The proposed project “Readiness of ICOS for Necessities of integrated Global Observations” (RINGO) aims to further development of ICOS RI and ICOS ERIC and foster its sustainability. The challenges are to further develop the readiness of ICOS RI along five principal objectives: 1. Scientific readiness. To support the further consolidation of the observational networks and enhance their quality. This objective is mainly science-guided and will increase the readiness of ICOS RI to be the European pillar in a global observation system on greenhouse gases. 2. Geographical readiness. To enhance ICOS membership and sustainability by supporting interested countries to build a national consortium, to promote ICOS towards the national stakeholders, to receive consultancy e.g. on possibilities to use EU structural fund to build the infrastructure for ICOS observations and also to receive training to improve the readiness of the scientists to work inside ICOS. 3. Technological readiness. To further develop and standardize technologies for greenhouse gas observations necessary to foster new knowledge demands and to account for and contribute to technological advances. 4. Data readiness. To improve data streams towards different user groups, adapting to the developing and dynamic (web) standards. 5. Political and administrative readiness. To deepen the global cooperation of observational infrastructures and with that the common societal impact. Impact is expected on the further development and sustainability of ICOS via scientific, technical and managerial progress and by deepening the integration into global observation and data integration systems.

Cow milk allergy, lactose intolerance, calorie intake concern, and soy allergy, presence of unpleasant off-flavors and lack of essential nutrients such as calcium all hinder the consumption of dairy products and plant-based dairy alternatives, respectively. Therefore, in the project, a novel concept of the creation of low-calorie alternatives (milk, yogurt mimic products) additionally fortified with sustainable plant-based bioactives and minerals will be ambitiously pursued by using a natural polymer shellac. Shellac is a sustainable food source, a biodegradable resin obtained from the secretion of lac insects (Kerria Lacca), being recognized as a safe food additive by the FDA. The distinguishing factors of shellac are: lipophilicity, surface activity, self-assembling properties, supramolecular interaction ability. What is more, it is also non-allergic and it can also form calcium–shellac microsphere; hence it is a promising starting material for the preparation of an allergen-free non-dairy milk alternative at low cost. To meet the low-calorie and bioactive-fortified goals, formulation and production of non-dairy milk and yogurt will be achieved by shellac as a main ingredient in combination with virgin coconut oil and xanthan gum. Appropriate drying technology will be used to form easy-to-apply powders that will serve as a base for the production of low-calorie dairy alternatives that will be preserved in the form of dehydrated products. The reconstituted products will be examined for physical and chemical properties, toxicity, organoleptic, digestibility, and bioaccessibility studies including new aspects of process contaminants determination (safety issue). This study provides new insight into the characterisation of new products and will aid in extending the scientific network for future collaboration. The SHELLACRAFT aims to develop a sustainable and allergen-free dairy-plant alternative platform for products that will meet various consumer demands.

Grasslands are vitally important for European agriculture. The 20 partners of Inno4Grass gather farmers’ organisations, extension services, education and research in eight countries (Germany, Belgium, France, Ireland, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland & Sweden) where grasslands contribute a major share of the agricultural area. The overall objective of the project is to bridge the gap between practice and science to ensure the implementation of innovative systems on productive grasslands to achieve profitability while providing environmental services. The associated animal productions are dairy and beef cattle and sheep. Inno4Grass will set up a Facilitator Agents network, capture novelties from innovative farms scrutinized via 85 case studies, discuss and synthesize them in electronic farm networks and through cognitive mapping. It will upgrade this capital via multi-actor approaches and science dialogue, transfer innovation capital and boost collaboration and exchanges beyond the borders of regions and among Member States (MS). Dedicated dissemination approaches and events like national and European Wikimedia, decision support systems and grassland awards are designed and applied to convey innovations to practice with highest acceptance by practitioners and beyond the project term. Inno4Grass will ensure delivery and training of grassland knowledge at operational, tactical and strategic levels for farmers, advisors, and students (specific syllabus, materials for existing MOOCs) and for the value chain mobilizing key actors within the collaborating MS. At least 100 practice abstracts and 104 video clips describing innovative practices will be provided. The project strongly contributes to the implementation of the EIP and many consortium members are involved in their national contact points. This supports the establishment and cross linkage of Operational Groups on grasslands.

