Animal diseases can cause serious social, economic and environmental damage, impact on animal welfare and in some cases directly threaten human health. The objective of SIRCAH (Secretariat for the International Research Consortium on Animal Health) is to provide organisational, communication and technical support to the STAR-IDAZ International Research Consortium (IRC) on Animal Health and thereby accelerate the development of much needed disease control tools. The agreed aim of STAR-IDAZ IRC is to coordinate research at international level to contribute to new and approved animal health strategies for at least 30 priority diseases/infections/issues. The deliverables will include candidate vaccines, diagnostics, therapeutic, procedures and key scientific information/tools to support risk analysis and disease control. To achieve these goals SIRCAH will support the IRC in establishing and running: i) Working Groups consisting of researchers for each of the priority topics and ii) a Scientific Committee, consisting of independent experts, who will advise the IRC Executive Committee. SIRCAH will provide the Working Groups with literature reviews and support them with gap analyses and the development of research roadmaps, map current activities against research needs and make recommendations relating to programme alignment, support the Scientific Committee and Executive Committee logistically, monitor progress against delivery targets and facilitate information exchange within and between all three levels

Sustainable food security and increasing availability of plant biomass for human nutrition and bioindustries is the key challenge for the coming decades. The analysis of crop performance with respect to structure, function, quality and interaction with the environment (“phenotyping”) remains the bottleneck for the exploitation of crop genetic diversity required for the enhancement of plant productivity and progress in plant breeding. This requires substantial and concerted action to develop and to increase the availability of phenotyping infrastructures. The European Strategic Forum for Research Infrastructure (ESFRI) has identified “Plant Phenotyping” as a priority for the European research area and EMPHASIS has been listed on the ESFRI ROADMAP as an infrastructure project to develop and implement a pan-European plant phenotyping infrastructure. The project EMPHASIS-PREP will provide the basis for the establishment the legal framework, the business plan and preparation of an information system for a sustainable and innovative pan-European infrastructure for plant phenotyping within the framework of EMPHASIS. EMPHASIS-PREP will establish a transparent, open and inclusive process, the project partners will foster efficient work in the project in close cooperation with the European plant phenotyping community and all stakeholders. EMPHASIS-PREP includes four major steps: i) mapping (infrastructure, funders, access procedure and models, stakeholder community, e-infrastructure, imaging approaches, legal and governance scenarios); ii) gapping - analysing the gaps and limitations based on the mapping activities; iii) developing strategies to address the gaps; iv) combining the strategies in a business plan for future operation of EPMPHASIS within a corresponding legal framework.

The Joint Programming Initiative on Agriculture, Food Security and Climate Change (FACCE-JPI), launched in October 2010 by the European Council, brings together 21 countries committed to “building an integrated European Research Area addressing the challenges of agriculture, food security and climate change” (FACCE-JPI Strategic Research Agenda). The JPI aims at aligning research programming among its members in the long run, so as to increase the efficiency of research funding, cover gaps, avoid duplications and provide high-level innovative research on the European scene. The FACCE-Evolve Coordination and Support Action is designed to solidify foundations that will ensure long-term durability of joint programming and actions. FACCE-Evolve will thus continue to support the successful development of the FACCE-JPI and allow it to develop a set of means destined to ensure its self-sustainability. The FACCE-Evolve will therefore provide support to JPI members in order to: • Investigate different options for self-sustainability and test the most suitable ones. • Investigate and develop novel processes and tools to support uptake of the SRA and its updates as well as the bi-annual implementation plans and monitor effective harmonisation, integration and alignment of national research programming, to enable evidence-based policy making and effective cross-policy actions • Implement and oversee the increasing number of joint actions • Pursue ongoing coordination with Horizon 2020 objectives with a scale and scope of action that should go well beyond what either the EU or Member States can achieve on their own • Ensure the perpetuation of an effective, enriching dialogue with European and international stakeholders • Strengthen the international dimension and visibility of the JPI through a strong communication and dissemination strategy and links with other initiatives.