PARC is an EU-wide research and innovation partnership programme to support EU and national chemical risk assessment and risk management bodies with new data, knowledge, methods, networks and skills to address current, emerging and novel chemical safety challenges. PARC will facilitate the transition to next generation risk assessment to better protect human health and the environment, in line with the Green Deal?s zero-pollution ambition for a toxic free environment and will be an enabler for the future EU ?Chemicals Strategy for Sustainability?. It builds in part on the work undertaken and experience acquired in past and on-going research and innovation actions, but goes beyond by its vocation to establish an EU-wide risk assessment hub of excellence. To contribute to several expected impacts of destination 2 ?Living and working in a health-promoting environment?, PARC will organise the activities to reach three specific objectives: - An EU-wide sustainable cross-disciplinary network to identify and agree on research and innovation needs and to support research uptake into regulatory chemical risk assessment. - Joint EU research and innovation activities responding to identified priorities in support of current regulatory risk assessment processes for chemical substances and to emerging challenges. - Strengthening existing capacities and building new transdisciplinary platforms to support chemical risk assessment. The Partnership brings together Ministries and national public health and risk assessment agencies, as well as research organisations and academia from almost all of EU Member States. Representatives of Directorates-General of the EC and EU agencies involved in the monitoring of chemicals and the assessment of risks are also participating. PARC will meet the needs of risk assessment agencies to better anticipate emerging risks and respond to the challenges and priorities of the new European policies.

Planetary boundaries of river water pollution are at risk of being breached, with dangerous consequences for human and environmental health, economic prosperity, and water security. The current paradigm for environmental management is predicated on understanding of average conditions. However, we know environmental pollution can vary markedly in space and time. This interdisciplinary Large Grant (co-created with non-academic partners and as NERC-NSF collaboration) will pioneer innovations in experimental analytics, data science and mathematical modelling to yield new mechanistic understandings of the dynamic drivers of multi-contaminant pollution hotspots (spaces) and hot moments (times) in a changing water world. The diagnosis of the impact of these locations and periods when average pollution conditions are far exceeded on large scale and long-term river basin water quality is critical to inform local and global adaptation and mitigation strategies for river pollution and develop interventions to keep within a safe(r) 'operating space' and improve water quality for people and the environment. SMARTWATER will therefore integrate environmental sensing, network and data science innovations, and mathematical modelling with stakeholders' catchment knowledge to transform the way we diagnose, understand, predict, and manage water pollution hotspots and hot moments. We will: 1. Pioneer the application of scalable field diagnostic technologies for water quality sensing and sampling for identifying and characterising multi-pollution hotspots and hot moments for emerging (e.g., wastewater indicators, pharmaceuticals, pesticides) and legacy (e.g., nutrients) contaminants. 2. Develop smart water quality monitoring network solutions at river basin scale based on integrating high-resolution networks of proxy water pollution indicators with multivariate UAV boat-based longitudinal river network sampling to understand the footprint, propagation and persistence of pollution hotspots and hot moments in river basins. 3. Develop and apply data science innovations integrating deep machine learning and artificial intelligence approaches for pollution source attribution and to identify how hotspots and hot moments of multi-pollutions dynamics results from pollution source activation, connectivity and river network transport and transformation. 4. Demonstrate the utility of the new generation of smart pollution data to improve the capacity of integrated river basin scale water quality models to adequately present and predict the emergence of pollution hotspots and hot moments including their large-scale footprint and longer-term relevance for catchment water pollution. 5. Co-create with our stakeholder community pathways for successfully implementing practical and policy relevant changes in water quality management practice and use the interdisciplinary and inter-sectoral expertise of our broad stakeholder base to inform knowledge generation and dissemination pipelines in SMARTWATER. The mechanistic process understanding and integrated technological and management solutions that will be developed in SMARTWATER will allow a step change in the diagnostics, prediction and management of water pollution and transform our ability to understand and tackle pollution pressures of increasing complexity in a rapidly changing environment.

