In January 2013 volcanic activity at the 'frequently active' Volcan de Colima, Mexico resumed in the form of Vulcanian explosions. Such Vulcanian explosions generate hazardous products such as tephra fallout and pyroclastic density currents and as such potentially pose a considerable risk to the population that live around the volcano. This research aims to take this urgent opportunity to study the tephra fallout of these explosions, which will not be preserved otherwise. We will estimate the volume of material being erupted and determine the sulphur dioxide being emitted both before and after explosions. The aim is to understand the driving mechanism for the Vulcanian explosions. Several different methods will be used to study the summit of the volcano and in particular the dimensions of changes, to enable estimation of the rate of any lava extrusion. These methods include over flights of the volcano, allowing photographs to be taken, which will allow estimates of the sizes of lava domes /and or flows to be estimated. In addition, will also use standard optical and radar satellite imagery, which is able to see through cloud cover, to document any changes that have occurred in the summit and the upper flanks. Following initial fieldwork we will characterise the nature of the tephra generated by the activity, its morphology, petrology and chemistry. These studies will provide the basis for understanding the driving mechanism behind this activity. For example is it related to a new pulse of magma and is the gas content of the magma similar to that erupted in previously and how does the geochemistry of the lava compare to previous episodes of activity.

SE-HUB project is a joint initiative of 2 EU-based organizations from Bulgaria and Greece active in youth and social entrepreneurship(SE), 2 African youth agents - the National Youth Council of Namibia and a socially engaged enterprise from South Africa, - and 2 universities from Brazil and Mexico involved in youth empowerment, SE and community development. SE-HUB’s overall objective is to build the capacity of youth organizations in the EU and Partner Countries to create awareness and skills for youth-led social entrepreneurial ventures and for the application of socially innovative entrepreneurial approaches in non-profit work within the citizen sector, in view of encouraging positive and lasting social change, improving the effectiveness of youth work and fostering the viability of youth organisations.The specific objectives include-building the capacity of youth organizations to monitor and analyse their local socio-economic contexts and needs in view of devising efficient youth work approaches and focusing on the right priority areas for the promotion of social entrepreneurship and innovation-promoting the exchange of good practices in the field of SE and social innovation in the non-profit citizen sector-developing training modules in the above fields-building participating organizations’ capacities for integrating SE and social innovation training into youth work at the local level using innovative and effective training and learning methods-creating sustainable hubs for social entrepreneurship and social innovation promotion, training and support, and encouraging effective networking and international cooperation in this field.The main project outputs are-four capacity-building activities such as a youth workers’ seminar, training of trainers, peer coaching trainings and sessions -experimentation with peer coaching, experiential learning and blended-mobility combining on-site and on-line learning activities -a peer coaching guide that allows for organization of informal and non-formal learning activities on social entrepreneurship and social innovation for youth by any interested organization outside the partnership -training materials and a data-base of good practices, presented through OERs and a MobileApp-establishment of social innovation training hubs with the project partner organizations, connected in a SE-HUB Network-local dissemination and multiplier events in Bulgaria, Greece, Namibia, South Africa, Brazil and Mexico-two videos presenting SE-HUB achievements and feedback from the participantsIn general, 295 youth workers and active young people participated directly in the project events, among them 18 disadvantaged youth. 73 stakeholder organizations and entrepreneurs were involved in SE-HUBs' activities. 88 success stories of social ventures launched by young people and youth organizations from all over the world are presented in SE-HUB database and MobileApp. The indirect audience reached by the project amounts to 15534 persons. New social entrepreneurship trends blur traditional boundaries between the public, private and citizen sectors. This is confusing to many youth organizations which may lack the theoretical and practical base to engage in effective capacity building. The SE-HUB project was conceived as a joint effort to devise adequate youth work methods, identify good practices and develop accessible training materials for capacity building activities in this regard. In the longer run, SE-HUB should lead to increasing high quality specialized training opportunities for youths interested in social entrepreneurship and career in the citizen sector, better recognition of youth work and improved capacities for finding innovative solutions to pressing social problems.

The ENTENDER project is a joint project in Region 8 (Latin America). It addresses the regional priority for ‘Improving management and operations of higher education institutions’ and specifically aligns with the CBHE priority ‘Equity, access to and democratisation of higher education.’ As suggested by the CBHE definition, the project will promote the inclusion of people with neurodiversity, who, as a sector of a larger group of people with disabilities, are currently disadvantaged by society resulting in them being disproportionately represented amongst the world’s lower socioeconomic groups. The aim of the project is to improve access, retention, attainment and employment prospects of people with neurodiverse conditions in Argentina and Mexico, allowing them to achieve their full potential by capacity building of neurodiversity support across higher education and employment sectors, fostering inclusion, and building knowledge. National education systems, which promote human capital development, play a major role in fostering economic development and strengthening the social institutions in a country and it is through education that disadvantage can be addressed. All project activities have been planned in an “inclusive” way to allow the participation of a wide range of internal and external stakeholders including students, parents, teachers, senior managers, employers and social partners. The EU will build capacity in Argentina and Mexico to deliver national and regional priorities by providing support for EU university staff to share knowledge and good practice, resources for teaching training and curriculum change, peer support programmes and employability support.

