CO-CREATE aims to reduce childhood obesity and its co-morbidities by working with adolescents, to create, inform and disseminate obesity-preventive evidence-based policies. The project applies a systems approach to provide a better understanding of how factors associated with obesity interact at various levels. The project focus on adolescence as the specific target group, a crucial age with increasing autonomy and the next generation of adults, parents and policymakers, and thus important agents for change. CO-CREATE involve and empower adolescents and youth organizations to foster a participatory process of identifying and formulating relevant policies, deliberating such options with other private and public actors, promoting relevant policy agenda and tools and strategies for implementation. CO-CREATE strengthen interdisciplinary research and have an inclusive multi-actor approach with involvement of academics, policy makers, civil society, relevant industry and market actors to ensure long-lasting implementation of the results. The project reflects and builds on a number of existing initiatives and platforms, including the extensive research activity from consortium members. The project has a strong gender profile and consider the relevance of geographic, socio-economic, behaviour and cultural factors. CO-CREATE engages international partners from different policy-contexts in Europe, Australia, South Africa and the US. Applying large-scale datasets, policy monitoring tools, novel analytical approaches and youth involvement will provide new efficient strategies, tools and programmes for promoting sustainable and healthy dietary behaviours and lifestyles. The generated knowledge and innovative tools for assessing actual policy implementation, strategies for empowering adolescents; and strategies for identifying, implementing and monitoring relevant policy programmes are applicable to stakeholders involved in the European efforts to tackle childhood obesity.

HappyMums is designed to improve our understanding on the biological mechanisms underlying the development of depressive symptoms in pregnancy, and the efficacy of interventions. It will interrogate a large collection of cohorts with multiple biological, medical, clinical, socio-demographic and environmental and lifestyle data to identify the most robust risk factors triggering depressive symptoms, but also moderators of the risk. By putting together unique human samples of placenta, chorionic villi and amniotic fluid, and animal models, HappyMums will improve the understanding of the neurobiological mechanisms affected by depressive symptoms in pregnancy that lead to alterations in the foetal environment, shaping offspring risk for developing negative mental outcomes. The use of three complimentary rodent models will allow to achieve a proof of causality, and the presence of an innovative fish model will elucidate the mechanisms specific to placenta by which adverse maternal conditions are transmitted to the offspring without the potentially confounding mitigating effects of compensatory postnatal maternal care. This knowledge will allow the identification of new targets for the development of novel medications, for the repurposing of existing medications or for the development of non-pharmacological interventions. HappyMums will also develop a digital platform where AI tools-based data can be collected, together with biological, clinical, medical, environmental and lifestyle data, through a mobile phone App that will be at the interface with clinicians via a dedicated dashboard. This will allow early screening of depressive symptoms, prompt diagnoses, personalized treatments, and the promotion of protective lifestyle attitudes. Overall, HappyMums will not only increase the knowledge in the field of mental disorders in pregnancy, but also improve the wellbeing of these women, providing unprecedented benefits also to the offspring and thus to society at large.

This consortium recognises the resurgence of China as a top tier great power is changing the world, and the EU needs to develop a long-term approach based on knowledge to engage strategically with the resurgent and increasingly assertive China as well as the global changes unleashed thereby, including the process of selective ‘de-coupling’ and persistent US-China tension. To assist this, this consortium will bring together some of the best researchers across seven countries to work in a synergetic way to build up a world class independent knowledge base on China in Europe. We will do so by engaging in critical scientific research, nurturing a generation of younger scholars and building up a collaborative network that endures. The key subjects we will address will cover all the key areas identified in the Horizon call, namely, society and culture, politics, economy and foreign policy. Furthermore, this consortium will prioritise impact and dissemination for the EU, the corporate world, the media and the wider public across Europe. The building up of independent knowledge on a resurgent China will enable the EU to better deal with it.

Gaze is an important communication channel to be captured remotely which works even without language. It thus holds great potential for universal inclusive technologies. Eyes for information, communication, and understanding (Eyes4ICU) explores novel forms of gaze interaction that rely on current psychological theories and findings, computational modeling, as well as expertise in highly promising application domains. Its approach of developing inclusive technology by tracing gaze interaction back to its cognitive and affective foundations (a psychological challenge) results in better models to predict user behavior (a computational challenge). By integrating insights in application fields, gaze-based interaction can be employed in the wild. Accordingly, the proposed research is divided into three work packages, namely Understanding Users (WP1), Gaze Communication (WP2), and In The Wild (WP3). All three work packages are pursued from three different perspectives: a psychological empirical perspective, a computational modeling perspective, and an application perspective, ensuring a unified and aligned progress and concept. Along these lines, training is also divided into three packages of Empirical Research Methods (WP4), Computational Modeling (WP5), and Transferable Skills (WP6). Consequently, the consortium is composed of groups working in psychological, computing, and application fields. All Beneficiaries are experts in using eye tracking in their respective areas ensuring best practices and optimal facilities for research and training. A variety of Associated Partners from the whole chain of eye tracking services ensures for applicability, practical relevance, and career opportunities by contributing to supervision, training, and research. This will advance communication by eye tracking as a field and result in European standards for gaze-based communication in a variety of domains disseminated through research and application.

Gaps between political decision-making processes and citizens has become increasingly visible in Europe, particularly since the EU’s post-Millennial economic, political and security crises. In addition, general distrust of politics has been exacerbated by populist and neo-nationalist political forces that interpret the pluralistic and agnostic nature of democracy as a weakness. These and similar tendencies could have grave consequences through a further erosion of multicultural conviviality and social cohesion in Europe. Nevertheless, populism and political disaffection on a more general level are being met by counter currents of local political activism and an increasing consciousness of the political role of social movements in cities and urban areas. Cities have emerged as vital political arenas for the development of the European public sphere and the promotion of inclusion, social agendas and active citizenship. In addition, different forms of citizen participation have started to transform governance cultures of several large European cities, taking active roles in local elections, and becoming part of local political structures, from Paris to Istanbul. Based on several case studies and pilots of governance innovation initiatives we will investigate the ways in which social movements coupled with local government reform initiatives create momentum for political change that include more inclusive and participatory forms of governance. In EUARENAS we will target the following: 1) the ways in which these practices emerge, the main actors, the strategies, methods and digital platforms they develop to attract attention and how they appropriate urban spaces, 2) economic, political and cultural factors influencing local outcomes, 3) horizontal and vertical governance implications of governance innovations and 4) the added value of solutions (housing, social care, social justice, social diversity, climate change) provided by participatory/deliberative means.