The European Cities Against School Segregation (ECASS) project sets the objective of creating innovative solutions for local government to tackle school segregation in European cities. School segregation is a burden to achieve equal opportunities for all and social and educational inclusion. As one of the main difficulties to undertake efficient education policies in this area is the transfer gap between researchers and policymakers, the ECASS project has been designed as a collaborative workspace between recognised research experts and local education authorities in three cities: Barcelona, Milan and Oslo.The project will generate innovative solutions in five main policy areas: admission policies, school supply, systems of detection and enrolment of vulnerable students, communication policies and priority policies addressed to disadvantaged schools and students. The ECASS consortium is composed of professionals from three research centres and three local education authorities. The project has designed a methodological strategy to maximise collaboration and co-design to reduce the transfer gap, such as a system of co-leading and mixing teams from research centres and local government agencies. The consortium will collaborate intensely with the City Policy Platforms (CPP) from each city, which will be composed by education stakeholders, including school-parent associations, headteachers and teachers (especially working in vulnerable contexts), teacher unions, representatives of district school boards, other local technicians and policymakers and civil society organizations working with vulnerable children. The consortium and the associate partners will collaborate in the production of project outputs.The ECASS project foresees the production of six innovative products that will boost innovation in the area of desegregation education policies. These include a catalogue of indicators and datasets to facilitate evidence-based decision-making; a database of innovative policies to tackle school segregation; policy recommendations and guidelines to reduce school segregation in European cities; course materials for local policymakers and other education stakeholders; an interactive workspace for school cooperation and information packs for families.The project includes a comprehensive dissemination plan by which all these outputs will be open access and available to the general public in the project's website as well as in institutional repositories. In addition, some outputs will be included in the School Gateway portal as a useful resource for schools and local policymakers. The three cities participating in this project are facing important challenges in educational inclusion, especially linked to the arrival of migrant and refugee population. The transnational character of the project will provide extremely useful knowledge since the three cities must respond to similar challenges from three different systems of school choice and three different institutional frameworks regarding the role of local education authorities in education policy. Both the similarities and differences between cities provide an excellent context for evaluating different scenarios of causes and characteristics of school segregation and for producing innovative solutions that can be scaled up. ECASS will help to put desegregation policies at the forefront of priorities to achieve a real inclusive education. Its result will contribute to building more equal and cohesive societies in Europe.

PERCEIVE aims at improving the perception, preservation, curation, exhibition, understanding and access of colored Cultural Heritage collections. It aims at developing a reliable way to Study, Reconstruct, Render, Remap, Exhibit and Re-appropriate them. These collections are, in fact, a priority because of their high fragility that requires shared methods to preserve and exhibit them (i.e. textiles start fading in only 10 years, while only small traces of the original polychromy on classical statues is left today), because of the complexity of their study (especially with the attempts of reconstructing their original appearance), and because of the importance of their communication to future generations and of the shaping of European common identity around the concepts of “care” and diversity/variety” (i.e. the different shades of skin colors that were common in the Greek and Roman times). PERCEIVE starts from the twofold needs of better preserving and communicating colored artworks, improving and speeding up scientific process results, that could better be used to maximize visitors' experience with the physical and the digital colored collections. Following the coronavirus emergency, in fact, museums have proved to lack of a digital policy that could guarantee a sustainable remote access for visitors. PERCEIVE aims at advancing the digital capability of scientists and cultural institutions, through a service based AI architecture and tool-kit; and by developing a new design theory for on site and remote VR/AR/MR experiences, based on “Care” “Accessibility” and “Authenticity” concepts, with and for the creative industries. Our expected outcomes include services and tools including: a PERCEIVE Tool Kit connected to an on line easy-to-use Service, PERCEIVE Experience Prototypes for the visitors, PERCEIVE Design Tool Kit for designers and educators.

The BuyZET project will develop innovative procurement plans to help the participating cities achieve their goals of zero emission urban delivery of goods and services. The core cities in the project - Rotterdam, Oslo and Copenhagen - will first identify which goods and service procurement areas have the highest "transportation footprint" - i.e. the number of motorised vehicle trips to transport goods and people generated in delivering the goods or services, and the related emissions. Based on this each city will select two procurement areas to focus on for the project. For each priority area, the cities will then: a) Instigate in-depth market consultation activities with all relevant supply chain actors to identify potential procurement pathways to achieving zero emission delivery. b) Identify and engage with other significant public and private buyers in the priority area with the aim of establishing a buyers group, launching joint or collaborative procurement actions Based on these activities, each city will prepare procurement plans, identifying specific upcoming tenders where the innovative solutions identified will be applied. The core group of cities will be joined by a group of Observer Cities, who will closely engage with project activities and be encouraged to also carry out the defined activities within or following the project period.

WASTE2ROAD will develop a new generation of cost-effective biofuels from a selected, well-defined range of low cost and abundant biogenic residues and waste fractions. Through optimisation of European waste recycling logistics and development of efficient low-risk conversion pathways, high overall carbon yields > 45% can be obtained while reducing greenhouse gases emissions > 80%. The established consortium covers the full value chain, from a) waste management and pre-treatment based on designated streams from households; b) the subsequent transformation of waste to bio-liquids through fast pyrolysis and hydrothermal liquefaction, c) production of advanced biofuels through intermediate refining processes combined with existing downstream refinery co-processing technologies deploying sustainable hydrogen production, and d) assessment of the end-use compatibility of the obtained biofuels for road transport applications. Correlations will be established between the quality and properties of diverse waste fractions, the relevant process parameters and final properties of the biofuel's: aiming to provide a unique understanding of the technical aspects related the whole value chain, as well as to assess and optimize the environmental, economic and social benefits. Throughout the whole value chain development, emphasis will be on risk-mitigation pathways to maximize further exploitation of the results in industrial implementation. Specific attention will be paid to risk management, while establishing connections with stakeholders and relevant standardisation bodies to secure the future exploitation of the project’s results.

PhysEd-Academy will directly address current challenges in school physical education (PE) and PE teacher education by improving four imperative quality factors: the purposes and content of PE; school teaching; teacher education; and continuous professional development (CPD). These will be achieved through mobility initiatives between PE teacher education institutions and PE teachers. PE is the one subject with the potential to provide young people with the skills, attitudes, knowledge, and understanding for a lifelong commitment to a physically active lifestyle and good health. In this way PE contributes to the global priority of decreasing the prevalence of physical inactivity by 15% in 2030. Yet, it fails in its current form. PE is built on old and inefficient traditions that are far from current recommended practices and policies, resulting in PE and teacher education having little or no impact on children and youth. By directly addressing the four quality factors and based on current evidence in PE and teacher education research, practice, and theory, PhysEd-Academy will develop and test innovative strategies and programs for initial PE teacher education and teachers’ ongoing CPD across Europe. This will lead to the development of a set of ‘signature pedagogies’ for learning across different PE teacher education programs, carrying the potential to improv the quality of PE and PE teacher education. The signature pedagogies will be tested by PhysEd-Academy partners in their respective initial teacher education and CPD programs subsequently boosting the attractiveness of the PE teaching profession. PhysEd-Academy is committed to becoming a key actor in improving PE and PE teacher education and will benefit local, regional, and international school PE and teacher education programs - with the ultimate aim of improving public health.