Research Infrastructures (RI) are standing pillars for excellence in science and a vital element for the realization of the European Union as a knowledge-based society. Together with Core Facilities (CF)- existing in many universities, academic research centres and national nodes of distributed… Read more RI- RI are also major actors in the implementation of the EU Open Science and Open Innovation strategy and a major factor for its success. As RI and CF increase in importance, questions about how to organize, maintain, manage and finance them have become a major topic for funding and research organisations. This proposal brings together, for the first time, RI, CF and European universities, in a new innovative concept to transform the access and empowerment of human resources for national and international scientific facilities in Europe. The overarching goal of RItrainPlus is to design and deliver a training programme to fulfill the competency requirements for the current and future managers of European RI and CF. RItrain Plus will: i) drive excellence, operational improvements and long-term sustainability of European RI and CF by developing: formal learning activities: executive post-graduate courses; learning on the job: staff exchange, with a short-term mobility programme at different RI/CF locations; peer learning: a Community of Practice, within all RI and CF, able to promote existing excellence and experience, and share knowledge; ii) create a foundation for the long-term provision of highly qualified personnel for managing RI and CF by developing Learning Activities embedded in existing university programs and a certifiable European Longitudinal Learning Track; iii) establish a permanent and self-sustainable European School for Management of Research Infrastructures. In the fouryear project all the required steps will be performed, with extended involvement of ERICs, EIROforum members, national agencies, and other relevant stakeholders in the design process.

There is an absence of lasers with the necessary wavelengths and characteristics to access the possibilities for deeper highresolution biological tissue imaging in the third bio-window between 1650 nm and 1870 nm. Motivated by recent breakthrough results in multi-photon imaging… Read more at twice the depths currently achievable, we will meet the urgent need for new sources to address the outstanding research questions in this spectral region. Results will guide and enable instrument development in this appealing and relatively unexplored biophotonics imaging wavelength range. The AMPLITUDE consortium proposes a new concept of label-free, multi-modal microscopy and endoscopic imaging operating in this new wavelength region with multiple imaging and spectroscopic technologies, including NIR confocal reflectance microscopy, multi-photon microscopy and spontaneous Raman spectroscopy. By progressing ultrafast fibre laser developments at 1700 nm, we will deliver new imaging capabilities in an appropriate form factor and at cost suitable for widespread adoption. This will be further enhanced by providing additional output at 850 nm using second harmonic generation from one integrated laser device. This will enable a pioneering new compact and efficient multi-modal capability combining confocal and non-linear imaging techniques, overcoming performance limitations in medical and biological imaging applications, including improved pathohistological staging of tumours and in-vivo endoscopic assessment of depth of lesion invasiveness. Deeper multiphoton microscopy with autofluorescence imaging of cellular metabolic conditions, whose aspects are tightly related to cellular functioning and to cancer, implemented in tandem with Raman spectroscopy will provide exhaustive characterisation of the examined tissue at morphological, metabolic and molecular levels, allowing in-vivo optical biopsy for bladder cancer diagnosis, grading and staging.

Objectives The key aim is to prevent and combat violence towards children, defined here as maltreatment, by building the expertise of professionals concerning minors living in families with child maltreatment risk, also in multicultural contexts. In detail: 1) for professionals… Read more to undertake a comprehensive training program to enhance their use of risk assessment tools and their engagement in multiprofessional working practices; 2) to integrate a strategy which involves the civil society in the prevention of child maltreatment; 3) to develop, pilot and evaluate a EU training program Activities 1) literature review on risk assessment; 2) analysis and research evidence on experiences of victims and their families of being clients in services, as victims or perpetrators; 3) design, pilot and evaluate a training program (incl. selecting risk assessment tools) on child maltreatment evidence with different professionals (50 per site, 350 in total); 4) translate the training program into 7 EU languages; 5) multichannel dissemination Type and number of persons benefiting from the project - the final beneficiaries are minors at risk of child maltreatment. In the year following ERICA training, children in direct contact with the professionals being trained number over 1500 - professionals working with children and families with child maltreatment risk worldwide, have access the materials, incl. the Risk Assessment Application, from the website and related e-platform Expected results

This CREMLINplus project proposal is about European-Russian scientific and technical collaboration in the field of research infrastructures. It takes up and addresses all recommendations that have been worked out in close European-Russian collaboration within three years of the Horizon 2020 project CREMLIN. CREMLINplus… Read more is a voluminous project, a grand endeavour, setting out to fully implement jointly elaborated EuropeanRussian collaboration roadmaps and to ensure that the framework conditions will be improved and continually harmonized. The project will operate in two directions, following two main strategic goals: (1) CREMLINplus will strongly advance the five Russian megascience projects in close European-Russian collaboration. This objective refers to the technical preparation of the megascience projects for European and international utilisation. The project will allow European-Russian collaborative top teams to develop and deliver finest, novel cutting-edge technologies for both the Russian megascience projects and their European RI counterparts. (2) CREMLINplus will prepare a defined set of Russian research infrastructures, hosted at eleven laboratories, for not only Russian, but also European and international access and utilisation. For this purpose, suitable framework conditions for opening and accessing these Russian facilities will be developed and implemented. A comprehensive base of knowledge and expertise for RI managers and scientists at various levels will be created. The 35 European and Russian participants of the project have come together to build the broad and balanced consortium, connected through a history of trustful collaboration. They are the relevant entities in the domain of research infrastructures in Europe and in Russia, and thus provide the necessary strength, commitment and power to implement the project plan.

