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.

<< Objectives >>59 million adults lives with diabetes in EU. 15% increase is estimated by 2045 along with even $1788 billion health care costs (↑30% of current costs). European Association for the Study of Diabetes proves substantial risk reduction through diet. Nutrition education is challenging. Cook2DIABeat comprises 6 Partners of 4 EU countries to suggest a novel – in EU – Training Approach, Culinary Medicine and Empower Patients with Diabetes of diverse sociodemographic status to Self-Manage their disease.<< Implementation >>In 1st phase, Co-creation Sessions with Patients and Health Providers will be used to Co-design Training. Survey will be used to define the setting where patients “live, act, choose”. 2nd phase is Development of Cook2DIAbeat platform with Visual Learning Activities and other experiential elements. 3rd phase includes Validation through Face-to-Face and Virtual Pilots. Knowledge gained and compliance with new behaviors, in pre- and post- phases will accomplish Validation before Final Launching.<< Results >>Cook2DIAbeat will result in peer-reviewed Culinary-based Adult Training for Patients with Diabetes to provide key competences for sustainable behavioral changes. Consortium will train ≥100 Patients of diverse sociodemographic status from ≥5 EU countries. Cook2DIAbeat Dissemination/Exploitation Strategy will have multiplier effects reaching ≥3500 EU parties via Info Days, Social Media Campaigns, Newsletters – all inserted in Epale. Cook2DIAbeat Platform will be active for ≥2 years after project.

"EU4Dual will form the first European University dedicated to dual studies characterised by the fact it combines two places of learning, where, the university, emphasises ""theory"" and the workplace, emphasises ""practice"". Our 9 partner institutions, and our network of over 35 associate partners will work together to mobilise: education, research and innovation and service to society at the regional level with the mission to use transnational dual education to help Europe address major societal challenges. These Grand Challenges include: - future of work - green economy - healthy living Our collaboration will, by 2025 lead us to: • establish a sustainable cooperation mechanism that founds the “European Dual University” and provides for its longterm operations and funding; • set up a Centre of Excellence on Dual Education, which promotes research, knowledge exchange, capacity building and development of the sector; • implement new learning pathways for dual education whereby most of our programmes include research, teaching or internship elements from at least two members of the institution • launch 2 new joint masters programme, a joint dual doctorate programme and a joint micro-credential portal, offering continuing career development and new skills created by us as well as our industry partners • launch an ecosystem of joint research projects, at micro-, meso- and macro-level supporting our grand challenges • create an unparalleled transnational work-based learning scheme with strong support from international business • Provide mobility experiences for at least 50% of our staff and students Our innovative management model will see students, companies and regions lead the institution, by holding most voting rights in our management structures. Beyond 2025, we intend to grow the university to include members from 20 countries, and become the world’s premiere dual-studies institution in terms of quality, size and breadth of activities."

FLAVOURFERM aims to optimize, demonstrate, and deploy fermentation technologies to unlock the flavor potential of plant-based foods and respond to consumer demand for tasty, nutritious, and healthy plant-based products. Precision fermentation, biomass fermentation, and traditional fermentation techniques will be optimized to improve the sensory properties (flavor and texture) as well as the protein content and bioavailability in plant-based foods. Innovative fermented foods will be developed by incorporating ingredients from the optimized fermentation techniques into food products. The production will involve animal-free recombinant casein obtained by precision fermentation, as well as fungal mycelia obtained from legume fermentation, to produce an array of novel food products in three business cases: plant-based cheese, plant-based meat, and plant-based milk. All novel ingredients and final products will be scaled-up and produced at pilot and pre-commercial scale in collaboration with industrial partners, which include both innovative SMEs and established manufacturers from different EU regions.