Many of the existing Research Reactors (RR) in Europe are very old (>60 years operation). Only few initiatives are taken (PALLAS and JHR) to partially replace this capacity. Continued operation of these RRs is mandatory (at least until the new reactors come to operation) to maintain the EU excellence in development and qualification of nuclear materials for advanced reactor concepts and to maintain the supply of medical isotopes. License extensions for continued safe operation (CSO) requires ageing management review (AMR) and time limited ageing analysis (TLAA) of critical structures and components. However, there is limited understanding of damage mechanisms and lack of materials data on RR materials at relevant operating conditions for long term operation of RRs. In addition, there is a shortage of surveillance specimens for extending the operational life for some RRs. Lastly, sharing of knowledge and operational experience is crucial in this relatively small RR community. Magic-RR addresses aforementioned issues by leveraging (1) available archive materials and data from the existing research reactors, e.g. from surveillance programs and shut down reactors, (2) operational experience of research reactor operators and (3) advanced characterization and modelling techniques at universities and nuclear research centers. To achieve this goal Magic-RR focuses on the following topics in order to CSO of European RRs: • Improved understanding on irradiation induced damage in RR structural materials (specifically Al alloys) at high fluence conditions • Application of advanced multi-scale modelling methods for prediction of irradiation influence on mechanical properties • Investigation of corrosion mechanisms and its prevention/mitigation • Assessment of sub-size testing for surveillance programs • Sharing knowledge on reactor operation and Providing guidelines on best practices • Structural integrity assessment of critical components of RRs to support CSO of RRs

With rising anthropogenic CO2 emissions resulting in climate change, solutions to rapidly bring green hydrogen to market are required. PH2OTOGEN aims to build a scalable photocatalytic flow reactor for green hydrogen production with parallel production of value-added oxidation products, which will contribute to the revenues of the overall system. The PH2OTOGEN consortium will use advanced characterisation techniques to determine promising and novel combinations of semiconducting materials to achieving an average solar-to-hydrogen efficiency of > 5% over 500 hours in a 500 cm2 demonstrator.

The GRE@T-PIONEeR project aims at developing a specialized education in reactor physics and nuclear reactor safety for PhD and Post-Doc students, for nuclear engineers, and taken as advanced courses for MSc students. The education will encompass both theory and hands-on training exercises, the latter heavily relying on the use of research/training reactors and of computer-based modelling environments. Sets of educational materials capitalizing on each other will be created, taking profit of the complementary expertise of the consortium partners. The covered topics will allow the students to fully comprehend all the methods and corresponding approximations used for modelling the behaviour of nuclear reactor cores, from the generation of nuclear cross-sections to the response of a reactor during a transient. By following the courses and hands-on training sessions, the students will be able to perform nuclear reactor safety simulations understanding all the approximations on which such simulations rely. This knowledge is essential for educating highly skilled nuclear safety analysts. Furthermore, the project will make use of an innovative pedagogical approach allowing (a) to improve student learning, (b) to maximize the time the students interact with the teachers, and (c) to provide education to remote students. For that purpose, a flipped classroom set-up offered in a hybrid environment allowing combining on-site and off-site attendees will be used. The flipped classroom format, by utilizing pre-recorded lectures and electronic teaching resources available 24/7, will allow the students to learn at their own pace prior to dedicated sessions during which they will interact with the teachers, either on-site or remotely for the off-site attendees. The synchronous sessions will heavily rely on active learning elements promoting high order thinking skills and will thus greatly improve the learning experience and outcomes for both the on-site an off-site audiences.

Fostering a Transition towards Responsible Research and Innovation Systems The main objective of FoTRRIS is to develop and introduce new governance practices to foster Responsible Research and Innovation (RRI) policies and methods in research and innovation systems. Since research and innovation systems and practices in different European MS and within different research performing organisations vary, FoTRRIS will consider the implementation of new governance practices in five different MS In order to stress that responsible research and innovation is a collaborative activity from the very beginning—collaboration starts ‘upstream’, from the definition of the problem or challenge, continues with the analysis of the problem, the projection of potential solutions, the design of a research and innovation project that aims at realising a solution, and goes on during its performance and monitoring—FoTRRIS adds the prefix ‘co’ to the acronym RRI. Moreover, because important present-day challenges are (at least partially) of a global nature, but manifest themselves in ways that are influenced by local conditions, FoTRRIS focusses on ‘glocal’ challenges, i.e. local/regional manifestations of global challenges and on ‘local’ opportunities for solving them. FoTRRIS will perform a transition experiment, i.e. an experiment to support the transformation of present-day research and innovation strategies into co-RRI-strategies. It will design, test and validate the organisation, operation and funding of a co-RRI-hub. This hub is conceived as a small organisational unit, that will function as a local one-stop innovation platform that encourages various knowledge actors from science, policy, industry and civil society to co-design, -perform, and –monitor co-RRI-projects that are attuned to local manifestations of global sustainability challenges. The transition experiments performed in 5 member states will be evaluated and policy recommendations to implement co-RRI derived.

ENTRUST provides mapping of Europe’s energy system (key actors & their intersections, technologies, markets, policies, innovations) and an in-depth understanding of how human behaviour around energy is shaped by both technological systems and socio-demographic factors (esp. gender, age and socio-economic status). New understandings of energy-related practices and an intersectional approach to the socio-demographic factors in energy use will be deployed to enhance stakeholder engagement in Europe’s energy transition. The role of gender will be illuminated by intersectional analyses of energy-related behaviour & attitudes towards energy technologies, which will assess how multiple identities and social positions, combine to shape practices. These analyses will be integrated within a transitions management framework which takes account of the complex meshing of human values and identities with technological systems. The third key paradigm informing the research is the concept of energy citizenship, with a key goal of ENTRUST being to enable individuals overcome barriers of gender, age and socio-economic status to become active participants in their own energy transitions. Central to the project will be an in-depth engagement with 5 very different communities across the continent, who will be invited to be co-designers of their own energy transition. The consortium brings a diverse array of expertise to bear in assisting and reflexively monitoring these communities as they work to transform their energy behaviours, generating innovative transition pathways and business models capable of being replicated elsewhere in Europe. Deliverables will include a policy tool-kit incorporating contemporary best practice in promoting energy transitions at a Europe-wide level; a suite of innovative transition pathways and community engagement tools designed to stimulate dialogue and break down barriers to behaviour change and the adoption new technologies at a community level.