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SEL–NTUA at the EQUATERRA Kick-off Meeting: A Shared Start for Ukraine’s Green Reconstruction

Writer: NEWS
NEWS
10 minutes ago
4 min read

The EQUATERRA consortium officially began its collaboration during the project’s Kick-off Meeting (KoM), organized by the Faculty of Economics and Business University of Maribor in Slovenia.


The meeting brought together 14 partners from seven countries, offering the consortium an important opportunity to meet, exchange ideas and jointly shape the work that will unfold over the next four years.


EQUATERRA — Healing the Land, Rebuilding the Future — has an ambitious and highly meaningful goal: to support the green reconstruction of conflict-affected areas in Ukraine. The project will address interconnected environmental challenges, including contaminated soil and water and the vast quantities of construction and demolition waste generated by the war.


By bringing together Nature-Based Solutions (NBS), circular construction materials, advanced monitoring technologies and digital tools, EQUATERRA aims to help transform these environmental liabilities into resources for a safer, greener and more resilient recovery.





SEL–NTUA participation in the kick-off meeting


The Sanitary Engineering Laboratory of the National Technical University of Athens participated in the EQUATERRA kick-off meeting with:


 

During the meeting, our research team presented the objectives, partner roles and implementation processes of WP5 and WP6, both led by NTUA through the Sanitary Engineering Laboratory.


Their presentation explained how the two Work Packages are closely connected: WP5 will lead the co-development of the proposed remediation and circular soil, water and construction solutions, while WP6 will take these solutions forward through operation, experimentation, performance assessment and validation.


The presentation also highlighted SEL–NTUA’s role in coordinating the contributions of the different partners, supporting the experimental work and driving the solutions from laboratory development towards practical implementation.



WP5: Co-development of novel nature-based solutions


WP5 – Co-development of novel nature-based soil and water solutions integrating circular construction materials- will run from Month 1 to Month 12 and will be led by NTUA through SEL.


The Work Package will establish the scientific and technical foundation for the solutions to be tested within EQUATERRA. Its work will focus on four main areas:


  • Development of nature-based soil remediation solutions

  • Development of water remediation solutions

  • Development of bio-enhanced circular construction materials

  • Design of a mobile sensor-based sorting system for construction and demolition waste


During the KoM, the SEL–NTUA team introduced the proposed approach for developing, combining and evaluating the different technologies.


The work will be carried out through close collaboration among the EQUATERRA partners. It will include the design of nature-based experimental configurations, the construction of laboratory units and the adaptation of the solutions to local Ukrainian conditions.


WP6: From development to operation and validation


WP6 – Operation, validation and assessment of the remediation solutions - will run from Month 13 to Month 28 and will also be led by NTUA through SEL.


Building directly on the work and results of WP5, this Work Package will move the developed solutions into the next stage through:


  • Operation and validation of soil and water remediation solutions

  • Operation, validation and assessment of bio-enhanced construction materials

  • Laboratory experimentation and performance evaluation

  • Development of common monitoring and validation processes

  • Coordination of activities across the participating research teams and solutions


More than 50 rigorous laboratory experiments are expected to support the evaluation of the developed solutions. The results will help determine their effectiveness, identify optimal operating conditions, define appropriate implementation protocols and prepare the most promising approaches for application under real environmental conditions.


Through its leadership of both WP5 and WP6, SEL–NTUA will play a key role in connecting scientific development with practical testing, validation and future implementation.



EQUATERRA in a nutshell


Over its 48-month duration, EQUATERRA will:


  • Establish three Systemic Innovation Pilots in Ukraine, focusing on Soil, Water and Construction remediation solutions

  • Develop and laboratory-validate at least 31 bio-based and nature-based solutions

  • Deploy and validate at least 18 solutions under real-life conditions

  • Develop a mobile AI-powered system for sorting conflict-derived construction waste

  • Create an AI-enhanced digital platform and Decision Support System for mapping environmental degradation and planning restoration

  • Engage more than 200 stakeholders and train over 60 multipliers

  • Produce a Green Reconstruction Guide and a replication roadmap for Ukraine and other conflict-affected regions


The KoM provided an important starting point for this work. Beyond presentations and planning, it created space for open discussions, new connections and a shared understanding of the project’s purpose.


SEL–NTUA is proud to contribute to this ambitious collaboration and looks forward to working closely with all EQUATERRA partners to turn scientific knowledge into practical solutions for environmental restoration and resilient reconstruction.


A heartfelt thank you to the Faculty of Economics and Business University of Maribor for the warm welcome and excellent organisation, and to all consortium partners for the enthusiasm, openness and collaborative spirit that marked the beginning of this shared journey.


The EQUATERRA consortium


The EQUATERRA consortium brings together the following organisations:

 
















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