More than 50 project partners gathered between 23 and 27 November 2020 to mark the successful ending of the second year of the HOMED project. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the second annual meeting of HOMED was held online. However, the unusual format did not stop participants from having both fruitful discussions and a great team spirit. 

Within the five conference days, working group teams of scientists and experts discussed project achievements, research results and discussed future actions of the project. Each working group held a separate panel where they shared their work progress, research challenges and upcoming plans. Project partners held the sessions within an interactive online environment and a lot of ideas were generated. A special workshop on PhD and post-doctoral students was held to address their needs within the project.

HOMED partners during the project's online second annual meeting

"A very sincere thank you for all the great work that has been done in HOMED so far. I am confident that we can go on with the good atmosphere and very effective collaboration between partners," project coordinator Herve Jactel comments.   

The HOMED team is looking forward to a productive year, where further research and scientific collaborations would provide insightful results. In 2021 major targets of HOMED would be to reach out the project’s results to practitioners, to continue the fast pace of research progress, and to apply new and engaging means of communication with the scientific community and the general public.

HOMED’s next annual meeting is scheduled to take place in the Faculty of Forestry and Wood Technology, Mendel University in Brno, the Czech Republic.