European and global Research and Innovation Ecosystems (RIEs) are at risk. Planetary tensions have exposed EU vulnerabilities and elevated technology sovereignty to the top of policy agendas. Open RIEs are now contested spaces increasingly being viewed through the lens of protectionism, jeopardizing science as a universal and public good essential for addressing global challenges. Achieving a sound balance between security and openness (S&O) is imperative. To date, however, the lack of scientific evidence prevents us from holistically addressing how technological sovereignty is affecting both the operations of RIEs and the geography of innovation, while the research community struggles with adoption and implementation of fragmented and often impractical guidance. Using the semiconductor industry as a testbed, the Fellowship combines deep theoretical grounding with a strong applied focus. Based on an interdisciplinary multi-methodological approach, the Overall Objective is to pRoducE Actionable poLicy Insights that enable a sound balance between Security and opEnness (REALISE) in EU RIEs. REALISE’s tridimensional impact is intertwined with the pursuit of a holistic approach that advances world-class knowledge and develops governance mechanisms for balancing S&O in RIEs. This approach, developed with contributions from relevant stakeholders – including the private sector – aims to be responsive to real needs, turning RIEs from existing pockets of excellence into thriving ecosystems. Training at prestigious academic institutions in the US and EU, along with the placement at INSIDE (a leading Industry Association focused on Intelligent Digital Systems), will equip the researcher with amplified and cross-cutting skills to become a hybrid investigator to both steer scientific research in academia and support STI domains of policy-making for industrial organizations and institutional settings, while facilitating the dialogue between different actors of the EU RIEs.

JOPHIL will provide the first systematic study into the origins of our modern conceptions of space and void. As people living in the 21st century, we give for granted that objects are tridimensional and that void space exists in nature (or it can be produced artificially). Yet, this was not always the case. Aristotle, the great ancient thinker whose worldview remained dominant in Europe well into the 17th century, thought otherwise. He understood objects as having two dimensions only, and he resolutely rejected the idea that void space could possibly exist. The first thinker to take exception to Aristotles views was John Philoponus, a 6th-century Egyptian scholar writing in Greek. Unknown in the Middle Ages, Philoponus works were rediscovered and translated only in 15th-century Italy. Once available, they had a seismic impact on Renaissance natural philosophy and science: they provided Renaissance scholars with the tools to rethink crucial aspects of the physics of the time, and they laid the foundations of the new science which would emerge in the 17th century. Challenging the dominant Eurocentric narratives about the origins of the Scientific Revolution, JOPHIL will map for the first time the rediscovery and progressive assimilation of Philoponus innovative ideas of space and void into 16th-century Europe. It will do so by examining the material recovery of Philoponus texts in Renaissance Italy and by exploring their impact on five European thinkers who, between 1520 and 1604, read and discussed Philoponus works. JOPHIL contributes to re-orient the origins of modern science in two different ways. First, it re-evaluates the role played by non-European thinkers in the shaping of European science, thus fostering a new idea of Europe as the historical product of a variety of different cultures and traditions. Second, it broadens the canon of the protagonists of modern science, thus contributing to more inclusive research and educational practices in the future.

Digital and electronic media play a central role in contemporary wedding rituals, be it during the preparation, the ritual itself or afterwards. Wedding photographers and videographers stage the couple during the wedding ritual and reception/party and these depictions shape the wedding couple’s and their guests’ memories in the future. The research question is: How do contemporary media representations of religious and secular weddings in Europe communicate norms and values? Weddings are understood as a constitutive rite de passage that is commonly practiced in religious traditions as well as in a variety of cultural and secular contexts. Secular and religious traits of wedding rituals produce a complex and often complementary relationship. Wedding practices shape and communicate gender, social, cultural and economic values of individuals and groups. The interdisciplinary research considers theories from the study of religion, cultural studies, media ethics, and political philosophy and applies a multi-methodological approach that includes media analysis, ethnographic studies, and qualitative methods. The project scrutinizes how media representations and practices enclose and reshape religious and secular norms and values as well as stereotypes with the intent to highlight the performativity of their mediatisation. Due to the power of images media ethical questions arise and the research provides a theoretical framework to discuss it. One of the intended short-term results is to suggest best practice for social actors in the field of wedding media productions and to develop research tools for analysing the mediatisation of values and norms. Long-term results are to increase social awareness of the performativity of images (that express hierarchical relationships among individuals, genders and in religions), in order to strengthen a more inclusive, secure, innovative, and reflective European society and culture, to improve respect and to prevent subordination.

The overall aim of this fellowship is to provide a comprehensive and innovative socio-legal analysis of climate change-induced migration in the EU from a gender perspective. The migration policies and laws existing within the EU and its member States ignore the climate change and gender as causes of migration flows, although the EU is among the world's top three CO2 emitters after China and the United States, responsible of climate change induced migration. Ignoring such dimensions, gender and climate, impede first to protect those who are the most vulnerable, in particular women and girls as migrants; second, to prevent social conflicts, discrimination and human rights violations within the EU; and third to consider the beneficial labor and economic effect of female migration for host societies. Responding to this legal and policy gap, this multi-disciplinary project aims to accomplish the following two objectives: 1) to develop a comparative analysis on the comprehensive legal framework of the EU member states on migration, climate change and gender, including the identification of good practices and regulatory improvements and 2) to exploring all the possible regulatory improvements at EU level and at the domestic level to cope with the insufficient commitment and protection of EU towards climate migration from a gender perspective. To accomplish these objective, the applicant will obtained advanced training in methodological and doctrinal training in migration and climate studies, using an innovative feminist methodology, contributing to acquire new skills to problematize the deficiencies and to propose new EU legal avenues. The project’s scientific importance, operationalised through its 5 work packages and associated scholarly impact and dissemination activities, lies in its original contribution as the first multi-disciplinary study to propose these new socio-legal avenues at EU level, necessary to properly recognize and protect climate gendered migration.

The project Transcultural Perspectives in Art and Art Education (TPAAE) aims to investigate contemporary art in Europe and East Africa, and forms of art education on both continents in transcultural perspective. Innovative in our approach will be setting up the theoretical and practical dialogue, recognizing mutual artistic and cultural influences between Europe and East Africa since times of Great Avant-garde until contemporary globalization; in the same time valuing cultural heritage and opening it for modern transformations for the sake of community and social development. The profound research in transcultural perspectives on art and art education will be realized within the TPAAE project by the Consortium containing academic and non-academic institutions from Poland, Italy, and Kenya. International and intersectoral mobility guarantees high level and effective sharing of knowledge. All the institutions investigate art, culture and cultural heritage and have various complementing each other competences, allowing for research and implementation of its effects into practice. Transcultural perspective is the response to the three main strategies for the reduction of otherness developed due to globalization: egocentrism, logocentrism and ethnocentrism, and is essential, today more than ever, to persuade individuals to appreciate cultural diversity and to recognize the importance of defending and promoting tangible and intangible cultural heritage. The TPAAE project will develop according to three lines, each having its specific goals: 1) theoretical - researching on relations between East African and European art, 2) academic - elaborating and implementing the programme in Fine Arts and Design at PUC in dialogue with European institutions, and 3) practical - supporting the development of art scene in the region in Kenya.