Theoretical Chemistry and Computational Modelling (TCCM) is emerging as a powerful tool to help in the rational design of new products and materials for pharmaceutical, chemical, energy, computer, and new-materials industries. To achieve this goal, it is necessary to go beyond the traditional electronic structure studies, and merge complementary techniques that are normally not available at a single research group. The research programme of the TCCM-EJD aims at applying computational modelling to problems demanded by the industry and with high societal relevance, namely Materials with special properties, Biomolecules for new therapies and Energy storage. The objective of the Joint Doctorate is to prepare future research leaders, able to develop and use multidisciplinary computational techniques (methods and software), with solid communication skills, with many contacts established through the intensive relationship with worldwide leading researchers of 12 European universities and 14 additional partners, including 7 industrial and spin-off companies. A Joint Doctorate in TCCM is already operative since 2011, based on a fully participative scientific discussion and assessment of all research projects with a clear interdisciplinary character and the direct participation of the non-academic sector. The training programme puts the emphasis in common training, including 3 annual International Workshops, 3 schools on High Performance Computing and 3 tutorials in new computer codes. Career development opportunities are enhanced with regular inter-sectoral activities, transferable skill education and career coaching.

C-BLUES will significantly advance knowledge and understanding of blue carbon ecosystems (BCEs) seagrasses, tidal marshes, mangroves, macroalgae, and macroalgae mariculture aiming to achieve three overarching objectives: 1) develop new scientific knowledge within BCEs to reduce scientific uncertainty and improve reporting of blue carbon under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), 2) provide input to a possible revision of the 2013 IPCC Wetlands Supplement to increase inclusion of coastal wetlands in national greenhouse gas (GHG) inventories and reporting, 3) raise awareness and promote the role of blue carbon for delivering global climate policy commitments in collaboration with Chinese and other international partners. C-BLUES will perform the following: produce spatial maps, methodological best practices and standard operating procedures; enable more robust and reliable quantification of carbon emissions and sequestration; model sequestration capacity and upscale regional and global GHG budgets; assess carbon stock changes, GHG emissions and removals related to different management interventions and human activities; review legal and institutional frameworks governing BCEs; and assess the drivers and barriers for integrating coastal wetlands into national reporting mechanisms under the UNFCCC. C-BLUES will target the following Mission Ocean Lighthouse Areas (LA): LA Atlantic/Arctic, LA Baltic and North Sea, and LA Mediterranean Sea. The Black Sea, Dutch Antilles, and through collaboration with China, the Southern China coast will also be covered. C-BLUES will engage with the scientific community, climate and coastal policy makers and the wider civil society to disseminate the knowledge generated, raise awareness of BCEs and build capacity for blue carbon research inclusion. C-BLUES will effectively impact national and international climate policy work so that BCEs more prominently are included in reporting and management actions.

Advancing education and training in High Performance Computing (HPC) and its applicability to HPDA and AI is essential for strengthening the world-class European HPC ecosystem. It is of primary importance to ensure the digital transformation and the sustainability of high-priority economic sectors. Missing educated and skilled professionals in HPC/HPDA/AI could prevent Europe from creating socio-economic value with HPC. The Hpc EuRopean ConsortiUm Leading Education activities (HERCULES) aims to develop a new and innovative European Master programme focusing on high performance solutions to address these issues. The master programme aims at catalysing various aspects of the HPC ecosystem and its applications into different scientific and industrial domains. HERCULES brings together major players in HPC education in Europe and mobilises them to unify existing programs into a common European curriculum. It leverages experience from various European countries and HPC communities to generate European added value beyond the potential of any single university. HERCULES emphasizes on collaboration across Europe with innovative teaching paradigms including co-teaching and the cooperative development of new content relying on the best specialists in HPC education in Europe. Employers, researchers, HPC specialists, supercomputing centres, CoEs and technology providers will constitute a workforce towards this master in HPC pilot programme. This pilot will provide a base for further national and pan-European educational programmes in HPC all over Europe and our lessons learned and the material development will accelerate the uptake of HPC in academia and industry. The creation of a European network of HPC specialists will catalyse transfers and mutual support between students, teachers and industrial experts. A particular focus on mobility of students and teachers will enable students to rapidly gain experience through internships and exposure to European supercomputing centres

An important challenge for quantum information networks is the development of efficient quantum memories and sources of single-photons. A promising category of such devices is based on ensembles of neutral atoms. The motivation comes from the fact that collective effects related to large number of atoms make it much easier in principle to achieve a strong and controllable coupling between the medium and the light. The present project aims at performing such experiments based on an ensemble of cold atoms trapped in the vicinity of a nanofiber, which will enable to obtain a larger optical thickness, a better coupling between collective excitations and light modes and thus a larger efficiency than previous ensemble-based implementations.