Haematological malignancies, also known as blood cancers, are a diverse and complex group of diseases that are difficult to diagnose and treat. Nowadays most treatments are extremely complex, and advances in patient diagnosis and treatment are slow due to the… Read more low number of patients per centre. There is therefore a need to harmonise, store, and analyse the current information on these diseases to speed up and support the decision-making process for patient access to new therapies. IMI’s HARMONY project is using big data to advance our understanding of the following seven blood cancers: acute lymphoblastic leukaemia (ALL); acute myeloid leukaemia (AML); chronic lymphocytic leukaemia (CLL); multiple myeloma (MM); myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS); non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL); and paediatric haematologic malignancies. HARMONY has set up a Big Data platform to support its work. The aim of HARMONY PLUS is to build on HARMONY’s work. Firstly, it will add the following blood cancers to the list of diseases under study: chronic myeloid leukemia, polycythaemia vera, essential thrombocythaemia, and myelofibrosis; as well as Hodgkin’s lymphoma, Waldenström macroglobulinemia and other rare blood cancers not covered by HARMONY. In addition, HARMONY PLUS will help to convert the existing HARMONY platform into an integrated services platform that could serve clinicians to improve their decision making process and support clinical trial design, among other things. Like HARMONY, HARMONY PLUS is part of IMI’s Big Data for Better Outcomes programme, which aims to facilitate the use of diverse data sources to deliver results that reflect health outcomes of treatments that are meaningful for patients, clinicians, regulators, researchers, healthcare decision-makers, and others.

Instand-NGS4P is a 54-month PCP project federating 7 leading medical centers (two are coordinating ERNs) as buyers’ group with major experience in using different NGS platforms in research and routine diagnostics. The consortium is further strengthened by European patient advocacy… Read more groups, a standardization organization and partners participating in the European infrastructures BBMRI-ERIC, ELIXIR as well as several NGS-related EU programs to cover all technical aspects and transversal needs & requirements. Driven by patient and clinical needs, innovative NGS workflows from sample-preanalytics to medical decision making will be developed. The modular design of the workflow will particularly enable SEMs to contribute, and provides flexibility to adopt emerging user needs and technologies. Specifications will address regulatory requirements for IVDs and refer to international standards and requests development of reference materials and implementation of EQA schemes covering the whole workflow. R&D suppliers will be selected based on a public tender all along this PCP process in 3 phases according to the best-value for money solution. The 3 phases foresee the leverage of 4 technical modules (pre-analytics, sequencing, bioinformatics, e-reporting/e-medication) and their standardized interfaces – from design (Phase 1) to prototypes (Phase 2), and full integration in Phase 3. At the end, this PCP will provide 2 fully integrated, standardized NGS workflows for routine diagnostics of common and rare cancers from adults to children. In order to enable broad implementation in healthcare systems throughout Europe and beyond and to increase benefit to patients a series of support activities are planned including communication and dissemination activities targeting a broad stakeholder community, development of training and education material for healthcare professionals and patients, health economic assessment and engagement with healthcare payers and policy makers.

OPERAS-P (Preparation) project will support the development of OPERAS, the European Research infrastructure for open access publications in the Social Sciences and Humanities (SSH). The project will further the development of the infrastructure in view of achieving the necessary scientific,… Read more technical and community maturity. To achieve this goal, OPERAS-P will address the necessary requirements according the Work Programme with three objectives: supporting the ESFRI application, start the implementation of innovative services, and support the expansion of the consortium. First objective will include the conceptual framework for a Governance plan, including a vision statement and two Landscape Studies: one per country, one for end-users. This work will include a business model addressing the long-term sustainability of the infrastructure. In parallel, this work will be supported by the implementation of the AISBL statutes in the infrastructure. The implementation of innovative services will address the development of a transnational access to publication services, based on the adoption of common standards, the interoperability between publishing services and bridging towards the EOSC marketplace. This work will rely on the problematics identified in the White Paper OPERAS-P will support the development of the consortium with an outreach strategy based on the Landscape Study. This body of work will stand in the continuity of the work already realized in former project OPERAS-D, in particular the Design Study.