The overall objective of SafeAgroBee is to contribute to adaptation and mitigation of the effects of climate change and other drivers negatively influencing the sustainability and the resilience of the agricultural system in the Mediterranean basin, ensuring the income of farmers and food security. In SafeAgroBee we focus on beekeeping and pollination provided by both wild and managed bees as important drivers in ruling food security and human existence. To this aim, SafeAgroBee will specifically address the following: 1) examine the resilience of bee pollinators (Apis and non Apis bees) on a changing environment towards pollination services and productivity by a) documenting wild and domesticated bee contribution to the pollination of key crops; b) determining the carrying capacity of several crops as a novel approach for bee productivity and c) by projecting historical climatic data and bee related data in today's conditions; 2) investigate the adaptability of local bee populations and the application of optimal practices under climate change in order to ensure sustainable beekeeping by monitoring the development and the performance of local populations and their resistance to diseases for long periods; 3) support the development of mitigation strategies ensuring the health of the bees and provide advice for the beekeepers by comparing the health and productivity of the honey bee colonies between different agricultural ecosystems and by performing alternative and new strategies to control bee diseases; 4) develop innovative monitoring tools and precision apiculture systems for advanced data acquisition by building on sounds, bee movements and heat detection, also enhancing business potential; 5) test and validate novel models for predicting the health of the bees, as for example the Health Status Index, as well as their productivity in terms of honey and pollination services based on two strong conditions, i) on previous experience, developments and knowledge and ii) on the large data sets with very accurate data and from diverse climatological conditions; 6) adopt a Citizen Science approach to interact and collaborate with all stakeholders and the citizens, thus performing a multi-actor approach at all levels; furthermore by forming an active Advisory Board we ensure extra scientific support and input in re-designing farming strategies to stakeholders' needs. Our main and specific objectives fall exactly under the scope of this particular call, as we are going to address specifically the challenges which have been identified in the call. We recognize that preserving the ecosystem, the resilience of pollinators and bees and sustainable beekeeping practices are among the major challenges of our time. We are going to address and tackle all these topics through the monitoring of different management practices of bees both in terms of their own health and productivity, but also in their pollination services. Droughts and pest invasions, losses of bees’ and other pollinators’ biodiversity due to use of agrochemicals, and possible changes in the plant -pollinator interactions, urges for sustainable solutions in the agroecosystem models, and our proposal aims to tackle exactly those drivers and to seek for alternatives using precision apiculture systems and smart digital technologies as well as different modeling tools for scenario analysis and the planning of strategic management. Here we will also test different mitigation strategies in order to ensure sustainability in a continuously changing environment, also with in areas experiencing harsh conditions exist (e.g. the dry areas). Building resilient ‘farming systems’ is our aim, and we are going to tackle this in two directions, from the beekeepers and the farmers perspective.

DANSER represents a multidisciplinary holistic and scientific based approach focused on the Danube River basin, a vital yet sensitive ecosystem facing climate change and human impacts. DANSER addresses pressing sediment management needs in the Danube River ecosystem, incorporating cutting-edge technologies and aligning with EU policies and directives. Especially attaining the core guidelines of the Danube Sediments Management Guidance. DANSER delivers a pilot phase and envisages the deployment phase, with a strong emphasis on demonstrating active and passive innovative solutions, such as a) spatio-temporal mapping of natural and anthropogenic fluvial processes, b) sediment transport modelling, (c) sediment dating by radionuclide and radiometric methods, d) historical pollution analysis (e) geophysical survey and 3D historical reconstruction of the demonstration sites, (f) river-groundwater dynamics and pollution transport modelling, (g) river processes forecast simulations based on historical and active processes, (h) sediment budget analysis based on sedimentation measuring stations, UAV and bathymetry surveys, (i) water levels and quality monitoring and analysis j) river-side arm hydrotechnical connectivity interventions, (k) stakeholder-engaged sediment parametric evaluation and co management and (l) Nature based solutions for biodiversity characterization monitoring and improvement. On the soft measures side, DANSER enforces proactively a transnational sediment task force, from cooperating with all related instances, and commits with local communities and citizens engagement, including participatory tools. DANSER seeks to restore sediment balance, improve sediment flow and quality, characterise pollution transport mechanisms and integrate such actions and knowledge with EU and worldwide counterparts while still sustaining local and regional economies. DANSER will contribute significantly to the create a sustainable and harmonious human-Danube relationships.

BeeGuards aims to strengthen the resilience of the European beekeeping sector by providing sustainable management practices, novel breeding strategies and digital and forecasting tools that allow the sector to adapt to a changing environment. We focus on determining how abiotic factors such as management practices, climate change, nutrition and resource limitations drive emerging biotic stressors that threaten colony health and erode the resilience of European beekeeping. BeeGuards comprises multiple actors and adopts a multi-actor approach from inception which has led to an open and inclusive design of the work programme. As a community, we will perform European-wide field studies evaluating and validating innovative threshold-based management and breeding strategies for resilience, using hives equipped with technological measurement tools. Complementary detailed immunological, behavioural, microbiological, pathological, ecological investigations will elucidate the ways in which management and climate act on honey bees and other pollinators. In this way, BeeGuards will, for the first time, provide a truly holistic view of the mechanisms determining beekeeping resilience and implement nature-based, local solutions for adaption, including model-based advisory tools for stakeholders. Our open and participatory actions include development of a WikiBEEdia community website where we will share and promote the BeeGuards concepts and results, including a Quest for sustainable beekeeping practices. Ultimately, BeeGuards will show the way for a change of perspective that is needed to achieve resilient beekeeping. BeeGuards will mitigate the environmental impact of beekeeping in terms of impact on wild pollinators and of carbon footprint, protect pollinator biodiversity, ensure the future provision of pollination services and support the economic development and inclusiveness of beekeeping, preparing the European apicultural sector to meet the climate challenge.

BEAMING aims to raise excellence by enhancing innovation and knowledge valorisation within the bioeconomy domain through cooperation between higher education institutions, with a particular focus on Widening countries in Central-Eastern (CEE) and South-Eastern European (SEE) EU Member States and the Western Balkans. Improved global competitiveness and visibility of higher education institutions (HEI) will be achieved through establishing effective technology and know-how transfer between Widening countries and EU14 member states with more developed bioeconomies and R&I ecosystems, exploring and adopting structural reforms, educational priorities, and a culture of excellence. The BEAMING Alliance works towards 7 Specific Objectives: 1) Build the capacity of early-career researchers in all aspects of bioeconomy research; 2) Facilitate the reform of institutional practices and policy frameworks towards excellence; 3) Foster networking, knowledge exchange, and cross-disciplinary collaboration by establishing sustainable Communities of Practice; 4) Design joint research and innovation strategies and launch joint research projects; 5) Design a complex portfolio of activities for adopting Open Science practices; 6) Strengthen the valorisation of research results by increasing tech transfer capacity; 7) Support the participating institutions to move towards inclusive institutional culture, including gender equality. We aim to foster the uptake of the Quadruple Helix innovation ecosystem approach to provide a framework for higher education institutions to work collaboratively with industry, government, and civil society. Thereby, we aim to enhance their innovation capacity and the applicability of research results. Local and regional implementation strategies and roadmaps will be developed regarding the relevant ERA Policy Agenda actions in the higher education sector, particularly in the domains of bioeconomy and circular economy.