"Title of project: Increase and development of manual skills and physical vitality of citizens of the European Union over 50 years (IDEMASAP 50+). Unemployment in the European Union has been at the lowest levels in the last few years. The economy is running at full speed and we can talk about importing human capital into the EU. These positive economic indicators also have shortcomings as the overwork and ""burnout"" of certain jobs. The main goal of the project was: Increase and develop manual skills and physical vitality in connection with the exchange of best practices in adult education in EU countries. The project belongs to adult education and focuses on the exchange of best practices in the learning area. It supports the development and higher effectiveness of continuing education aimed at older adults in particular. Partial goals of the project: 100 students in the learning process, 10-20 involved lecturers, 5 international partnerships, 140 international mobilities, 10 created study materials and video manuals and other activities such as seminars, conferences and exhibitions. Main target groups - EU citizens over 50 and lecturers in further education. Strengths of the project: an experienced working team and experienced experts in adult and senior education in Europe. The results of the project (studey materials, video materials) are in English language and on project web page: https://utv.tuzvo.sk/en/idemasap-50, YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/c/UTVZvolen and on EU Erasmus plus platform - results. Project participants were able to engage in a 1.5 year learning process. They had the opportunity to engage in international mobility and actively participate in other project activities. Participating organizations were able to show their best experiences - practices in the learning process, create a study guide and share their experience at international meetings."

The over-arching goal of this project is to test the unanswered question of whether the functioning of tropical forest ecosystems-such as how much biomass they produce-depends on how diverse they are and therefore whether replanting degraded forests with diverse mixtures of species can accelerate their recovery and help fund replanting costs through carbon credits. Tropical forests are being lost all over the world and of the remaining area more is degraded secondary forest than undisturbed old growth. This degradation occurs largely through selective logging which has negative effects of the functioning of the forest (e.g. how productive it is and how much carbon it stores) as well as on its biodiversity. This is important because work outside of the tropics in ecosystems like temperate grasslands has demonstrated a positive relationship between biodiversity and a range of ecosystem functions, including primary productivity. However, the challenges of scientific research in the tropics mean we have much less evidence of whether there is a positive relationship between levels of tree diversity and aboveground biomass production in tropical forest ecosystems. Indeed, some ecological theory suggests that species in these ecosystems are so similar ecologically that many species could be lost with little or no impact on how these ecosystems function. Twenty years ago, we started a collaboration with local foresters, conservationists and scientists in Sabah (Malaysian Borneo) to set up a long-term experiment to test whether there is a relationship between biodiversity and ecosystem functioning in these tropical forest ecosystems. The project, the Sabah Biodiversity Experiment, is one of the world's largest ecological experiments, making it of particular relevance to real-world efforts to restore and sustainably manage tropical forests. The experiment has adopted the existing forest restoration activity of 'enrichment planting' to plant more than 100,000 seedlings of native tree species across an area of 500 hectares of logged forest, allowing the recovery rates of naturally regenerating control plots to be robustly compared with those planted with different diversities (1, 4 or 16 species) and mixtures of tree species. We will assess restoration progress relative to nearby old growth forest, especially the neighbouring undisturbed area where we have repeatedly mapped and measured every tree within a 50-hectare area (the Danum Valley ForestGeo Plot) as part of a global network to monitor forest health. The large size of our research plots means they are difficult to repeatedly monitor in fine detail using traditional field methods. We will therefore combine targeted field sampling with cutting-edge remote sensing technologies to explore how tree enrichment planting has shaped the recovery of canopy structure, aboveground carbon stocks and plant diversity across hundreds of hectares of degraded forest. Our project will take advantage of existing data acquired for our study sites using two complementary technologies: LiDAR and satellite remote sensing. Airborne LiDAR uses a laser mounted on an airplane or helicopter to precisely measure the height of the vegetation and reconstruct the 3D structure of the forest canopy and underlying terrain in exquisite detail, allowing forest carbon stocks to be accurately mapped across entire landscapes. To get a more detailed and longer-term picture, the project will also use freely available satellite timeseries data (Sentinel 1-2, Landsat 8 and PlanetScope imagery) to map annual changes in forest aboveground carbon stocks (using Google Earth Engine). In the final phase we will work with local partners including the Sabah Forestry Department on a cost-benefit analysis of forest restoration and communicate these results so that they can inform their local and regional management policies for the conservation and restoration of forests and the carbon that they store.

WATERLINE aims to create a European Digital Water Higher Education Institution (HEI) Alliance, based on the quadruple helix model of innovation, leading to the development of the Alliance’s research, educational and entrepreneurship capacities. This shall leverage the individual, institutional and regional resources required for a transformative structural and sustainable learning and innovation environment. To achieve this, WATERLINE has five specific objectives: (1) support consolidation of the Alliance by co-creating a common governance framework, and a Research & Innovation (R&I) capacity building plan; (2) co-create a portfolio of water components for Master level and transform emulative laboratories in partner Widening HEIs into assisted and virtual reality. These structural changes will lead to transformed and more competitive R&I HEIs; (3) strengthen WATERLINE researchers’ R&I capacity excellence by implementing activities, such as summer schools to enhance education and R&I skills, and proposal writing workshop; (4) build a European network of academics/researchers who, together with quadruple helix actors, will allow knowledge flow in water domains and extended reality technologies. This allows greater involvement of regional actors in the R&I process and enhances one of the major societal challenges: water-related education. Moreover, it will strengthen academic and business links through academia-to-business meetings and a hackathon to mainstream entrepreneurship mindsets. WATERLINE will, finally, (5) sustain the alliance by, (i) establishing ambassador networks, (ii) identifying the R&I funding landscape, thus increasing participation in HE and the mobilisation of resources in the water sphere, and (iii) creating synergies with EU initiatives, institutions, other projects and networks.

