Special Sessions
The scientific committee of the 7th EMCEI invites research papers on all cross-cutting themes of the environmental sciences and engineering, with a main focus on these Conference Tracks.
The scientific community can submit new conference tracks (e.g. special sessions, satellite events, etc.) until January 20, 2025.
If you are interested in proposing a special session and/or a satellite event, please follow this example and send your proposal to emcei@performer-events.org.
The approved new conference tracks will be listed below (click to open):
Special Sessions
Special Session (Track 17): Advancing wastewater treatment and resource recovery in the mediterranean region — innovative solutions and sustainable strategies (sponsored by spore-med)
About the session
The SPORE-MED special session focuses on pioneering technologies and strategies for enhancing wastewater treatment and promoting resource recovery in the Mediterranean region. Addressing critical issues like water scarcity, pollution, and climate change, this session will explore cutting-edge advancements aimed at transforming wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) into sustainable, resource-efficient systems.
The session will introduce the SPORE-MED project, a collaborative initiative that integrates circular economy principles in wastewater management, providing a comprehensive overview of its activities and ongoing research. The SPORE-MED project is part of the Prima programme supported by the European Union (Agreement 2322). Through insightful presentations and discussions, the session will highlight innovative solutions in wastewater treatment, nutrient recovery, and energy efficiency. Key challenges and opportunities will be examined, with a special focus on how these technologies can be adapted and scaled for the Mediterranean context.
A series of expert-led roundtables from MED-related projects will delve into the latest developments in wastewater treatment technologies, resource recovery, and policy implementation. Participants will engage in discussions on overcoming barriers, optimizing current practices, and identifying the next steps for enhancing the resilience of wastewater infrastructure in the face of regional challenges.
The session will conclude with an interactive open debate, allowing participants to contribute ideas on improving the sustainability and efficiency of WWTPs, while strengthening collaboration among key stakeholders in the sector. Networking opportunities will also be available to foster partnerships and promote knowledge exchange between researchers, industry experts, policymakers, and practitioners.
SPORE-MED Project Overview
The SPORE-MED project aims to revolutionize wastewater treatment practices by incorporating circular economy principles, making WWTPs multifunctional hubs for resource recovery, energy production, and environmental protection. The project focuses on developing and implementing state-of-the-art technologies that significantly enhance wastewater treatment processes while reclaiming valuable resources such as nutrients and energy.
The SPORE-MED project brings together a diverse consortium of institutions and industry partners from across Europe and the Mediterranean region, dedicated to advancing research and implementation in wastewater treatment and resource recovery:
- Universitat de Girona (Coordinator) – Spain
- University of Sfax – Tunisia
- Università degli Studi di Salerno – Italy
- ADASA Sistemas – Spain
- University of Cyprus – Cyprus
- GS INIMA Environment – Spain
- University Mohamed VI Polytechnic – Morocco
- Polytechneio Kritis – Greece
- Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona – Spain
These partners collaborate on the development of innovative technologies and solutions, drawing on expertise from academia, industry, and government to address the pressing environmental challenges faced by the Mediterranean region.
Session Objectives
- Present cutting-edge research and innovative solutions developed through the SPORE-MED project and other MED-related projects to enhance wastewater treatment and resource recovery in the Mediterranean region.
- Facilitate discussions on the practical implementation of these technologies, focusing on scaling solutions for the region’s unique challenges.
- Engage a diverse group of stakeholders, including researchers, industry professionals, policymakers, and practitioners, to foster collaboration and promote knowledge exchange.
- Explore strategies for overcoming obstacles to the adoption of sustainable technologies in wastewater management and resource recovery.
Conveners
The session will be convened by leading experts in the fields of environmental engineering, wastewater treatment, resource recovery, and circular economy. Specific details on the conveners and speakers will be announced shortly.
For more information about the session or the SPORE-MED project, please contact the convener Sebastià Puig.
Sebastià Puig
Partner & Sponsor
Special Session (Track 18): Catchment-Coast Continuum (CCC) approach in natural multi-hazard assessment and ecological restoration
About the session
Natural hazards are triggered by several phenomena such as extreme weather events, earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, wildfires, landslides, etc. They often lead to serious consequences for territories, structures, and infrastructure, and can be lethal for humans, especially when more occurs simultaneously. The effects of natural hazards also tend to be paroxysmal due to climate change and land use change, as well as other human pressures (e.g., abandonment of rural areas, rarefaction of the interface between natural and man-made spaces due to population growth).
This session focuses on natural hazards affecting the catchment-coast system to consider the need to adopt an integrated approach to the dynamics and cause-effect relationships occurring in the physiographic continuum. It is of the utmost relevance considering contemporary events, such as concurrent river floods and sea storms, and events that could follow one another, such as an earthquake followed by a landslide or an earthquake followed by a tsunami, together with a river flood or wildfire. This approach aims to improve scientific knowledge and to suggest research evidence to support the decisions of agencies and authorities that are responsible for territory governance. In these phases, among other concepts, it is essential to improve an ecological restoration approach through Nature-Based Solutions (NBS), Best Management Practices (BMPs), and Low Impact Development (LID).