Manufactured chemicals are essential for the maintenance of public health, food production and quality of life, including a diverse range of pharmaceuticals, pesticides, and personal care products. The use of these compounds throughout society has led to increasing concentrations and chemodiversity in the environment. Whilst there has been focus on understanding the impacts of chemicals on a subset of freshwater biodiversity (particularly invertebrates and fish), we understand less about how chemical pollution impacts freshwater microbes. These microbial communities (the 'microbiome') number in the millions to billions of cells per millilitre of water or gram of sediment and form the most biodiverse and functionally important component of freshwater ecosystems. The biogeochemical and ecological functions delivered by freshwater microbes are essential to wider freshwater ecosystem health. The PAthways of Chemicals Into Freshwaters and their ecological ImpaCts (PACIFIC) project will focus on understanding the link between sources of anthropogenic chemicals and their pathways, fate and ecological impacts in freshwater ecosystems, with an emphasis on freshwater microbial ecosystems and the functions they perform. We will investigate the relationship between predicted diffuse and point source chemical pathways and measured chemical concentrations in water and sediments at locations across the Thames and Bristol Avon catchments, chosen to represent gradients of diffuse pollution sources. These locations will be chosen to coincide with Wastewater Treatment Works (WwTWs) to understand how sewage effluent contributes to chemical burden across these gradients. Liquid chromatography coupled with (high resolution) tandem mass spectrometry and QTOF (quadrupole Time-of-Flight) mass spectrometry will be used to perform targeted and untargeted profiling of chemical groups proven and suspected to impact freshwater ecology. A range of microbial community ecosystem endpoints will also be measured at each location to identify the impact of chemical exposure, including bacterial and fungal community composition via DNA sequencing, the expression of nutrient cycling and chemical stress and resistance genes, the production of extracellular enzymes involved with biogeochemical cycling, and the functional gene repertoire of whole microbial communities. We will perform experimental microcosm exposures on freshwater microbial communities, with increasing complexity and realism, deploying high-throughput screening to identify novel chemical groups (and their structural features) with the capacity to restructure these communities. Exemplar microbial community modifying chemicals will be investigated in more detail by applying cutting-edge molecular techniques to determine ecological exposure thresholds that represent different taxonomic and functional aspects of freshwater microbial ecosystems. Novel field based mesocosms will be used to explore wastewater exposures in more realistic, but controlled settings, allowing us to explore how chemical pollution may interact with other ecological drivers such as nutrients and temperature, and how microbial responses scale-up to higher trophic levels and alter ecosystem functioning. Spatially and temporally up-scaled models of diffuse and point source chemical pollution pathways will be combined with novel thresholds developed from the lab and field exposures, to determine chemical threats to freshwater microbes, supporting the development of tools for the better management of the risks of chemical pollution to freshwater ecosystem health. These will be combined with future hydrological, climate and socio-economic scenarios, informed by responses in our experiments, and co-developed with project collaborators, the Environment Agency, to explore future threats to microbial freshwater ecosystems and wider ecosystem health.

Climate change impacts, such as droughts, wildfires and floods, are increasing, particularly affecting vulnerable groups living near river and coastal areas. Global climate action narratives are problematic with top-down doom and gloom narratives, which often fail to meet targets; green growth and de-growth narratives, criticised for unequal access to green innovation and slow change; and transformative 'win-win' narratives, involving bottom-up activities like increasing blue-green infrastructure. These narratives create barriers to social learning when trade-offs in implementation are ignored. Climate action opportunities (e.g. after the extreme Summer 2007 floods) are also fleeting, often overlooked by politicians and media. However, no global plan has emerged to consider future climate impacts or transfer these lessons elsewhere. Urgent action is needed to find new ways of communities co-creating their own local place-based climate action narratives. Researchers argue that local people, being the most informed about climate impacts, need to be central in decision-making. Despite this need for local voices, community-engaged methods for climate action are lacking. Existing infrastructure approaches have failed to adequately restore and conserve resources for vulnerable groups facing climate stress. Consequently, local people need emotional, financial, and inclusive support to implement immediate and effective climate actions aligned with their local knowledge. The new interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary theatre-based approach in Climate Collaboratorium offers novelty, high risk, and high reward. The project focuses on water security issues affecting vulnerable communities, particularly