Human activities create waste. The way this waste is handled and disposed of, exposes the environment and public health to risks. Waste collection helps maintain cities clean and protects from diseases and hence is considered one of the most dangerous occupations while municipal waste represents the greatest and most diverse set of hazards of all waste management aspects. Waste collecting and municipal urban cleaning exposes workers to a variety of risk factors such as dust, bioaerosols, volatile organic matter and mechanical stress, which make them susceptible to certain occupational diseases. Because of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic the cleaning industry is considered front line in terms of exposure. Collecting waste is a physically demanding job, associated with a high prevalence various disorders while the cleaning industry suffers from a negative public perception because of associations with dirt and waste aggravated also by discrimination, for example by gender or ethnicity. Although the health and safety needs of Municipality Urban Cleaners (MUC) are well defined in the international research, training for these employees is limited and not repetitive. Usually MUC receive a short introduction to the job which is not followed by frequent training. This project aims to improve health and safety of MUCs.The specific objectives are to:1.Develop an interactive training curriculum reflecting the specific needs of MUC and their supervisors 2.Increase knowledge, skills and competencies in order to identify and control occupational hazards, motivate involvement and build ownership in safety culture3.Evaluate the efficiency of an innovative educational practice, in health and safety, tailor made for MUC.4.Establish communication channels for hazard reporting so workers know who to contact and how to prevent a potential accident5.Impact VET and educational systems in accommodating changes to academic curricula for health and safety professionalsThe principal target group of the MUC-training for health project includes MUC workers and their representatives as well as supervisors and employers. In addition we aim to reach related researchers, scientists and policy makers.The project will train over 18 staff members and 100 members of the target groups through the e-learning platform. Through the multiplier events over 160 participants will be approached, while through the project dissemination an audience more than 1,000 stakeholders will be reached.The main activities of the project include: (1)Country and EU reports on the state of health and training opportunities of MUC(2)Focus groups to give voice to MUC in terms of training needs and expectations (3)Development of training (4)Co creation activities and a joint staff training event(5)Development of an e-learning platform and relevant training of MUCs (6)Guidance for VET providers and academic institutionsThe consortium includes 6 partners from Greece, Cyprus, Italy, Bulgaria and Poland of which 3 are municipalities and 3 scientific research organizations with a particular interest in health and safety of MUC. The methodology includes review and research activities to describe the state of the art while participatory and co creation activities will ensure that the target group’s needs and expectations are taken into consideration. Training will be available from an e-learning platform. The “Guidance and recommendations for VET trainers” will provide guidelines for VET providers and stakeholders for further exploitation of the training. Multiplier transnational and national events will enhance exchange of knowledge between the target groups, VET and service providers, relevant authorities at local/regional level, professional associations, academic institutions, government services and policymakers at national/European level.This novel initiative will increase participants’ competence on health and safety issues of MUC being front line workers especially during public health emergencies such as the current COVID-19 pandemic. MUC workers will be able to (1) recognize and understand the importance of workplace hazards, (2) identify common workplace hazards, (3) understand how to reduce/control risks (4) know how to react in an emergency (5) know their safety-related rights and responsibilities at work and finally (6) know whom to talk to about health and safety issues at the workplace. The long term impact of the project is to improve the quality of life of MUC as well as their job satisfaction and performance. It will provide hands-on guidelines, evaluated practices and material that can be easily adopted by anyone interested. Furthermore, the e-learning platform, available in multiple languages, will be accessible after project completion. The project envisions to contribute to the specialized training received by MUC workers involved in urban waste cleaning and hence to the health and well-being of cities.

