Land degradation, especially physical degradation, with soil erosion as the most common degradation process, is a significant problem for the conservation of resources and has a large negative effect. One of the consequences of soil erosion is the occurrence of torrential floods. The floods that occurred in the last time, again point to the need to improve the education of professionals who will enable better prevention of torrential floods. The field of soil erosion control and protection against torrential floods are not included in the study process at all the faculties of forestry and other related faculties of the universities in Serbia and B&H. The Faculty of Forestry of the University of Belgrade has the academic studies devoted to these issues, while other universities have individual subjects whose syllabuses are partially related to this field. For these reasons, there is a need for the development of a new master and improvement of the existing bachelor curriculum by introducing new subjects or by changing the syllabuses of existing subjects. In addition to the development of new master and improvement of the bachelor curriculum, in compilance with the Bologna Process and the EU good practices, the specific objectives of the project are also the following: the implementation of improved knowledge of practical solutions against torrential floods and the education of local governments to create prevention programs. The project includes five universities of the partner countries (Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina), where the curricula will be developed, and universities from the four program countries. The project will be implemented through the 7 work packages with 34 activities. The Project implementation will contribute to the establishment of better cooperation between the participants, who, by improving the university curriculum with the support of the EU, will achieve harmonized approach to the methodology for flood prevention at the regional level.

Gypsum soils occur worldwide and represent natural laboratories of evolution and ecology. The unusual mineral content of gypsum soils is a significant barrier to the growth of most plants, and yet these soils host highly diverse endemic floras that have evolved independently on five continents. Nevertheless, these ecosystems are poorly understood compared to those of other unusual substrates. Little is known about the conservation status of gypsum floras, the potential impact of climate change on them, and their responses to mitigation and restoration. We propose an integrated global study of the ecology and evolution of plant and lichen life on gypsum, including eight gypsum-rich regions from four continents that differ in geological origin, climate, and flora. We will 1) assess the plant and lichen diversity of gypsum; 2) investigate the evolutionary origins and assembly of these floras; 3) evaluate potential adaptive mechanisms on gypsum, the functional structure of gypsum plant and lichen communities, and the processes regulating gypsum ecosystem function; 4) analyse the responses of gypsum communities to global change drivers and explore how gypsum ecosystem restoration/conservation may help mitigate the effects of global change; 5) promote the study of gypsum ecosystems; and 6) communicate the ecological and conservation value of these ecosystems to the public. With the involvement of gypsum experts from 18 academic and non-academic organizations from 11 countries, this project provides an innovative, integrative, and interdisciplinary approach to address key questions in gypsum ecosystem ecology, evolution, and management. The project thus strengthens existing international collaborative networks and consolidates Europe’s leadership in gypsum ecosystem research, including management and conservation plans and the identification of traits for crop improvement on gypsum soils, enhancing its attractiveness as a leading destination for related R&D

The emerging market of wearables is expected to grow exponentially in the near future, driven by the sales increase of smart clothes, watches, and eyeglasses. The future wearables are likely to be heterogeneous, operating on batteries, sun power or human motion, and endowed with smart functions. They will co-operate in a decentralized manner with each other and will be able to reach various interconnected software and applications. The main stream wearable-based architecture has been applied so far in wellbeing industries, such as eHealth or ambient assisted living, which might also reduce the costs for care and guarantee a healthy independent live in the forthcoming older society. As the digitalisation and data-based economy are growing, the exploitation potential of the wearables can easily be expected to increase. Key wearables stakeholder groups in the future are also smart cities, comprising intelligent building industry and infrastructure, energy-efficient smart grid sector, public e-Services, and smart transport. Motivated by the opportunities that next-generation wearable intelligence is expected to provide, the mission of A-WEAR action is to cross-disciplinarily create new architectures, open-source software and frameworks for dynamic wearable ecosystems, with distributed localization and privacy constraints. We aim at building new joint/double European doctoral programmes to train a new generation of young researchers in order to be aware of, to cope with, and to disseminate to a large audience the vulnerabilities and the corresponding solutions of the communication and positioning through wearables. The impact of A-WEAR will be to enhance the future social well-being, to contribute to an easy living, effective and enjoyable work, and to offer new solutions to the challenges of violation of privacy by communication and positioning through wearables and to the need of applying the right of the ownership to one’s data.

SuperScienceMe - REsearch is your R-Evolution aims at reaching the general public of Calabria and Basilicata regions in Southern Italy, focusing in particular on the young ones. SuperScienceMe proposes a fascinating journey across several epochs of human evolution and science, to convey the message that research represents an intrinsic character of mankind, being, for this reason, free of any barrier and stereotype. Research is human richness and, just like human fantasy and imagination,can’t be confined nor limited. Research is freedom. In this historical epoch, the sensibility of people must be brought back to the values of equality and inclusion, strongly promoted and pursued by the European Union. Within this scenario, especially young people must be taken care of and educated in order to appreciate the beauty of diversity. Research can play this game successfully. Based on these considerations and on the successful previous editions of the NIGHT, SuperScienceMe expands its boundaries, including in the partnership another region of Southern Italy, to promote inclusiveness and equality through Research. The activities of the NIGHT will be developed in research centres as well as in locations which are uncommon for science,like hospitals and juvenile prisons, to explain how research revolutions have driven the fantastic evolution of mankind. To open their wings towards the general public, researchers will tell the compelling story of research speaking the language of non-experts in science, challenging each other to show that they are nothing but ordinary people, just like everyone else, doing an extraordinary job, which consists in looking at nature and trying to appreciate and understand its elusive secrets. European Union was conceived on the pillars of a society based on innovation, research, equality and inclusiveness. SuperScienceMe has been thought to reinvigorate these concepts showing the exciting journey of research through the eras of human evolution.