Dramatic migrations in the third millennium BC re-shaped Europe, modifying its economy, society, ethnicity and ideological structure for ever. The best incentive proxy are populations that moved from the steppes of Russia, spreading as far west as Hungary, implanting a pastoral economy with widespread innovations. These dynamic people covered thousands of kilometres within a few centuries, and organised direct physical relations over the steppes for the first time. This synchronism is promoted by a society organised to fit to this lifestyle, with new herding techniques, likely use of wagons and domesticated horses, and a protein-rich diet, whose adaptive advantages are evident from the physical record in human skeletons and territorial extensions. This is the Yamnaya complex, whose impact remains visible today in the European gene pool and apparently the propagation of Indo-European languages. This international and interdisciplinary project examines the data from 320 excavated burial mounds and c.1350 burials to calibrate these changes, also against a control sample of supposedly local and neighbouring populations. The archaeological, biological and environmental information allows large, new datasets to be built, whose systematic interrogation and modelling should reveal the formative processes behind these changes. Assessing funeral archaeology, material culture, and exchange pattern defines their culture and impact. Scientific analyses of skeletons expose relations of origin, degrees of consanguinity, diet, and histories of individual mobility over single lifetimes with new precision and replicability. They should also act as proxy datasets for environmental changes using further analytical techniques in a context of landscape evolution. Diachronic patterns within these sets should link with aspects of the internal social dynamics, such as the creation of new status positions, visible later in the Pan-European Corded Ware and Bell Beaker groups.

Aquaculture is one of five sectors in the EU's Blue Growth Strategy, aimed at harnessing untapped potential for food production and jobs whilst focusing on environmental sustainability. TAPAS addresses this challenge by supporting member states to establish a coherent and efficient regulatory framework aimed at sustainable growth. TAPAS will use a requirements analysis to evaluate existing regulatory and licensing frameworks across the EU, taking account of the range of production environments and specificities and emerging approaches such as offshore technologies, integrated multi-trophic aquaculture, and integration with other sectors. We will propose new, flexible approaches to open methods of coordination, working to unified, common standards. TAPAS will also evaluate existing tools for economic assessment of aquaculture sustainability affecting sectoral growth. TAPAS will critically evaluate the capabilities and verification level of existing ecosystem planning tools and will develop new approaches for evaluation of carrying capacities, environmental impact and future risk. TAPAS will improve existing and develop new models for far- and near-field environmental assessment providing better monitoring, observation, forecasting and early warning technologies. The innovative methodologies and components emerging from TAPAS will be integrated in an Aquaculture Sustainability Toolbox complemented by a decision support system to support the development and implementation of coastal and marine spatial planning enabling less costly, more transparent and more efficient licensing. TAPAS partners will collaborate with key industry regulators and certifiers through case studies to ensure the acceptability and utility of project approach and outcomes. Training, dissemination and outreach activities will specifically target improvement of the image of European aquaculture and uptake of outputs by regulators, while promoting an integrated sustainable strategy for development.

Research infrastructures (RI) play a key role in identifying levers that can be used to attain the goals of the Green Deal and the “Farm to Fork” strategy, to which PIGWEB can contribute by a “From Pig to Pork” approach. The aims of PIGWEB are to strengthen the pig research community by providing and facilitating access to RI, reinforce a culture of cooperation between the research community and industrial and societal stakeholders, and improve and integrate the services provided by the RI. This will contribute to develop innovative and ethical solutions for sustainable pig production systems. To attain these aims, the project will: - Ensure easy and transparent access to experimental pig RI and associated laboratories. - Create a community of pig RI by mapping installations beyond partners of the project and identifying future research needs in pig production sector. - Harmonise protocols, best practices, and promote the use of standards to ensure high level of expertise and ethics. - Organise the collection, management, and accessibility of data generated by the project. - Ensure dissemination, exploitation, and technology transfer of results generated by the project. - Provide graduate and post-graduate training opportunities to young researchers to ensure the succession of a new generation of highly-trained experts in the fields of pig production. - Develop non- or minimally invasive methods for digestion studies and blood sampling to replace current procedures requiring surgery and invasive sampling, isolation, fixation and/or spatial restrictions of pigs. - Develop novel methods, tools and technologies that provide indicators of welfare, behaviour, and body composition. - Develop a research toolbox (based data obtained through non- or minimally invasive measurements and model algorithms) to phenotype pigs for traits relevant for sustainable pig production.

The aim of Soils4Africa is to provide an open-access soil information system with a set of key indicators and underpinning data, accompanied with a methodology for repeated soil monitoring across the African continent. The soil information system will become part of the knowledge and information system of FNSSA and will be hosted by an African institute. Activities are: (i) define use cases and indicators in consultation with stakeholders; (ii) make a functional design of the soil information system; (iii) develop detailed procedures and tools for the field activities based on the LUCAS methodology and collect 20000 soil samples; (iv) develop detailed procedures for laboratory work and analyse the collected soil samples at one reference laboratory located in Africa; and (v) develop the technical infrastructure for the soil information system and serve the results as open data linked with open EO data. The project addresses the work programme of SC 2 in the following ways. First, it contributes to priority 2 (Fostering functional ecosystems) because the soil information system is a tool to target interventions that improve soil quality and provides insight in the impact of these interventions. Secondly, it contributes to priority 1 (Addressing climate change and resilience on land and sea), as the soil information system will contribute to the assessment of carbon losses from soil and the identification of areas with high potential for soil carbon sequestration. Finally, the soil information system provides a platform for the development of sustainable business models by service companies aiming at the development of sustainable food systems, contributing to priority 3 (Boosting major innovations on land and sea). Soils4Africa is linking with relevant H2020 projects and Copernicus on EO data use. It actively connects organizations across Africa and Europe for synergies and promotes an open science approach.

iFishIENCi will deliver breakthrough innovations supporting sustainable aquaculture, based on enabling technologies and circular principles, thereby providing the European aquaculture industry with the competitive advantage and growth stimulation needed to be a mover in revolutionizing global efficiency in fish production and meet society's needs for food from the ocean. This ambitious task will be achieved by providing to the market the iFishIENCi Biology Online Steering System (iBOSS) that significantly improves production control and management for all fish aquaculture systems. iBOSS will maximise feed utilisation through smart feeding, provide continuous monitoring of fish behaviour, health and welfare and reduce response times to aberrations. iFishIENCi will target circular principles and zero waste by qualifying new and sustainable organic value chains for feeds, and valorisation of by-products. iFishIENCi´s innovations will provide important new assets to the consortiums SMEs, fish-farmers, feed producers and technology providers in the aquaculture sector, leading to market growth and job creation. Assets will be maximized through a comprehensive sustainability assessment and engagements with the sector, regulators and consumers. 11 European companies (SMEs and larger companies) and 7 research & Innovation expert groups are joining effort to achieve this innovation leap towards the implementation of smart feeding and smart breeding into the fish farming industry.