Research infrastructures are key enablers in all areas of research and technology development and, as such, are crucial to advancing the frontiers of knowledge. RIs are increasingly used by researchers from numerous countries and are often operated by international consortia. The necessary expenditures for research infrastructures take up a significant portion of overall research budgets and they are constantly under pressure to adapt due to the advancements in science, research and technology. All these aspects underline the importance of research infrastructures. They also demonstrate the complexity that occur with construction, implementation, governance, operation, funding and international cooperation. Previous conferences have shown that countries around the world benefit from exchange and discussion on an international level regarding topics such as governance, best practices, evaluation of impacts and a wide variety of policy concerns related to research infrastructures. The overall objective of this proposal is to organize and further establish this dynamic international forum on research infrastructures. ICRI 2020 will bring together policy experts, facility managers, leading researchers and a wide variety of interested stakeholders to discuss challenges and emerging trends for research infrastructures around the world. The specific objectives of the proposed action are: 1. To provide an international forum for the discussion on the development of internationally important research infrastructures as well as on issues of common interest such as the internationalization of research infrastructures and assessing their impact on society and the economy; 2. To facilitate and promote international cooperation between European research infrastructures and their counterparts in all other regions of the world; and 3. To identify best practices and effective approaches to determine how research infrastructures can best enable research excellence.

Despite efforts to reduce fragmentation across the European Research Area, the European scientific system is still facing challenges in achieving gender equality and gender mainstreaming in research and innovation. In this context, and in line with ERA policy goals and national contexts, the GENDER-NET Plus ERA-NET Cofund aims to strengthen transnational collaborations between research programme owners and managers, provide support to the promotion of gender equality through institutional change and instigate the integration of sex and gender analysis into research and funding programmes. To do so, project partners – a consortium of 16 committed organisations – will join forces to 1) Implement a joint co-funded call for proposals, 2) Design and implement transnational actions on the promotion of gender equality through institutional change and the integration of sex and gender analysis into research, 3) Update and enlarge the mappings and analyses carried out in GENDER-NET on the promotion of gender equality in research and innovation, 4) Carry out a joint assessment of gender differences and bias in access to research grants and define and develop appropriate conditions for promoting equal opportunities in research funding, 5) Promote and disseminate key findings. GENDER-NET will address these goals through 7 work packages and relies on a strong transnational cooperation between partner EU Member States, Associated Countries, and Third Countries, to contribute to the advancement of gender equality in the ERA.

The WaterWorks2015 proposal responds to the Horizon 2020 (H2020) Societal Challenge 5 2015 Call topic Water-3 [2015]: Stepping up EU research and innovation cooperation in the water area. WaterWorks2015 aims at pooling resources from the 32 participating research programme owners / managers of 23 countries to implement a joint call for proposals, with EU co-funding in the area of sustainable water use in agriculture and forestry. It's a collaboration between the Joint Programming Initiatives (JPIs), Water JPI “Water Challenges for a Changing World” and FACCE JPI “Agriculture, Food Security and Climate Change”. Achieving a “sustainable water use in agriculture, to increase water use efficiency and reduce soil and water pollution” is at the intersection of the two JPIs, contributing to the implementation of their respective Strategic Research Agendas. WaterWorks2015 includes 9 organisations from associated and third countries in an effort to reinforce international cooperation. Additional Activities will also be carried out to further support the implementation and strategy of the Water JPI. The overall aims include: • Increasing the value of relevant national and EU R&D funding by concerted and joint planning, implementation and evaluation of national research programmes; • Pooling financial resources from participating states towards the definition and implementation of a Co-funded transnational and multi-disciplinary Call for research and innovation proposals. The aim of the Call will be to support the implementation of initiatives and environmental policies, in particular those related to water and agriculture & forestry, as a way to increase water use efficiency and to reduce soil and water pollution; • Overcoming the fragmentation of European water and agriculture/forestry-related research and innovation activities; • Supporting the implementation and the development of the two Joint Programming Initiatives, seeking synergies in overlapping research issues.