Newsletter Januray/February 2023

Numerous activities have been carried out during the second semester of 2022.  

The IC4WATER Project on international cooperation has come to an end in June 2022; all deliverables have been submitted to the European Commission as well as the final reporting. The final evaluation of funded projects was held on the 9th February 2023 and the Coordination and Secretariat team is currently thinking on how to valorise the results of those projects.  

Many efforts have been directed at the representation of the Water JPI in international events as part of the WaterWorks2017 Project. Our initiative was invited to present its international activities during the 5th India-EU Forum in October, it organised a side event on valorisation during the Ecomondo conference that took place in Rimini (Italy) in November, and it presented its strategy on international cooperation and future action plan during the ASEMWater conference also in November. Participation to all these events have not only contributed to reinforcing contacts with strategic countries and initiatives but also to enhance the international dimension of the Water JPI. Let’s note the interest of WaterWorks2017 partners to organize a showcase event in autumn 2023, and following the final evaluation of funded projects in spring 2023, to highlight some of the results with potential policy and/ or market uptake.  

The AquaticPollutants Project has continued activities for the Thematic Annual Programming (TAP), which gathers several national funding agencies around the theme of water pollution. As decided recently, the mid-term evaluation of funded projects will be carried out in spring 2023 back-to-back to the final evaluation of WaterWorks2017 funded projects.  

BiodivRestore funded projects continue their work. It is important to mention that partners from both Biodiversa and Water JPI, as organisers of the BiodivRestore joint call, have started discussions for the launch of a joint activity in collaboration with the Water4All and Biodiversity Partnerships. More information on the joint activity will be provided in a later edition of the newsletter.  

Last but not least, the SD-WISHEES Project on the impacts of hydrological extreme events on cultural heritage, and launched in the framework of a Widening call from the Horizon Europe programme, signed its Grant Agreement and Consortium Agreement at the end of 2022. The kick-off meeting of the project will take place in Bari in March 2023 (further information in an article below). Likewise, the EcoDaLLi Project, funded by the Horizon Europe Mission on Restoring Oceans and Waters, also signed its grant agreement at the end of 2022. The Water JPI will participate in this project as observing member, therefore contributing to the establishment of a governance for the Danube flagship project.  

No new calls for proposals will be launched for the time being by the Water JPI as the funding of research and innovation will be within the remit of the Water4All Partnership. However, there is a strong willingness from the Water JPI community to work on the valorisation of results from funded projects and to support the Water4All Partnership in the implementation of its activities. The presence of the Water JPI in the Water4All consortium as an observing member will ensure the permanent transfer of the key lessons and good practices accumulated by the initiative since its launch in 2011. 

Esther Díez Cebollero, Water JPI Coordinator

 
What is the  AquaticPollutants TAP¹ Action?

This TAP Action is the third ERA-NET Cofund AquaticPollutants call - and second additional call.

It gathers a network of twelve European national projects focused on solving the challenge of contaminants of emerging concern (CEC)² according to the specific research and development needs addressed by the main call content.

Since the TAP kick-off, one year ago, online meetings were led to build the joint TAP Action I implementation plan, which was delivered in October 2022. Since then, the TAP cluster RedCoPollutants is moving on developing all the activities included in the implementation plan to achieve the goals and vision of the cluster completed by the end of the year 2023. In order to facilitate this challenging phase, a two-day meeting was organised in Madrid, Spain. The cluster is happy to report that the meeting indeed marked another step in the TAP Cluster's progress.

What are the objectives of the cluster “RedCoPollutants”?

Its main target is to generate high-added-value knowledge to reduce the impact of emerging contaminants on humans and ecosystems. It also aims to create coordination between individual national projects for international alignment, greater impact and higher effectiveness.

Face-to-face meeting

The gathering was one meeting of a series to discuss mutual interests and mutually beneficial ways to collaborate, but also to share technical details of that collaboration such as the best methodologies and protocols for CEC monitoring and risk assessment, and the best technologies for their removal and mitigation. It also allowed informal discussions between the participants since networking at different levels is an added value for the members facilitating further progress. Special attention was given to horizontal and vertical networking between senior and young researchers.

The sessions gathered 30 researchers including senior and young researchers as well as PhD students from 7 different countries. They were led by the Scientific coordinator, Prof Angeles Blanco³.

