The University of La Reunion is a French institution of higher education and research, in the heart of the Indian Ocean, in one of the outermost regions of Europe. The international strategy of the university of La Reunion comes in five aspects: 1- Fully integrate the university in the European research sector. 2- Encourage the emergence of a network of researchers in the Indian ocean area. 3- Increase inbound and outbound student mobility. 4- Federate the international projects of our faculties and laboratories. 5- Strengthen the educational cooperation.The university of La Réunion is the beneficiary of a mobility project for higher education under the Erasmus and Erasmus + programmes since 1989. In 2014/2015, among its 13,000 students, 135 were able to benefit from a mobility, among which a 100 for studies and 35 for an internship, which represents approximately 1% of our student population. The number of outgoing students has been steadily increasing in recent years. Between 2012/2013 and 2014/2015, the number of study mobilities has increased from 83 to 101 and placements mobilities have increased from 11 to 35. In order to continue this trend, priority was given this year to student mobility and for the first time no teaching or training mobility has been funded. The number of active partnership has increased accordingly and went from 85 in 2012/2013 to 103 in 2014/2015.From its original geo-strategic position, it is the only European university in this region. As such, the University of La Reunion is working to better anchor itself in the European Research field, and to fully participate in international exchange programs like ERASMUS, ISEP and BCI which expand employability prospects of its students. The University strongly encourages its students to participate in the Erasmus project, and if possible over a long period of time. Thus, the average duration of mobility for studies is more than six months and the average for mobility for placements is 3 months. As for destinations, 47% of our students prefer English speaking countries. The second most popular destination is Spain.According to the increased numbers of mobilities and the high level of satisfaction with the overall mobility experience, the university of La Réunion has managed to promote mobility among its students. The most significant impacts on learning outcomes are on the level of understanding of different cultures, cooperation with people from different backgrounds, independence, ability to solve problems, self confidence and self-knowledge.Our project is managed on one side by the International Relations Office (DRI), which is the only one for the whole university; and on the other side by a teacher identified as a relay of international relations in each faculty. The DRI is led by the vice president in charge of international relations and, excluding the House of Languages ​​and the Confucius Institute, has 4 full time administrative staff, 3 of which are working fully or partially on the Erasmus project: the agent in charge of the project, the engineer specialized in international relations and the administrative manager of the DRI.The university of La Réunion is committed to provide a high quality and individual welcome to all incoming students who accept it. It is accomplished thanks to our devoted human resources: an agent fully dedicated to Erasmus, other members of the staff can help during student arrivals and tutors recruited for a total of 450 hours per academic year. Our office opens earlier in August and January than other services to ensure a high quality reception for foreign students. We ask each of our incoming students if they want our help to find accommodation. For those who express the need, we will first offer a personal welcome upon arrival at the airport. The staff and tutors will then support them through their administrative procedures. We have an agreement with the local CROUS to book 62 rooms for our incoming students in the international building that offers some of the best student rooms. The DRI is also in line with private providers: AMI, MGOI, Residence des facs and individual owners. We also assist students with their search for accomodation on the web. As a consequence, our incoming students have generally expressed their satisfaction of reception, accommodation and integration in daily life in our university.

The FREETOACT project involves 16 experienced partners and is the legacy of 16 years of a collective participation to the ERN as a Consortium. We will organize events in 16 different French cities, sharing the same objectives and approach to science engagement, and most of the activities, and involving local researchers. FREETOACT is based on two connected themes. In 2022, the public will discuss the functioning of research through an attractive theme, “The unexpected”, which will bring surprises to the visitors, while discussing predictability in research. In the process, in 2023, researchers and the public will debate together around the theme "Our futures". These themes foster the quality of the discussion with researchers (a key factor in enriching the public's vision of science in society), and renew ERN proposition for the public and the press. During the events, we will create warm and aesthetic encounters and design playful activities to be shared by researchers and the public. The 2,800 researchers involved in the project will be coached and trained by mediators. All the local organizers have extensive experience in conducting researcher-public meetings. Thus, “Researchers at school” activities will be organized thanks to our existing networks. Adults will also be able to participate through a new edition of the Great Participatory Experiment in 2023 (a research team will propose participatory research for the ERN in 16 cities). Online activities will be proposed to interact with the public located outside our 16 cities. The French Ministry of Culture will financially support the event for the 5th year, fostering the participation of researchers in humanities and social sciences; the Ministry of Research will also maintain its support. The ERN will take on the responsibility of improving the understanding of how research actually works and will get young people, the public and researchers to question the role of research in shaping our (un)expected futures

SEAMPHONI is dedicated to bringing visibility and safeguarding the vast and largely unprotected offshore marine areas. Current approaches to offshore biodiversity mapping are highly dependent on research vessels and are therefore costly and do not allow for continuous monitoring. SEAMPHONI is structured to promote the testing, coupling, and validation of three innovative monitoring solutions (environmental DNA (eDNA), acoustics, and imaging) and to build a shared observing system for scientists, decision-makers, MPA managers, and citizens in the form of an Intelligent Marine Digital Twin interoperable with the European Digital Twin Ocean. By leveraging and adapting these cutting-edge tools for offshore areas, SEAMPHONI will provide significant advancement towards a broader, more accurate mapping of European seas with baselines for understudied areas; faster, more continuous biodiversity monitoring; and more accurate, predictive, and sustainable models. This will help identify and prioritize areas to be protected and improve evidence-based assessments of i) the health of marine ecosystems and ii) the effects of various levels of protection and restoration measures on their functioning and services. SEAMPHONI will also tackle the complexity of the regulatory framework governing marine conservation and the fragmentation of rights within these zones, by evaluating limitations and underlining the need for clearer frameworks and improved coordination. The project will support the enforcement of Particularly Sensitive Sea Areas (PSSAs), and advance the 2030 GBF targets. Finally, SEAMPHONI will address the “emotional disconnect between society and aquatic ecosystems” (EC report, 2021) especially in offshore areas where the principle of "out of sight, out of mind" is most pronounced. Confronted with the challenges of engaging citizens in remote offshore areas, where traditional citizen science approaches are impractical, SEAMPHONI has embraced an artistic strategy.

The Sea Water Air Conditioning (SWAC) technology, using deep-sea cold water, remains widely underutilized worldwide due to its limited understanding and requiring substantial investments. However, it efficiently air conditions existing buildings and districts and reduces consumption, power demand, and CO2 emissions by a factor of ten. In the context of climate change and successive heatwaves, the demand for active cooling equipment in buildings is expected to surge beyond the predictions made by the International Energy Agency in its 2018 'Future of Cooling' report. This project proposes a multidisciplinary approach to identify and overcome any barriers that may hinder or limit the adoption of deep-sea water air conditioning (SWAC) technology, with the following operational objectives: • Identify and anticipate environmental, social, and societal barriers and obstacles. • Study the potential industrial and agricultural valorization of seawater discharges from the SWAC process. • Explore opportunities for utilizing the resource for cold/electricity co-generation. • Define integration strategies for these technologies in more sustainable buildings and districts. • Carry out multifactorial optimization, taking into account all relevant issues. The project will provide new knowledge and tools for designing future SWAC installations and will highlight improvements for existing SWAC facilities. Through a multidisciplinary approach, it will enable the anticipation of potential barriers to the implementation of SWAC technology in all regions with cold water near the coasts. It will provide answers to energy, environmental, societal, and economic issues expected by designers and decision-makers. The MAEVA project will thus promote SWAC as a sustainable and resilient air conditioning technology."