European agriculture is facing numerous challenges such as population growth, climate change, resource shortages or increased competition. Besides, the area of land available for agriculture is declining, rural areas become depopulated and farming population is aging. Today’s challenge is to produce “more with less”. Greenhouses protect crops from adverse weather conditions allowing year-round production. Integrated crop management approaches provide better control over pests and diseases. However, the intensification of greenhouse crop production creates favorable conditions for devastating infestation that can cost a 25% of the potential income. Greenhouse crop production is growing throughout the world, generating 46,377€/ha across Europe. GreenPatrol aims at developing an innovative and efficient robotic solution for Integrated Pest Management in crops, which has the ability to navigate inside greenhouses while performing early pest detection and control tasks in an autonomous way. Main developments will be focused on: - Precise positioning to provide accurate and detailed pest maps in greenhouses (light indoor environments) - Perception with visual sensing for on-line pest detection, including reasoning mechanisms for efficient action selection - Strategies for manipulation and motion planning based on pest monitoring feedback. Galileo capabilities are considered a fundamental technology for the proposed solution as it provides better performance against the multipath and signal degradation present in greenhouses. GreenPatrol will achieve a remarkable reduction of production losses and chemicals usage, as well as an increase in quality and competitiveness, leading to more sustainable farming and enhanced food safety and soil and water protection. The project includes a validation stage where the prototype will be tested in real environment to reach TRL7. GreenPatrol will be commercially exploited. Its business plan shows profits starting in year 3.

Project Background: The EU-ARB project has been designed to the meet the needs of arborists involved within high risk UA activities particularly within energy sectors of industry responsible for vegetation/tree management. Recent European & UK statistics indicate a rising workplace fatality rate associated with hazardous work undertaken by arborists. Previous project partner research also reported related health & safety concerns within this sector & developed a framework for common European VET competence standards. These standards can be adapted & developed further for use within the Utility Arboriculture (UA) occupations. At the same time this project aims to facilitate best practice & high quality instruction amongst VET providers & skills trainers of UA courses across Europe & beyond, exchanging knowledge, training innovations & expertise in the process leading to safer trained arborists. Key Needs: The ultimate project goal & key needs are as follows: 1. Improve & enhance utility arborists skills, safety & supervision in the workplace through the development of a simplified qualification structure on 3 very practical & industry relevant levels 2. Reduce utility arborist fatality & incident rates particularly where adjacent to energised power lines in the workplace 3. Reduce associated economic & personal costs related to UA accidents Key Objectives: Achieving the key needs requires the following objectives to be met: 1. Develop innovative European occupational standards in UA 2. Improve transparency and recognition of UA skills via innovative European qualifications accredited by ABA International 3. Enhance utility arborists mobility and employability throughout Europe 4. Encourage & promote life-long learning and continuous professional development within the UA sector Project Participants: The project consists of a very experienced & capable partnership of 7 organisations (not including associates) tasked to ensure its success. Their make-up consists of UA VET & project management specialists, private & public bodies, non-profit organisations, energy industry distribution network operators & government institutions in the education sectors. Project Activities: Over the project life-cycle the partnership undertaken numerous tasks in pursuit of the ultimate EU-ARB goal. These include for example: • UA-Industry consultations • Meeting presentations • UA training techniques analysis • UA competency developments • Development of a UA training simulator sites • Project dissemination on many levels across numerous sectors • International certification events • Training publications & guidance materials etc Project Methodology: The project was undertaken in 3 stages within its lifecycle as follows. Stage 1: (Start-Up) Undertake pre-project planning & preparation meetings Develop an effective operational work plan, project organisational structure & dissemination plan Schedule the objectives into an action plan of individual tasks & work packages Resource & run trainer standard setting/best practice events in partner countries & develop UA VET training standards Monitor & evaluate feedback & disseminate information gathered till end of project Promote project information through the web, social media links etc till end of project & beyond Stage 2: (Implementation) Resource & facilitate trainer evaluation and verification events in partner countries & develop UA assessment standards Pilot test new UA competency certifications in partner countries Undertake post-project sustainability planning & preparation meetings Develop UA VET trainer QA materials & innovative training simulators Produce a project interim report & evaluate findings Stage 3: (Completion) Live test new UA competency certifications in partner countries Completion of UA VET trainer QA materials etc Develop a project ‘Exit Strategy’ Project completion, final report & evaluation of the findings Continued development, dissemination & enhancement of project products & goals post-project Project Impact & Longer Term Benefits: The project reached its objectives with the support of ABA International & development of new partnership innovations focused on UA safety. The key results include: 1. Development of 3 new European Utility Arborist qualifications 2. Development of new innovative UA training materials & simulators 3. Establishment of high quality UA training providers & trainers 4. Enhance arborist mobility & professional development internationally 5. Ultimately a reduction of accidents & fatalities to arborists