Conveners
Giuseppe Barbaro
Giuseppe Bombino
Francesca Minniti
Giandomenico Foti
Daniela D’Agostino
Special Session (Track 19): New insights on climate change shocks, stressors, attribution, mitigation, and adaptation with implications on the Euro-MENA region
About the session
The veracity of climate change is unequivocal. However, there is a growing need to dig deep into this subject to clarify aspects of attribution, vulnerability, and adaptation. The increasing rates of vulnerability of peripheral economies, or the global south in general, to climate shocks are alarming. Across the globe in general and in Africa in particular, as well as in the Euro-MENA region, reports of the devastating effects of climate shocks, such as droughts, floods, and sandstorms, inter alia, have dominated the air waves. The ramifications of these have been food crisis, forest fires, heat waves, floods, and the proliferation of diseases. This special session aims at providing a forum to discuss innovative strategies for climate change adaptation and mitigation across ecosystems. Topics of interest may include, but are not limited to:
- New ways of monitoring adaptation and mitigation readiness, progress, and performance
- Integrating participatory action research and alliances for effective adaptation and mitigation
- Deep dives into the status and categories of climate change adaptation and mitigation
- Multi-level adaptation and mitigation to deal with multi-level climate stressors
- Adaptation and mitigation financing for environmental integration
- The discrepancies between adaptation and mitigation as processes and actions
- Technological and methodological changes required to trigger effective adaptation and mitigation
- New databases for improved adaptation and mitigation decision-making
- Climate change stressors, attribution, interactions with agriculture, and adaptations in arid environments.
Conveners
Terence Epule
Special Session (Track 20): Resource recovery and circular economy from organic solid waste using aerobic and anaerobic digestion technologies
About the session
This special session, part of the 7th Euro-Mediterranean Conference on Environmental Integration (EMCEI 2025) in Reggio Calabria in Italy, will focus on innovative technologies and strategies for resource recovery and the promotion of circular economy practices using aerobic and anaerobic bioconversions for organic solid waste treatment. As sustainability and changing the mindset from waste management to effective resource recovery continue to be key global priorities, this session will explore how these technologies can transform organic waste into valuable resources, including bioenergies, fertilizers, and other by-products, fostering a circular economy model and biorefinery strategy.
The session will feature cutting-edge research and real-world applications of aerobic and anaerobic bioconversions, which not only provide effective waste treatment but also facilitate the recovery of bioenergy and nutrients. These technologies are critical in advancing circular economy practices by promoting waste-to-resource systems, particularly in the Mediterranean context. The session will also address the environmental, economic, and social impacts of implementing these technologies at a broader scale.
Session highlights
- Recent advancements in aerobic and anaerobic bioconversions for organic waste treatment.
- Recovery and extraction of materials for food, feed, biopolymers and biochemicals from wastes using biochemical conversions.
- The role of bioenergies production and nutrient recovery in promoting circular economy solutions.
- Case studies of successful applications in various sectors, highlighting the potential of digestion technologies for resource recovery.
- Strategies for optimizing bioprocesses to maximize resource recovery.
- Challenges and opportunities for scaling up these technologies in Mediterranean regions and beyond.
Interactive roundtable discussions will be held to encourage participants to engage in practical dialogues on overcoming challenges, optimizing current practices, and scaling up the adoption of these technologies. The session will also provide networking opportunities for researchers, industry professionals, policymakers, and practitioners to foster collaboration and knowledge exchange.
Session objectives
- Present the latest research and developments in aerobic and anaerobic bioconversions for organic waste treatment and resource recovery.
- Discuss strategies for integrating circular economy principles into organic waste management systems.
- Facilitate cross-sector discussions on overcoming barriers to the widespread adoption of these technologies.
- Identify future steps for scaling and advancing the use of resource recovery technologies in Mediterranean and global contexts.
Conveners
Philippe Michaud
Université Clermont Auvergne, Polytech Clermont Ferrand, Aubière, France
Gwendoline Christophe
Mohammad Taherzadeh
Special Session (Track 21): Structural retrofitting and monitoring by sustainable and compatible methods
About the session
The damage caused by recent seismic events has directed the research to develop increasingly innovative materials for the strengthening and repair of existing buildings with problems of obsolescence and vulnerability. In addition to structural problems, in most cases there is also the presence of significant thermal bridges resulting from the lack of adequate insulation.
Conventionally, energy and structural improvement interventions for residential buildings are addressed separately using different methods and protocols.
In recent years, several studies of these buildings have been carried out, but many of this have addressed individual problems relating to structural, energy and architectural deficiencies, without a real interdisciplinary coordination.
Moreover, continuous safety monitoring and maintenance of strategic structures are essential issues. As structures (buildings and bridges) become obsolete, requirement for inspection and maintenance increases. If maintenance works is not carried out, then their costs in the near future will increase non-linearly. Deterioration directly reflects the condition of the structures and are considered as one of the important parameters for monitoring its health.
This session offers the opportunity to start a scientific debate both with reference to the monitoring of structures considered strategic and of a comparison between retrofitting techniques on buildings that address simultaneously both structural and energy aspects.
The following are some of the themes of this special session that you might find interesting:
- Integrated approach to structural, energy and architectural deficiencies
- Structural health monitoring
- Modeling the impact of earthquakes
- Artificial intelligence
- Structural retrofitting
- Materials
- Extreme events
- Sustainability
Conveners
Raffaele Pucinotti
Rocco Buda