broad spectrum of disciplines<\/strong>, including biotechnology, microbiology, marine sciences, algae biotechnology, environmental engineering, chemistry, aquaculture, and sustainability. This diversity reflects the inherently interdisciplinary nature of macroalgae biorefineries and the need for collaboration across scientific fields to advance sustainable innovation.<\/p>

Participant feedback confirmed the positive impact of the initiative<\/strong>. The Summer School received average evaluation scores above 4.3 out of 5 across all assessed categories. In particular, 100% of respondents positively evaluated the expertise and effectiveness of the speakers, while participants also highly appreciated the relevance of the topics covered, the organisation of the event, and its contribution to their academic and professional development.<\/p>

By combining high-quality scientific content, an international panel of experts, and a diverse community of learners and professionals, the iCULTURE Summer School contributed to the project\u2019s capacity-building objectives<\/strong> by strengthening knowledge exchange and supporting the development of skills needed to advance sustainable macroalgae biorefineries and the wider circular bioeconomy.<\/p>

The presentations delivered by the lecturers, together with the recordings of the sessions, are available on the iCULTURE website<\/a>, <\/strong>allowing an even wider audience to access the knowledge and resources shared during the Summer School.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t

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iCULTURE Summer School successfully brought together an international community around sustainable macroalgae biorefineries The iCULTURE Summer School \u201cMacroalgae Biorefineries in the Circular Bioeconomy: Technologies, Innovation and Sustainability\u201d successfully concluded after five days of online learning, discussion, and networking dedicated to one of the most promising areas of the circular bioeconomy. A few months after the … <\/p>\n

Read more “iCULTURE Summer School successfully brought together an international community around sustainable macroalgae biorefineries”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":3297,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"elementor_header_footer","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3295","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/iculture-project.eu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3295","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/iculture-project.eu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/iculture-project.eu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iculture-project.eu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iculture-project.eu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3295"}],"version-history":[{"count":13,"href":"https:\/\/iculture-project.eu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3295\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3310,"href":"https:\/\/iculture-project.eu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3295\/revisions\/3310"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iculture-project.eu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3297"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/iculture-project.eu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3295"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iculture-project.eu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3295"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iculture-project.eu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3295"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}