Sustainable governance of data centres in Europe: the GDC project among the Ulysses winners

10 March 2026

Source Tamebay

The project « Governance of Data Centres in the EU (GDC): Reconciling Strategic Autonomy and Dual Transitions », led by Thomas Le Goff (Télécom Paris) in collaboration with Edoardo Celeste (Dublin City University), is one of the 15 new awardees of the Ulysses programme.

Thomas Le Goff is an associate professor of Law & Technology at Télécom Paris; Edoardo Celeste is an associate professor of Law, Technology and Innovation at Dublin City University

An Irish-French Partnership for Sustainable Data Centre Governance the GDC project aims to launch an Irish-French research partnership to establish a European observatory dedicated to the governance of data centres. In an increasingly unstable global geopolitical context, these critical infrastructures are essential to supporting the EU’s strategic autonomy and achieving its digital and ecological transition goals. However, their development raises unprecedented challenges in terms of digital sovereignty, energy security, and environmental sustainability, both at national and European levels.

Despite their importance, the governance of data centres in the EU currently lacks a harmonised and coherent legal and policy framework. The GDC project seeks to address this gap by analysing the regulatory requirements, guidelines, and best practices governing the creation and sustainable development of these infrastructures. It focuses particularly on strategic data centres supporting key public sectors, such as defence and healthcare, and will propose legal and policy recommendations for more effective governance—balancing the EU’s strategic autonomy ambitions with its dual transition objectives.

GDC brings together interdisciplinary expertise in law and engineering and involves major industrial and regulatory partners in Ireland and France.

Governing Data Centres in the EU project website

Governing Data Centres in the EU (@Taylor Vick, Unsplash free license)

Ulysses: an Irish-French research support programme

Launched in 1997, Ulysses is a Hubert Curien Partnership (PHC), funded and managed by Research Ireland in Ireland, in collaboration with the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the French Ministry of Higher Education and Research, the Embassy of France in Ireland, and Campus France. The programme enables researchers to develop new international partnerships through reciprocal research visits over a 24-month period. The grant provides teams with the opportunity to strengthen their collaborations through bilateral research exchanges.

By supporting mobility at an early stage, Ulysses helps teams test ideas, share methodologies, and build the relationships necessary for successful and sustainable collaborations. Research partnerships cover fields such as science, technology, culture, and public policy.

H.E. Céline Place, the French Ambassador to Ireland, and Dr Diarmuid O’Brien, CEO of Research Ireland, announce the establishment of 15 new research partnerships under the Ulysses programme, which fosters collaboration between researchers based in Ireland and France.

Research Ireland official statement