Plant development is based on the activity of meristems. The aerial part of plants is generated from the activity of the shoot apical meristem (SAM). These meristems determine the plant architecture and correct plant architecture have an immense impact in crop productivity. In the plant model Arabidopsis thaliana, a key gene for the correct functioning of the SAM is SHOOT MERISTEMLESS (STM). To study the function of this gene and to apply this knowledge to control plant architecture to generate valuable new plant varieties is of vital importance to determine how this gene is regulated throughout development. Gene regulation is controlled mainly by the action of transcription factors at transcriptional level and also by RNA-binding factors at post-transcriptional level. Then the goal of the project is to determine the set of transcription factors and RNA-binding factors that regulate STM throughout plant development. Current techniques for the determination of the set of factors regulating a gene give partial results, are time-consuming and require huge amounts of biological samples. Then, new tools have to be developed. The most promising ones involve the use of quantitative Proteomics with the latest advances of high-resolution Mass Spectrometry. We take advantage in the recognized expertise in this field of Proteomics by the host institution to develop these new techniques and put them available for the research community. In particular, the results and new discoveries obtained from this project are intended to represent a great progress in plant research.

The EAGLO project brings together leading scientists in focused research activities and scientific exchange for a two year period. In addition to the PI and Co-I, the research will be supported by partners from leading institutions with experience in climate, limnology, economics and decision support in the African Lakes region. The project will strongly benefit from the past and present participation of project researchers nationally and internationally sponsored research in the region. Project scientists will make new developments in monitoring (in-situ and earth observation), modelling (socio-economic, biogeochemical, hydrological) and management technologies, focusing on regional trends in lake ecosystem dynamics. These tools will enable the simulation of the mutual feedbacks between socio-economic drivers, climate and regional environmental change (eg. trends in watershed and airshed conditions) and ecosystem services. Based on this new understanding of ecosystem resilience, scientists will identify new opportunities for adaptation to improve human well being and reduce regional poverty. Within the project, three linked working groups will perform activities related to research, technological development, scientific exchange and dissemination. 1. Monitoring protocol and technology development: Activities: - development of common protocols for monitoring biological, physical and chemical parameters (incl. definition of temporal and spatial scales for data acquisition). Specifically, creating a common protocol that can be used to compare conditions of lake stratification, primary production, eutrophication, carbon sequestration, trophic networks, etc. - development of regionally valid calibration algorithms for earth observation and analysis approaches for the study of spatio-temporal dynamics of high elevation African lakes using multispectral satellite data (MODIS, MERIS, SeaWiFs). - collaboration with international satellite database archive managers (ESA, NASA, NERC EODC) to increase the availability of calibrated satellite data to African researchers and planners. Expected participants: EAGLO scientists, NGOs and regional environmental agencies, Target audiences: regional scientists, national ministries, international scientific community 2. Regional lake / climate / environmental database Activities: - development of EAGLO.base, a research database protocol and database structure for African lakes data. - link the EAGLO.base protocol and structure to the EIDC Expected participants: EAGLO scientists, regional environmental agencies, EIDC scientists Target audiences: regional scientists, national ministries and policy makers, international scientific community 3. Ecosystem scenario simulation and analysis Activities: - development of scenarios (to 2050) based on trends in resource quality, ecosystem functioning, resource utilisation and climate. - interlinked dynamics will be examine using models developed in present and past projects. Expected participants: EAGLO scientists, national ministries, NGOs Target audiences: national ministries and policy makers, regional scientific community, supranational (AU) policy makers, NGOs An initial workshop, open to project partners and the regional stakeholders and policy makers will be organised in the first year. Development of specific technological and modelling aspects will be organised through a project communication platform and through short term exchanges (<1 month) of project scientists and junior researchers. Each working group (3) will hold a scientific workshop during the second year of the project to consolidate the results produced, ensure the collaborative development of these instruments with stakeholders, and indicate the requirements for further development.

The need for levels of availability and scalability beyond those supported by relational databases has led to the emergence of a new generation of purpose-specific databases grouped under the term NoSQL. In general, NoSQL databases are designed with horizontal scalability as a primary concern and deliver increased availability and fault-tolerance at a cost of temporary inconsistency and reduced durability of data. To balance the requirements for data consistency and availability, organisations increasingly migrate towards hybrid data persistence architectures comprising both relational and NoSQL databases. The consensus is that this trend will only become stronger in the future; critical data will continue to be stored in ACID (predominately relational) databases while non-critical data will be progressively migrated to high-availability NoSQL databases. Moreover, as the volume and the value of natural language content constantly grows, built-in support for sophisticated text processing in data persistence architectures is increasingly becoming essential. The aim of TYPHON is to provide a methodology and an integrated technical offering for designing, developing, querying and evolving scalable architectures for persistence, analytics and monitoring of large volumes of hybrid (relational, graph-based, document-based, natural language etc.) data. TYPHON brings together research partners with a long track record of conducting internationally-leading research on software modelling, domain-specific languages, text mining and data migration, and of delivering research results in the form of robust and widely-used open-source software, industrial partners active in the automotive, earth observation, banking, and motorway operation domains, an industrial advisory board of world-class experts in the fields of databases, business intelligence and analytics, and large-scale data management, and a global consortium including more than 400 organisations from all sectors of IT.

In the domain of Cybersecurity Research and innovation, European scientists hold pioneering positions in fields such as cryptography, formal methods, or secure components. Yet this excellence on focused domains does not translate into larger-scale, system-level advantages. Too often, scattered and small teams fall short of critical mass capabilities, despite demonstrating world-class talent and results. Europe’s strength is in its diversity, but that strength is only materialised if we cooperate, combine, and develop common lines of research. Given today’s societal challenges, this has become more than an advantage – an urgent necessity. Various approaches are being developed to enhance collaboration at many levels. Europe’s framework programs have sprung projects in cybersecurity over the past thirty years, encouraging international cooperation and funding support actions. More recently, the Cybersecurity PPP has brought together public institutions and industrial actors around common roadmaps and projects. While encouraging, these efforts have highlighted the need to break the mould, to step up investments and intensify coordination. The SPARTA proposal brings together a unique set of actors at the intersection of scientific excellence, technological innovation, and societal sciences in cybersecurity. Strongly guided by concrete and risky challenges, it will setup unique collaboration means, leading the way in building transformative capabilities and forming world-leading expertise centres. Through innovative governance, ambitious demonstration cases, and active community engagement, SPARTA aims at re-thinking the way cybersecurity research is performed in Europe across domains and expertise, from foundations to applications, in academia and industry.