This proposal concerns the organization of the 35th European Union Contest for Young Scientists (EUCYS), which will be held in Katowice, Poland, in September 2024. The European Union (EU) Contest for Young Scientists (EUCYS) is the most important student science fair in the EU, showcasing the best of student scientific achievement in the EU and beyond. Each year, the event brings together promising, talented students & bright young minds (14-20 years old) from all over Europe and beyond, to present their projects to a panel of international judges. The competition helps promote science and research, and draws attention to young talents in European and global countries. During the competition, young scientists have the opportunity to meet other participants with similar interests, confront their project with other young scientists' activities, and talk with the judges - the most prominent scientists in Europe. The EUCYS competition works to attract young people to careers in science and technology.

EU TalentON Katowice 2024 - European Union Contest for early-career researchers (EU TalentON) is the contest for early career researchers. A pilot took place for the first time in Leiden – European Capital of Science 2022. This event will challenge young talented researchers to find solutions contributing to the most pressing global issues. The four-day contest in 2024 will take place in Katowice in Poland. It will be one of the flag events during Katowice - European Capital of Science 2024 proceedings and will bring together more than 100 early career researchers from across EU and feature an extensive programme, co-created with academia, innovators and industry. Divided into small teams, talented early career researchers will receive the necessary tools (such as workshops, lectures, master classes, personal guidance and cultural experiences) to create innovative and marketable solutions to challenges, which are based on EU Missions. At the end of the event, each team will pitch their solution to a professional jury and the public. Winners will receive sponsored prizes. The EU TalentOn, directly contributes to the actions set out in the ERA Policy Agenda. Specifically, the contest helps bring science closer to citizens by inviting them to co-create solutions for our most pressing challenges.

This study aims to provide a new understanding of how losses, disposals and dead-ends shape the direction of social change at moments of rupture, and to develop a formal theory of social loss. Sociologists have shown that people respond to crises by reconfiguring cultural understandings, narratives of self and social relationships. However, we have not paid sufficient attention to how what is disposed of shapes future pathways. LINLOSS will address this gap in the sociological imagination. It will develop new explanations of how loss generates change at multiple, intersecting societal scales: in the transformation of cultural and institutional patterns across generations; within changing configurations of relationships across genealogies and social networks; and in the reconstruction of pasts and futures within biographies. The research will be a comparative, cross-national community study of two ‘exurban’ districts in Ireland and Poland. The main form of data collection will be mixed biographical interviews, combining unstructured and formal elements, connected within genealogical support networks. The analysis will take place across two iterations: a comparative analysis to trace the effects of breaks and losses within and between social lineages at multiple scales; and a thematic analysis to identify how instances of loss are tied together by a common social pattern. We live in ‘unsettled times,’ when it is essential that sociologists provide insights on how pathways of social loss and renewal lead to variations and resilience to new challenges, for individuals, families and communities. If successful, the study will make a significant contribution towards this goal. It will deliver a methodological breakthrough in pioneering methods for the analysis of dynamic, multi-scalar social processes and will make a major theoretical contribution to scholarship on social change.

The project aims to build a Real City of Science in which: 1) science becomes the foundation for the method of managing and creating changes; 2) research work is seriously taken into consideration in the processes designed to implement changes; 3) science is an element and the driving force of transformation intended to improve the quality of life; 4) universities are a public good. This four missions will be implemented in Katowice by the end of 2024 together by the City of Katowice and the the Academic Consortium Katowice – City of Science, consisting of: Karol Szymanowski Academy of Music in Katowice, Academy of Fine Arts and Design in Katowice, Jerzy Kukuczka Academy of Physical Education, University of Economics in Katowice, Silesian University of Technology, Medical University of Silesia in Katowice, and University of Silesia in Katowice (leader of the consortium). The direct goal is to use science and higher education as a tool for transformation of the the City and region in order to improve the quality of life for the inhabitants and to ensure dynamic development thorought the region of Silesia. We do not see the European City of Science 2024 title as an end in itself, but as a key step towards building Katowice as a Real City of Science – an agile, networked science centre operating across the whole of the city. Celebrations of the European City of Science 2024 provide an excellent opportunity to “disseminate” the City of Science concept, using this event as a base to create a real legacy project for the city itself and for all of Silesia. We are opening up our universities to create a world-class programme of societal engagement with science, technology and innovation. We are transforming Katowice into a city-wide science centre, generating unique possibilities and reinforcing competencies for the future of Silesia, Poland and Europe.