Success for the 1st edition of the Unite! Biomass Winter School

Unite! Biomass Winter School

During this winter school dedicated to biomass valorisation, nearly 50 students (60% from Unite! member universities) from 25 different countries attended lectures on topics related to the production, characterisation and use of cellulose, nanocellulose, hemicelluloses and lignin.


These materials are the main components of plant biomass and can be transformed to produce bio-based materials, energy or chemicals.

All of these lectures were given by renowned professors and researchers from Unite! member universities (KTH in Sweden, Aalto University in Finland, TU Graz in Austria, and Grenoble INP – Pagora in France). These lectures were accompanied by several presentations by manufacturers and companies.

In addition to these lectures and presentations, students had an opportunity to put their knowledge into practice using resources made available by the LGP2 lab during practical sessions held throughout the week. The projects they worked on included creating a sled made of composite bio-based materials and developing cellulose cushioning materials. On the final day, a jury awarded a prize to the best group based on the quality of the prototype produced and the originality of its presentation.

Other than these lectures and workshops, the Winter School also gave participants an opportunity to visit Grenoble and its region during a visit to Grenoble Museum. An excursion to Chamrousse was also organised, with tastings of French and Alpine culinary specialities. These convivial interludes provided a series of opportunities for participants to develop their professional networks.

This Winter School complemented the themes taught on the graduate engineering programme at Grenoble INP – Pagora, which is available as a student course and as a work-study programme, but also on the Biorefinery and Biomaterials pathway of the Master Programme in Science and Materials Engineering. These two programmes are open to international students.