11 new projects to advance on a more competitive, efficient, and inclusive European Research Area

The EU is set to invest €23.5 million in a new range of research and innovation projects. These are expected to increase global cooperation in knowledge transfer and open access as well as equip researchers with skills that can boost their careers in academia as well as in other sectors, such as industry and entrepreneurship. 

The new projects will also aim to improve gender equality and inclusivity in research and innovation organisations as well as create a joint funding scheme to support projects with Ukrainian participation and enhance Ukraine's R&I capacities.

Projects are expected to start their research as of 1 January 2025.

See all projects funded under this call.  

What will the selected projects do?  

Better skills and research management for a stronger R&I system 

RESKILLSPAN aims to equip researchers with skills that could boost their careers within academia or allow them to move to industry, civil society and entrepreneurship. The project will analyse the gap in skills; develop and exchange best practices in training; and raise awareness amongst researchers about impactful, inter-sectoral and entrepreneurial careers, as well as the importance of science communication. 

RM Framework will explore various training methods, including community-based, informal, and formal University Alliances to tailor training approaches to meet the varied needs of research managers across Europe.  

Towards a more inclusive and gender-equal European Research Area 

SEE-AREA project will contribute to the sustainable transformation of research and innovation organisations through the implementation of Gender Equality Plans (GEP) mainly in Southeast Europe: Greece, Albania, Croatia and Romania. The project will intensify efforts and enhance gender and inclusive capacities to drive structural change.  

GEPINC will develop and tailor activities, and Gender Equality Plans (GEPs), to improve inclusivity for people who identify as Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Non-Binary, Intersex, and Queer (LGBTIQ+). The project will deploy activities in all branches of knowledge: social sciences, humanities, Law, business, science, technology, engineering and mathematics.   

INCLUDE will drive institutional change towards gender equality and inclusiveness by co-designing, implementing, and evaluating innovative measures to advance GEPs within seven public BioMedical Research Performing Organisations and one private Research and Technology Organisation using intersectional and intersectoral approaches. A geographically inclusive consortium covers two EU Member States and six Widening countries, in Northern, Eastern, Southern, and Western Europe. 

Strengthening Open Science

With the aim to empower professional teams and their organisations in the EU with knowledge and skills to boost the valorisation of scientific knowledge, IP4OS will publish and disseminate an open access and synergy framework with recommendations for best practices in the areas of Intellectual Property Rights and Open Science. The project plans to reach 300 trained professionals via sustainable educational resources, and to create a Community of Practice involving IP experts and trainers in research. 

ALMASI aims to enable scholarly communities in Africa, Europe and Latin America to take full responsibility for innovative, valid, reliable, free-of-charge and accessible publishing services. ALMASI will establish a framework for knowledge transfer, coordination, and alignment of non-technological publishing skills, services, and solutions. 

TRUSTparency will establish a Reproducibility Community and invite stakeholders in fostering reproducibility of scientific results to support a transparent and trustworthy research ecosystem.  

More responsible, trustworthy and human-centric AI 

AIOLIA will be working on recognising the gap between ethical values and the practical application of Artificial Intelligence (AI). The project is expected to operationalise AI ethics with regard to human  behaviour and create inclusive materials to teach the ethics of AI; this includes lectures, videos, podcasts, chatbot, etc. 

More collaboration between national R&I policymaking and funding programmes

The LUKE project aims to link Ukraine to the European Research Area (ERA) with a joint funding and a Capacity Building Platform to support projects with Ukrainian participation, as well as to enhance Ukraine's R&I capacities. Altogether, 19 organisations from 13 countries have already confirmed their willingness to participate as funders. Additional funding agencies have expressed interest in joining.  

HDHL Food4Health will address the intertwined challenges of food and diet-related Non Communicable Diseases (NCDs) and climate change by fostering collaboration and aligning research efforts across food, health, and environment areas. It aims to overcome siloed approaches by coordinating activities among government, academia, industry, and citizens; therefore, enhancing societal impact at national and regional levels.  

How were the projects selected? 

All projects were selected in a competitive call for proposals, which opened on 6 December 2023. In total, 93 proposals were submitted by the call’s deadline in spring 2024.

The selected projects received the highest marks in a peer evaluation managed by the European Research Executive Agency (REA) with the help of independent experts.  

Further information 

For updates on these projects—as well as other innovative research— follow REA on X and LinkedIn. You will get up-to-date information about their research findings as well as the upcoming events. 

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