The OLEUM project will generate innovative, more effective and harmonized analytical solutions to detect and fight the most common and emerging frauds and to verify the overall quality of olive oils (OOs). By a core group of 20 partners from 15 countries OLEUM will undertake RESEARCH ACTIVITIES based on the development of IMPROVED and NEW ANALYTICAL METHODS by targeted and omics approaches with the aim: i) to detect new markers of the soft deodorization process; ii) to discover illegal blends between OOs and other vegetable oils; iii) to control OO quality (e.g. freshness); iv) to improve the organoleptic assessment with a Quantitative Panel Test, based on current official methods, and supported by tailored reference materials for better calibration of the sensory panels coupled with rapid screening tools to facilitate the work of the panelists. The most promising OLEUM solutions will be subjected to VALIDATION in conformity with internationally agreed standards by peer laboratories. OLEUM will recreate a realistic “deodorization scenario” by producing tailored, soft deodorized OOs by lab-scale and up-scaled pilot plants to apply analytical solutions to known samples. Substantial KNOWLEDGE and TECHNOLOGY TRANSFER activities will be envisaged to aid in implementation of: a) a web-based easily-accessible, scalable and constantly updated OLEUM DATABANK, containing all the information from OLEUM research and other reliable international sources, will be available for download data and spectra and to help achieve satisfactory harmonization of analytical approaches among control laboratories; b) the OLEUM NETWORK of relevant OOs stakeholders to maximize the impact of proposed analytical solutions. Finally, a robust dissemination strategy by the OLEUM project aimed at effectively sharing results with all stakeholders in the OO supply chain has the potential to improve consumer and market confidence, and preserve the image of OOs on a global scale.

This project aims to recover a forgotten meaning of temperament, which can be described as elemental and spiritual. This notion is recovered as the foundation of a new conception of human nature. Indeed, as it will be demonstrated, being seen from its temperament, the human being is immediately placed in communion with Mother Nature, so that the description of its fundamental traits immediately becomes a description of its primal relationship with Nature. In the first part of the project we will reconstruct both the gradual loss of the elemental and spiritual meaning of temperament and its sporadic resurfacing in certain historical moments, with particular attention to the nineteenth century. Meanwhile, in the second part of the project, the results of the previous part will be used to construct a new philosophical-anthropological model, such as to inspire today's debate in philosophical ecology and political ecology. The project aims, therefore, to make new contributions both to the history of thought, recovering a lost conception, and to the political ecological debate, urging decision makers to look deeper into the options of ecological wisdom, by means of a new conception of human nature and its relationship with Nature.

Progress toward the European Green Deal, the Mission Restore Our Ocean and Waters, and related EU climate, biodiversity, and pollution targets is hindered by governance barriers such as mistrust among decision-makers, lack of public support, and modest policy action. Building on creative participatory methods, the INSPIRI project will contribute to overcoming these challenges. The inclusive INSPIRI consortium will innovate by engaging with a wide range of stakeholders to imagine aspirational futures for EU waters using the Nature Futures Framework. Through case studies across the four Mission Lighthouse regions, we will co-create visions of desirable futures for ocean and water systems with stakeholders. Aligned with key EU strategic objectives and targets, these will then become goals for back-casting and modelling regional scenarios. The outputs from both visioning and modelling exercises will serve as inputs into regional Transformation Labs that bring together decision and policy-makers, experts and other stakeholders from the Lighthouse regions to chart actions towards implementing sustainable futures for EU waters. We will develop innovative scientific and artistic visualizations in each case study as well as at the pan-European level for both 2030 and 2050 time-horizons. Finally, through a creative, multi-layered communication, dissemination, and exploitation strategy, leveraging the full potential of art-science collaboration for motivating change, we will inspire key target groups to take meaningful action. Our consortium, collaborating closely with the Mission Lighthouses and governance structures, brings together world-class expertise in stakeholder engagement, visioning, modelling, policy analysis, and art-science collaborations to ensure we can deliver on the ambitious work plan. All our data will contribute to the European Digital Twin of the Ocean. Overall, INSPIRI will support action to achieve an ambitious EU vision for its waters by 2050.

The Growing Up in Digital Europe Preparatory Phase (GUIDEPREP) project further develops the research infrastructure (RI) necessary to implement the GUIDE birth cohort study. This preparatory work will take place across 2022 to 2025 to ready the RI for the full-scale piloting of the GUIDE in 2026 and the first full wave of data collection in 2027. Once operational, GUIDE will collect data about individual children growing up in Europe until those children are aged 24-years in approximately 2053. GUIDE will be Europe’s first comparative birth cohort study of children’s and young people’s wellbeing. The aim of the GUIDE study is to track children’s personal wellbeing and development, in combination with key indicators of children’s homes, neighbourhoods, and schools, across Europe. GUIDE will be an accelerated cohort survey including a sample of infants as well as a sample of school age children. Each Member State and Associated Country will provide nationally representative samples that are designed to retain statistical power throughout the lifetime of the study. The harmonized design will create the first internationally comparable, nationally representative, longitudinal study of children and young people in Europe. Currently the GUIDE RI is in its preparatory phase, which involves the establishment of necessary operational procedures and further crystallisation of the study concept and design. To realise the GUIDE full-scale pilot in 2026 and first wave of fieldwork in 2027, the RI needs to develop administratively, technologically, financially, scientifically, and legally. This GUIDEPREP proposal lays out clear aims for these developments in an interlocking system of activities that are shared across consortium partners and managed by the GUIDE leadership team.

The intensification of extreme weather events, coastal erosion and sea-level rise are major challenges to be urgently addressed by European coastal cities. The science behind these disruptive phenomena is complex, and advancing climate resilience requires progress in data acquisition, forecasting, and understanding of the potential risks and impacts for real-scenario interventions. The Ecosystem-Based Approach (EBA) supported by smart technologies has potential to increase climate resilience of European coastal cities; however, it is not yet adequately understood and coordinated at European level. SCORE outlines a co-creation strategy, developed via a network of 10 coastal city ‘living labs’ (CCLLs), to rapidly, equitably and sustainably enhance coastal city climate resilience through EBAs and sophisticated digital technologies. SCORE will establish an integrated coastal zone management framework for strengthening EBA and smart coastal city policies, creating European leadership in coastal city climate change adaptation in line with The Paris Agreement. The Coastal City Living Lab (CCLL) is a new concept that expands the Living Lab approach to coastal cities and settlements. CCLLs will be set up to address specific climate challenges, and their effectiveness will be assessed by different stakeholders through innovative monitoring systems and cutting-edge modelling approaches. SCORE will develop CCLLs in a network of 10 cities which learn from each other in different frontrunner and follower roles. SCORE will involve citizen science in providing prototype coastal city early-warning systems and will enable smart, instant monitoring and control of climate resilience in European coastal cities through open, accessible spatial ‘digital twin’ tools. SCORE will provide innovative platforms to empower stakeholders’ deployment of EBAs to increase climate resilience, business opportunities and financial sustainability of coastal cities.