River networks are among Earth’s most threatened hot-spots of biodiversity and provide key ecosystem services (e.g. supply drinking water and food, climate regulation) essential to sustaining human well-being. Climate change and increased human water use are causing more rivers and streams to dry, with devastating impacts on biodiversity and ecosystem services. Currently, over half the global river network consist of drying channels and these are expanding dramatically. However, drying river networks (DRNs) have received little attention from scientists and policy makers, and the public is unaware of their importance. Consequently, there is no effective integrated biodiversity conservation or ecosystem management strategy of DRNs facing climate change. A multidisciplinary team of 25 experts from 11 countries in Europe, South America, China and the USA will build on EU efforts to investigate how climate change, through changes in flow regimes and water use, has cascading impacts on biodiversity, ecosystem functions and ecosystem services of DRNs. DRYvER (DRYing riVER networks) will gather and upscale empirical and modelling data from nine focal DRNs (case studies) in the EU and CELAC to develop a meta-system framework applicable to Europe and worldwide. It will also generate crucial knowledge-based strategies, tools and guidelines for cost-effective adaptive management of DRNs. Working closely with stakeholders and end-users, DRYvER will co-develop strategies to mitigate and adapt to climate change effects in DRNs, integrating hydrological, ecological (including nature-based solutions), socio-economic and policy perspectives. The end results of DRYvER will contribute to reaching the objectives of the Paris Agreement and place Europe at the forefront of research on climate change.

Control4Reuse aims at researching and developing technologies for managing treated water resources. The optimization of water treatment and reclamation systems in an integrated manner is foreseen as a sustainable solution to improve the reuse of this valuable water resource. The emphasis of the project is on the reuse of wastewater in specific agricultural and industrial sectors. From a technological viewpoint, the scope of the project is casted within a system monitoring and control framework, with specific activities ranging from the supervision and integration of sensor information/data, mathematical modelling of the processes and the design of advanced control strategies. The very different scenarios and climates offered by the three countries (Brazil/Ceará, France and Sweden) participating in the project consortium, will allow the definition of a wide spectrum of solutions for water reuse.

Brazil's current social and political situation gives rise to a particular breed of urban violence aimed at individuals and characterized by its continual presence. The average Brazilian citizen has to contend with this violence on a daily basis. This creates a general state of fear and insecurity among the population in general, but, at the same time, may promote on the part of more socially aware individuals, a sense of empathy with the less privileged classes in Brazil. The influence of the media contributes to this scenario. Daily news reports highlight violent acts carried out by individuals or groups from all social classes. The impact of violence on people's everyday lives is thus amplified by the media. This fosters beliefs, attitudes and values related to violence, which may or may not be consistent with the actual incidence, forms and causes of violence. The partners will investigate the linguistic representation of urban violence in Brazil by applying the techniques of Corpus Linguistics to two datasets, or 'corpora': 1. The existing transcripts of two focus groups on living with urban violence conducted in Fortaleza, Brazil in 2010, for a total of approximately 20,000 words (Focus Groups Corpus); 2. A 2-million-word corpus of news reports in the Brazilian press, to be constructed as part of the partnership (News Reports Corpus).