youth and seniors living near rivers. In the UK, river-side towns of Tewkesbury and Shrewsbury are working on flood resilience and water security plans amidst worsening climate extremes. However, intergenerational perspectives and involvement in these conversations are limited. The proposed approach centres on knowledge-exchange rather than monitoring, involving vulnerable voices in creation of artistic products that reflect their experiences of climate change. This approach aims to blend scientific and local narratives, promoting bottom-up climate action and shifting responsibilities and agency from environmental managers and scientists to local communities. As nations strive to tackle water challenges, four teams (Canada, Germany, UK and US) are joining forces to create a skilled cohort of academics/professionals, ready to explore how climate action can enhance infrastructure, water, and livelihood security within specific river catchments at local scale, and how local teams can share insights to grow global lessons and action. The team includes social, climate, natural, and policy scientists; global climate change data networks; theatre designers/actors, directors/scriptwriters; Indigenous scholars; bias/inclusion experts; and environmental professionals in four river/estuaries. The UK team combines drama, geography and hydroclimate expertise to address water security and climate change adaptation. The team, with extensive experience in environmental management and community-based interdisciplinary research, is planning to co-create a performance piece using stories from flood-affected communities. Their approach focuses on community engagement and inclusive participatory research. They are partnering with climate network managers to plan climate change materials as workshop prompts, co-produce adaptation/mitigation strategies based on scientific evidence, and plan sharing of these co-produced intergenerational options with international partners. Their interdisciplinary background in community theatre, hydrological sciences and community water management allows them to work with communities to create place-based action that addresses risks to living standards through resilient water security and climate resilience.

Tackling industrial emissions is essential for the UK to deliver on its climate commitments and achieving economic and social prosperity from the transition to net zero. IDRIC was established in 2021 as part of the UKRI Industrial Decarbonisation Challenge to support the decarbonisation of industrial clusters. During this time, IDRIC has developed an influential and impactful network at a critical time and become an essential catalyst bringing together the research and innovation community to accelerate the pace and scale of industrial cluster decarbonisation. Funding for current IDRIC activities will cease in Spring 2024. However, the need for the functions IDRIC is delivering - the research work plus bringing together the relevant players in an environment that allows and encourages trust and collaboration, reduces barriers and accelerates progress - will continue for decades. The UK needs to take long term, multi-decadal decisions to providing long term commitment for industry emission reductions into the 2030s and IDRIC is exceptionally well placed to lead EPSRC activity towards the delivery of the UK's Industrial Decarbonisation Strategy. This proposal represents funding for a 12-month transitional period (April-2024 to March-2025), which will be crucial to support IDRIC in maintaining essential momentum and the community cohesion necessary to safeguard the knowledge, experience and relationships built at this critical time for industrial decarbonisation. The objectives have been co-created with industry and academia building upon the established sense of belonging and the long-term relationships and associated trust required to deliver: Continue to synthesise and disseminate learnings and impacts from the cluster focussed, challenge-led research delivered in 2021-2024. Foresight and horizon-scan of industry-informed research and innovation needs of decarbonisation to deliver towards targets of 2030, 2040 and 2050. Co-create and share knowledge by maintaining active networks and platforms to stimulate cross-learning and engender national/international collaborations for developing net zero solutions. Support policy, skills development and mission advocacy by providing evidence to policymakers, regulators, industry, the wider supply chain and the public to promote decarbonisation. To date, IDRIC have carefully considered that continued engagement is critical and also dependent on stakeholders gaining ongoing strategic benefit from their interaction. This has been key to IDRIC's current success, as shown by bringing together relevant players in an environment that allows and encourages trust and collaboration, reduces barriers and accelerates progress. Therefore, with this 12-month funding we will be prioritising key stakeholder engagement that are aligned with 3 workstreams; Clusters & Partnerships; KE & Synthesis; Cross-cutting Themes (Policy, Skills, EDI). The activities for this phase of IDRIC are designed to utilise IDRIC's unique convening power. They will deliver a suite of outputs e.g. (frontiers report, industry net-zero innovation roadmap) scoped through engagement with the community to ensure maximum impact from the current phase and strategic activities in support of a mapping a clear path for the critical steps required from 2025-2030 - crucial to enabling the realisation of the UKs first net-zero cluster by 2030.