This project will address a first-order challenge in volcanology - understanding the controls on transitions in eruption style and intensity during the most hazardous eruptions. Most silicic eruptions begin with a high-energy, high-hazard explosive phase, then either wane and stop, or transition to hybrid and effusive behaviour that produces relatively short-range lava flows with much lower hazard potential. Understanding the timing of these transitions, and of the end of an eruption, is a major challenge that impacts hazard assessment and eruption response. Existing models assume that a transition from explosive to effusive behaviour is driven from below by a change in either the magma ascent rate or by the permeable release of pressurised gas, effectively 'defusing' the explosive potential. However, these bottom-up models fail to explain two fundamental aspects of silicic volcanism: (i) simultaneous explosive-effusive behaviour that was witnessed directly during the 2011-12 eruption of Cordon Caulle (Chile) and subsequently inferred elsewhere, and (ii) widely documented evidence for in-conduit pyroclast sintering preserved in the deposits from all phases of these eruption types. Members of the project team have used this evidence to develop a new paradigm for explosive-effusive transitions in silicic eruptions (Wadsworth et al., 2020) in which transitions are driven from above by shallow welding of fragmented magma and occlusion of the shallow conduit. In this 'cryptic fragmentation' paradigm, all silicic eruptions are explosive at depth, even when apparently effusive at the surface. This new idea demands a wholesale re-evaluation of silicic volcanic systems. Our new model proposes that apparently effusive lava is generated directly from explosive volcanism, assembled by the viscous amalgamation - sintering - of hot volcanic ash and pumice in the volcanic conduit in the shallowest parts of the Earth's crust (see CfS). The cryptic fragmentation model was developed in response to evidence from crystal-poor silicic systems. In this new study we go further, and propose that the model also applies to crystal-rich intermediate systems, which are much more common, and pose a global hazard. This hypothesis is based on abundant evidence from crystal-rich systems, similar to that summarized above. This project will deliver: (1) New analysis of dome-forming and crystal-rich lavas worldwide using existing samples from multiple laboratories. We will constrain the textures in the groundmass - with a focus on pore-textures indicative of sintering petrogenesis - and macro-scale textures associated with breaking and sintering, such as fractures will with partially sintered particles. This new textural work, coupled with analytical and petrophysical measurements, will underpin our extension of the cryptic fragmentation model to crystal-bearing magma systems. (2) A comprehensive suite of new experimental volcanology measurements of sintering rates with multiphase magmatic particles - glass with crystals. Relying on the PI's large body of experimental and theoretical sintering work, we will develop new experimentally-validated models for sintering rates with crystals in systems under elevated pressures, in the presence of magmatic volatiles, and under shear stresses. For the first time, this will push sintering theory to magmatic conditions and allow the first quantitative test of sintering rates at volcanoes. (3) We will apply these sintering rate equations to active crystal-bearing volcanic eruptions of the past at the same sites from which the sample suites were collected, with a focus on Colima volcano (Mexico) via engagement with stakeholders at volcano observatories. Cryptic fragmentation model reference: Wadsworth, F.B., Llewellin, E.W., Vasseur, J., Gardner, J.E. and Tuffen, H., 2020. Explosive-effusive volcanic eruption transitions caused by sintering. Science advances, 6(39), p.eaba7940

Democratisation of HE in LA has helped to ensure a growing trend of increasing enrolment of students with disability, although it is still not significant enough in terms of potential numbers (Mexico: disabled people access in HE lower than 5%, Chile: 6,6% from which, only 2,66% complete their studies, Argentina: disabled students represents 0,08% of the students population). The adaptation of HE to cater for disability is of major importance from an economic, political and social point of view. Only through this can the employability of disabled persons be enhanced, and public policies focusing on the promotion of work, income security, poverty prevention and social exclusion can be supported. In this context, Chile, Argentina and Mexico goverments and HEIs have taken some measures to provide the necessary legal frameworks for the inclusion of disabled students within society however there are enormous voids between the law, public policies, and actual practices.The MUSE project proposal “Disability and Modernity: Ensuring Quality Education for Disabled Students” is an ambitious initiative with a wide range of stakeholders, activities and operational goals to cope with complex challenges. Taking into account the substantial expertise and advancement in this domain in recent years by European universities, the project aims to raise awareness on inclusive education through exchange of good-practices between EU and LA HEIs. The main objective constitutes the development of a sustainable knowledge base and support structure allowing for a coherent implementation of disability initiatives, and directional strategic plans in LA HEIs. A network will engage stakeholders in an educational and social discussion for the inclusion of disabled students in HEIs and a new external relation framework will be created to facilitate their economic integration.