EMPOWER is an innovative entrepreneurial-based doctoral programme aiming to train scientific entrepreneurs with the skillset to operate between academia, companies, start-ups, public authorities and the general public. This professional figure will have high impact in a post-COVID future where the efforts of research are required to transform the European Union into a modern, green, inclusive and resilient economy, where growth is de-coupled from resource use. EMPOWER will build-up on the experience of Wetsus, a multidisciplinary research institute where intersectoral cooperation between companies, universities and public authorities takes place. In EMPOWER the partners will be 3 universities and 14 companies. EMPOWER will recruit 14 ESRs in one widely advertised call and a transparent 3-round selection procedure. ESRs are employed by the academic partners, according to the Collective Labour Agreement of the Dutch Universities, to earn their PhD degree together with an integrated business-oriented training. Each ESR will shape her/his own project around the idea of achieving clean water and energy, resource recovery and smart water management. Two supervisors (one from Wetsus and one from academia) and an industry mentor will constitute a multidisciplinary “knowledge triangle” to guide each ESR. Together with this, the training of each ESR will focus on research, multidisciplinary expertise, entrepreneurship and personal development.

Phosphorus (P) is a vital input for agricultural production. Yet, current agricultural practices are overexploiting and wasting the earth´s P reserves, which are needed to meet the food demand of a growing human population. Currently, there is a large flow of P from mineable P rock through agricultural production systems to surface waters, where eutrophication severely deteriorates ecosystems functioning. Hence, P is polluting the environment, while at the same time valuable P resources are lost. This is the global P challenge! A challenge of planetary dimensions with potentially dramatic consequences for humans. Through its circular Economy Action Plan, the EU provides the regulatory framework to develop an economy where the value of products, materials and resources is maintained for as long as possible. Important steps towards a circular P economy includes establishing new interdisciplinary partnerships for creating strategies towards radical restructuring of P governance and for developing novel, interdi

URBAN M2O aims to create solutions to generate the crucial information that is needed to develop and implement risk-based urban water quality management plans at the city scale. Such plans will contribute to achieving sustainable urban water systems with zero pollution impact on human health and the environment. URBAN M2O will achieve this objective by: 1) Developing and benchmarking AI-enhanced, resource-effective monitoring water quality technologies; 2) Developing fit-for-purpose water quality models and harmonized data management systems; 3) Demonstrating open-access urban water digital twins assimilating monitoring data to identify hotspots and prioritize pollution control actions under current and future climate scenarios; 4) Providing tailored guidance to end users and stakeholders for the effective development of urban water quality monitoring and management plans. Industrial partners will enhance their monitoring techniques with AI methods, benchmarking them against state-of-the-art monitoring approaches for trace organic chemicals, microbial contaminants, and microplastics in all urban water systems, namely drinking water, surface water, bathing water, wastewater effluents, groundwater, urban run-off, and sewer overflows. Monitoring and modelling solutions will be demonstrated in three real and operational case studies, selected to represent different challenges faced by urban water infrastructure. The URBAN M2O solutions will be tailored to stakeholders and end-users’ needs, addressing current and future requirements and challenges, and different resources and data availability. URBAN M2O will enable urban water managers and regulators to make informed decisions, prioritizing actions to enhance urban water quality, and protect human health, the environment, and biodiversity at the European scale.

Development and proliferation of antibiotic resistance is classified among major global threats by the World Health Organization. Sanitation of the water cycle is essential to sustain environmental and human health. Within urban water systems, public and governmental perception is rising on the role of wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) and their microbiomes as putative hotspots for the proliferation of antibiotic resistances, and the need for new quality criteria and installation upgrades. However, because of methodological biases, our knowledge remains limited on the emission, fate and possible amplification or removal of antibiotic resistant bacteria (ARB) and antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) across WWTPs. There is an urgent need to develop standardized methods and database for the accurate identification, characterization, and quantification of antibiotic resistances in such complex water matrices. REPARES brings excellence in research on spread of antibiotic resistance in WWTPs through establishing cooperation of UCT with leading European innovators and internationally-renowned expert of the water-related antibiotic resistance field: UCP will share its expert leadership in wastewater-mediated antibiotic resistance; TUDelft will deliver methods to successfully apply for international projects; Wetsus will propel cooperation with the non-academic sector; AAU will integrate the REPARES database within the world-accepted MiDAS database. REPARES aims at advancing the European community‘s know-how on antibiotic resistance across sanitation waterways, which in the future will bring society to closer achieve Sustainable Development Goal of the United Nations. REPARES will act as an essential vector to disseminate information on antimicrobial resistance spread within European WWTPs beyond science and technology in order to reach the non-academic community by means of open events, popularization publications, and operation of the REPARES web platform.