The objectives of the meeting were to :

• Get to know each other
• Identify synergies and common activities
• Define links between different research projects: potential win-win collaborations models
• Review the activities planned in the Implementation Plan

The research project leaders were given space to discuss their objectives, methodologies and scientific research results. Synergies among the different project goals were established.  For instance, discussions on analytical methods, hospital and urban wastewater treatments, pathogens and risks for agriculture, and human safety were addressed. A working programme for the next step has been implemented. Overall, attendees were satisfied with the meeting and its outcomes and look forward to the next opportunity to meet each other.

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Notes

¹: Thematic  Annual Programming

²: Contaminants of Emerging Concern

³: Angeles Blanco: Complutense University of Madrid, Spain     , elected as the TAP Scientific C     oordinator.

What knowledge gaps exist in the realm of CECs, AMR and pathogens? What are the needs and demands for knowledge among different stakeholders and from national and European legislation? It is the task of AquaticPollutantsTransNet to address these questions: it supports the 18 AquaticPollutants research & innovation projects in addressing these needs, helping them disseminate their results to targeted stakeholders via innovative knowledge transfer strategies.

In its first deliverable, "Mapping of end-user groups and governance and synthesis of their demands for knowledge", they present the results of more than 50 stakeholder interviews and show an overview of the knowledge gaps and demands of different stakeholder groups in the water sector.
They focused on the three countries of the TransNet consortium: Germany, Sweden and France, as well as the European Union.  A review of more than 100 national and international regulatory documents contributed to the overview of knowledge demands.

For Deliverable 1.1, they first identified the stakeholders involved with CECs, AMR and/or pathogens and then analyzed their working relationships and networks. This allowed to identify which key groups could be interviewed. The interview covered the following topics:

• Available or missing knowledge on aquatic pollutants
• Challenges in accessing this knowledge
• Tools and networks used to access information and learn about new developments

You can read about the results, the key findings, and next steps on the topic of knowledge gaps and knowledge needs in the  deliverable here.

The SD-WISHEES (Supporting and Developing WIdening Strategies to tackle: impacts and Sustainable solutions for cultural heritage) will hold its kick-off meeting in Bari on the 6th – 8th Mars.

The aim of this project is to enable collaboration between national research and innovation funding members to address together the protection of cultural heritage in Europe and beyond in response to hydroclimatic extreme events. Its gathers 16 partners – two of them as associated partners – including programme owners, research performing organisations/ academia, foundations and private companies. This project is the result of a joint effort between the Water JPI, JPI Climate and PRIMA. The project will last four years and amongst other objectivees, it foresees the launch of a Thematic Annual Programming (TAP) instrument for a better alignment of national research and innovation priorities in the field of cultural heritage and hydroclimatic extreme events. It will also conduct an impact analysis of project actions on the widening policy of the European Commission.

SD-WISHEES is structured around 6 work packages. It is coordinated by Dr. Antonio Lo Porto (CNR, IT), who has a deep understanding of the Water JPI as he represented the EurAqua network (www.euraqua.org) in the Water JPI’s Advisory Boards (SAG) for the last few years.

SD-WISHEES is funded by the Horizon Europe – widening work programme.

The kick-off meeting of the EcoDaLLi (ECOsystem-based governance with DAnube lighthouse Living Lab for sustainable Innovation processes) project took place in January in Stuttgart.

The EcoDaLLi project is a CSA supported by the «Restore our oceans, seas and waters by 2030» Mission. The project, officially launched in January 2023, aims to centralise Danube governance structures to support the uptake of innovations for improved ecological restoration, protection and preservation of the Danube basin and its delta. It will therefore contribute to the implementation of the Danube Light House. EcoDaLLi seeks as well to foster a stronger innovation ecosystem through a well-connected living labs system.The Water JPI is expected to support project members in the mapping of stakeholders/ end-users potentially interested in the adoption of such innovative solutions.

In this regard, the Water JPI has been officially invited to join the Danube Lighthouse Launching event that will be held in Bucharest, Romania, on 3^rd and 4^th of April 2023. The Danube Lighthouse will provide the possibility for sharing views on how to increase cooperation to ensure environmental protection and restauration.