Biosphera : who are we?

Our mission

Biosphera:  Biology, Society, Ecology & Environment, Resources, Agriculture & Food Science

Biosphera is an interdisciplinary Graduate School rooted in the field of Earth Science, that works alongside Graduate Schools in the fields of Science & Engineering and Social Sciences & Humanities.

Biosphera offers master’s programs and PhD programs that combine fundamental research, applied research and taught modules. Biosphera has a strong international focus, offering some courses in English.  Biosphera’s work focuses on living things, their natural or responsive evolution to different disruptions and their adaptive abilities through an understanding of fundamental living systems and their biotic and abiotic interactions. It also looks into socio-ecosystems and their strength in relation to the economic, social and political aspects of adapting to global change. Biosphera tackles cross-disciplinary issues related to agroecology, bioeconomics and global health (One World – One Health).

Scientific challenges serving societal issues

• Ecological transition towards sustainable socioecosystems and agrosystems
• Food security, food, nutrition and transitions
• Global changes, mitigation, adaptation and impacts
• Management and use of resources, circular economy
• Preservation of biodiversity, ecosystemic services
• Territorial development strategies integrating the environmental dimension
• Transformation of biosources waste valorization, energy
• Global Health, the environment, a shared heritage

Biosphera is involved in a wide range of disciplines, including animal and plant biology, ecology, evolution, genetics and genomics, epigenetics, microbiology, food and nutrition science, soil science, climate science and its link to the biosphere, economics, social and management science, bioinformatics, mathematics and applied computing.

Biosphera aims to:

• Make our degrees, graduates, research and innovation visible and valuable at local, national and international levels
• Develop partnerships and joint ventures within its sector and with the other Graduate Schools at Université Paris-Saclay

Biosphera in a few figures

Our organisation

Biosphera is led by a variety of stakeholders from Université Paris-Saclay

• 1 engineering school: AgroParisTech (Biosphera co-ordinator)
• 1 academic school: School of Science, Université Paris-Saclay
• 2 associated institutions: Université d’Evry Val d’Essonne, Université de Versailles Saint-Quentin,
• 3 national research organisations INRAE, CNRS, CEA

Biosphera’s work is led by the entire community (education and research) and its overall strategy is determined by a council that is organised around the following main areas: research, education, international relations, partnerships, transfer and innovation, open science and citizen science, and shared experimental facilities.