"The world is gradually becoming witness to the disenfranchisement of youth. The world is gradually becoming witness to the disenfranchisement of youth. This is due, in part, to the recent economic recession, which has placed young people in a disadvantaged socio-economic position with higher youth unemployment, and has generated political distrust and loss of values in society. As a result, feelings of exclusion or inequality further diminish the will of youth to participate. Thus, young people are characterized to a large extent as ""passive recipients"" and the role of youth in development and decision making is marginalized or underestimated.It is verified, therefore, that it is necessary to build trust in young people, transfer skills and give them responsibility and encourage their right to participate in civic and cultural life, while at the same time generating a positive impact on the social ecosystem.Participation can be strengthened by including young people in the design, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of tools, policies and projects, and by establishing the civic commitment of young people as a priority.This project has been implemented in 3 countries with a dual partnership structure including, for each country, a support entity and a local-based entity: Spain (ITC and FASL), Greece (KMOP and ADDMA) and Cyprus (CARDET and AA ). The objective of the project is to involve and recruit young people with fewer opportunities to act as ""promoters of change"" (Community Angels) in their local communities to conceive and carry out socio-economic development strategies, using disused spaces (urban recycling).The objectives include addressing social exclusion through active participation and motivation of young people in disadvantaged environments; Involve local stakeholders, private entities, trainers and NGOs in joint planning to promote growth and socio-economic stability and promote multilevel collaborative approaches to promote youth social entrepreneurship.The implementation of the project has been developed in two phases: the training phase and the implementation phase. The training phase has included:• carrying out basic research on the training needs of young people, including the analysis of 63 responses: 27 responses from Spain, 17 responses from Greece and 21 responses from Cyprus.• Based on the results of the analysis, the preparation of the training curriculum in 4 training modules in 3 languages (EN, GR and ES): soft skills; fundraising skills; skills for the recruitment and training of paid staff including general administrative tasks and local action planning skills and information in the framework of local development strategies.• The recruitment of the participants and the training itself, of 40 hours in an average of 10 sessions per country, with the completion of the training by 45 participants (15 per country).The implementation phase has included:• The development of a common methodology for the 3 countries involved;• The presentation of local action plans prepared by young people as part of the ""practicum"" of the training, and the selection in each country, through committees created specifically for that purpose;• The development of each local action plan and the mobilization of resources in Spain, Greece and Cyprus:In Spain: (Almería): ""Workshops for the empowerment of young people in Los Almendros""In Greece: (Athens): ""Educational theater workshops to raise awareness about human trafficking""In Cyprus (Agios Athanasios): ""Human Scale Park"";• The implementation of activities included in the community action plan by the youth with continuous orientation;• The preparation of a guide for the implementation of local action plans that facilitate the dissemination and transferability of the model tested in the framework of the project.• Follow-up and report of final evaluation of activities.The results and impact have reached and even exceeded expectations, including the design of 4 complete training modules in 3 languages (EN; ES; GR), completion of the training of 45 young trainees (out of 60 recruited), the selection and successful implementation of 3 local action plans selected through multidisciplinary selection committees, the participation of 136 interested in the day of diffusion held in Almeria in May 2018 as well as the participation of 42 interested in Athens and 40 in Cyprus in the context of multiplication events. The dissemination activities have consisted of a battery of actions including website and Facebook, press releases, newlstters and dissemination events that have exceeded the scope of 5,000 people initially planned with the publication in local press (in Spanish and Greek) of the different activities of the project."

The SCENE project has been majorly designed to offer the means for a modern & globally competitive, European filmmaking industry, by building upon two solid pillars, i.e. semantically cognitive AI technologies and the (in) tangible European Cultural assets, always with respect to the European values & policies regarding the human and its environment. SCENE will develop a wide set of cutting-edge technologies & services that are able to cover the whole pipeline of the film-making industry, “from farm to fork”, i.e. from the very early stages of the film planning until their playback at the audience screen. Specifically, SCENE aims to innovate by enriching the existing data lakes with high-qualitative & editable 3D digital models of European cultural sites, and by enhancing their accessibility with the integration of multi-dimensional knowledge graphs carrying location- & cultural-aware information. SCENE will further facilitate the film-making & film-editing side during the production & the post-production phase with efficient simulation & novel assessment mechanisms. Similarly, it will enable a smart & privacy-preserving interaction channels between industrial stakeholders & the audience, that will allow not only for pro-active sensing of the audience’s preferences in the pre-production phase, but also for the early identification of the most matching advertisement & distribution channels during the distribution phase, as well as the insightful matching & recommendation between films & individuals. The integration of the aforementioned technologies under the unique SCENE platform demonstrates significant capacity to render an excellent proof-of-concept prototype to guide, inspire and mark significant breakthrough in the film making industry during the post COVID era, on scientific, commercial, business & policy level.

ENVESOME aims to elucidate mechanistically the role of air, noise, light, and hazardous waste pollution in non-communicable disease development. The project addresses the need to strengthen the knowledge available to policymakers regarding pollution-disease associations and causal mechanisms at different phases throughout the human lifecycle. ENVESOME proposes to develop an exposome and citizen-science-based framework for assessing the risks of emerging environmental health stressors. This will be achieved by fusing environmental monitoring and personal exposure data and models through AI tools. Human and cell biology knowledge, human biomonitoring, and in vitro data will be used to determine adverse outcome pathways and networks associated with environmental stressors. Particular focus will be paid to intersecting pathways relevant to cardiorespiratory disease; metabolic syndrome; neurotoxicity; immunotoxicity; sleep, and mental health disorders. We aim to elucidate the main sources of environmental exposure and drivers of the adverse outcomes above. This will allow for the articulation of cost-effective mitigation strategies that will be applied in select case studies. Their efficacy will be evaluated using environmental and exposure indicators together with early effect biomarkers (EEB). Methodological and technical innovations and the respective scientific evidence regarding the causal links between emerging environmental stressors and human health will be translated into policy proposals supporting the articulation of strategies for country- or city-specific, targeted and cost-effective interventions, thus promoting effective public health protection, as well as guidelines and updated limit values as needed. Environmental management for public health protection will be supported by a decision support system (for policy makers), a chatbot (for health practitioners), and a mobile app (for citizens). Training on novel tools will be given to all relevant actors.