Technology impact on our todays life along with the concept of the “shrinking” world is creating a constant need to develop and improve new tools including these used in the fields of research and education. Together with technological development there is a growing influence of the social media as a tool used for diversified goals. From the conventional point of view they are often seen as the key driver of communications and marketing. Furthermore, growing number of schools and teachers are utilizing social media in the classroom to further engage students in the learning process. Social media is a tool that teachers on all educational levels can use to make their classroom more engaging and relevant. Results of the survey carried among the students showed the non-negligible demand for the up-to-date, hi-tech educational tools based on social media. Over 90% of the respondents indicated the lack modern approach to pedology classification teaching and scarcity of digital tools usable in the teaching process. Moreover Higher Education is facing presently enormous challenge connected with generation “Z” - 'digital natives' entering the universities needing different educational approach. On the other hand, technical languages used in environmental disciplines, such as soil science, necessitate to be unified and correlated on European and global scale to be useful for academic purposes. The WRB (World Reference Base for Soil Resources) is the soil classification system designed as easy means of communication among scientists to identify, characterize and name major types of soils and has also been accepted by the European Commission as the official system within the European Union.The idea of the SYStem project is to create edutainment social media dedicated to soil description and classification using the WRB. It will be based on mobile application for uploading soil profile photos with description of soil horizons, materials and properties along with its coordinates and students (users) proposal for the soil classification. The application would be working both on and offline. Application users will have the possibility to interact with each other and share their knowledge helping less experienced colleagues through comments on other students and researchers uploads within the international SYStem application community. The project will be based not only on the creating the advanced international social media tool for soil science classification and education issues which is the main goal. It also includes the preparation of exercises manual on how to use SYStem application and social media in edutainment-focused teaching. In addition the soil Omnibus dedicated to support the teaching of newest edition of WRB system (2015) on a university level suitable in various environmental science courses (e.g. environmental protection, geography) will be prepared. Afterwards the evaluation of prepared edutainment module will be carried out during students workshops focused on using the application. Studying the usefulness of the WRB classification for the soil cover of partner countries and its evaluation of the WRB with regards to varied European environmental conditions will help develop the classification system itself. WRB based soil data from application users across the world are the most important added values of this project.The consortium brings together specialists from 10 Institutions from 8 countries (Czechia, Estonia, Hungary, Italy, Latvia, Poland, Slovenia and Spain) having research and educational experience in soil science issues of different regions of Europe. Individual members of the consortium also participated in a number of works related to the adaptation of the WRB in regional research (national scale), as well as international (testing WRB for improvement of next editions) and its use in the context of learning and teaching at the higher education level. Such experience is essential to reach the project objectives. Moreover, in the context of spatial dimension, the heterogeneity of the countries that research members originate from is fully covering the European landscapes and soilscapes variability.All of the project outcomes which are the edutainment social media tool, user’s manual, soil classification Omnibus and excersises leaflet will be freely accessible throughout EU and world. All students and teachers will have open access to register , use it and ask for experts feedback. The soil data uploaded will be also available for other users as an active collection of various soils with multimedia and geolocation features. The obtained products will comprise an innovative and powerful for the university level teaching tool. It is expected also to be the supporting tool not only the HEI teachers, but also High School teachers and active environmental researchers and practitioners. All of the above mentioned results will last many years after the founding period of SYStem project.

SEASONED's overall aim is to improve the knowledge, skills, and competencies of the research and administrative staff of the Faculty of Biotechnology and Food Science (FBFS) of Wroclaw University of Environmental and Life Sciences (UPWr) in the field of sensory evaluation of food and consumer behaviour with particular attention to newly designed innovative processed food products with health-related properties. The project aims to establish an international network of leading universities and centres in food sensory analysis (SDU, UMH, BCC) to step up in science and research, improving managerial and administrative capacities, networking skills and strategies to engage society and citizens as well as public authorities and private businesses, and regional and European institutions. SEASONED will enable FBFS and its partners, leading research institutions from Spain, Denmark, and United Kingdom, to co-develop a capacity building programme to share and integrate expertise and skills to access new research avenues and develop new approaches to prepare competitive research applications within the EU and global challenges (Green Deal, UN SDGs). Implementing Gender Balance Monitoring, Open Science, Citizen's Engagement, FAIR data research principles, and monitoring of Key Performance Indicators project will create short- to long-term societal, scientific, and economic impacts. Ultimately, UPWr's ambition is to develop and reach the top of the sensory evaluation centres' competencies and become the leading centre of excellence in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE). As a result, at the end of the project and far beyond the project duration, UPWr wants to establish a Consumer Behaviour Centre (CBC). SEASONED CBC will be a unique platform dedicated to scientists (ESRs including the MSc and PhD students, ERs, other scientists from national and international units), business partners and consumers from this part of Europe.