The FASTER project aims to support excellence in research on adaptation to climate change in land and water management, including innovative governance, and its transference into praxis through focussed management and promotion, through the following objectives:

1. Increase the research excellence of INRGREF related to agroecosystems’ adaptation to the impacts of climate change for sustainability through collaboration with experts at two internationally leading research institutions, and multidisciplinary, research excellence and specialised capacity building training, as well as staff exchanges. Moreover, the collaboration focusses on increasing the number of peer-review publications and international competitive projects.
2. Support institutional networking and international reputation of INRGREF. To strengthen the consortium collaboration plus advancing the partnership with internationally-leading research institutions, the following measures will be designed and implemented: improved access to international networks and platforms, development and operationalization of awareness raising campaigns, stakeholders and public engagement processes, knowledge co-creation and dissemination, internationalisation, innovation, leadership and effective communication.
3. Developing a knowledge transfer framework in order to engage Tunisian entities and third parties to jointly develop excellent scientific research and technology, and enhance the use of its results by developing new lines of research, technical skills and competencies, as well as to foster the inclusion of this knowledge into an institutional agenda, consolidating evidence- based policy making.
4. Supporting FAS sustainability in Tunisia by enabling the application of innovative solutions, sharing knowledge and best practices, and by mainstreaming of research results and technology to local farmers and policy-makers linked to forestry and agricultural sectors who need to face climate change and related challenges, as well as the awareness raising and promotion of the SDGs topics (related to water, land, and climate change) within the target groups of the project.

Promoting Research Excellence:

• Cross-cutting courses boosting the development of international projects
• Provision of concrete tools for increasing research performance
• Specialised training on key issues for adaptation to climate change in land, forest and water management
• Mobility programme for inspiring junior and senior researchers

Creation of a Living Lab on Farm Advisory Systems:

• Summer school for presenting the latest research results to practitioners
• Multi-stakeholder platform: creating a network for enhancing Farm Advisory expertise
• E- learning: spreading the knowledge beyond borders
• Multidisciplinary information targeting practitioners

Sustainability of Excellence:

• Fostering institutional networking for excellence
• Finding new research avenues
• Promoting governmental support for Farm Advisory Systems
• Maintaining a specialised Job Bank for young professionals