With 162,000 tons/year, Portugal and Spain have the largest world quota of cork production, being cork stoppers for wine and champagne the “star product”. About 90% of the cork stoppers used worldwide are produced in these two countries. The European Cork Federation established mandatory practices to ensure the quality of the natural stoppers which include several washing, bleaching and disinfection steps. These procedures generate large volumes of wastewaters up to 195,000 m3/year that contain non-biodegradable organic matter, hydrogen peroxide used as disinfectant and different dissolved salts; and constitute a serious risk to environment and human health. The E-CORK project builds on the premise that cork washing wastewaters can be effectively treated by electrochemical advanced oxidation processes. The main goal is to develop an optimized electrochemical treatment line for the depuration and reutilization of cork washing wastewaters taking advantage of the hydrogen peroxide in the main effluent (from by-product to reactant), attending not only to the treatment performance, but also to its technical, economic and environmental feasibility. With this approach and bearing in mind the possibility of reuse the regenerated wastewaters, the E-CORK project aims to revolutionize the cork industry towards a circular economy. The inherent responsibility of Portugal and Spain R&D to promote cleaner and more cost-efficient technologies that safeguard cork production and aquatic environments; the close link with the industrial needs; and the experience of the candidate and supervisor at University of Coimbra, make the perfect conditions to successfully develop this project.

When searching for sustainable materials, bio-based materials obtained from renewable sources are a promising solution for the future and a priority for the European Union. BioBASED2UC intends to expand a new line of research at the University of Coimbra (UC), that lies on two vectors: 1) the development of bio-based materials (focus on nanocelluloses), and 2) application of the bio-based materials in the conservation and restoration of historical cellulosic objects (focus on paper documents). For that, a new interdisciplinary team will be created under the coordination of the ERA Chair holder, aimed to establish a permanent research group in the field beyond the duration of the project. The ERA Chair holder will be Professor Naceur Belgacem, that, in addition to being a prolific researcher, has a long experience (16 years) in coordinating research groups and institutions. He will be assisted by the internal team of UC and an international advisory board. Besides the development of new products and methodologies, BIOBASED2UC will: strengthen human capital resources at the UC with better-trained researchers and technicians in the two vectors of the proposal; boost the quality of the scientific research developed at UC by succeeding in publishing in high impact journals and in obtaining competitive funding; increase the visibility of UC in bridging interdisciplinary areas within the European Research Area; build a network with the Paper Conservators in Portugal (museums, archives and libraries) with the introduction of the new sustainable approaches. These institutional changes will, in the long term, positively contribute to the achievement of a stronger and more circular economy regionally and across Europe taking a step forward towards the sustainable preservation of cultural heritage, as well to have a new market for nanocelluloses, and creation of new jobs. The UC is committed to taking the necessary measures to support the sound implementation of the project.

Archaeological site occupation time span estimates can take the form of quantitative and qualitative intervals. The former can use methods such as radiocarbon dating to obtain temporal calendar intervals that, in some cases, can be fairly precise. For the latter, broader temporal qualitative intervals can be inferred from the characterization of collected materials and artefacts, the identification of specific physical structures, or the type of burial practices. With the increasing incorporation of genomic analysis in archaeological studies where human remains are present, specifically to study population origins, admixture, and social organisation, radiocarbon dates are frequently obtained from the osteological materials being analysed. This allows for a better integration of the genomic, archaeological, and anthropological data, but also leads to an increased usage of finite and unique osteological material. To overcome this, it is theoretically possible to estimate site occupation interval spans using an intertwined matrix of genomic admixture intervals, and only a handful radiocarbon dates for calibration, if calendar dates are required. This project aims to use genomic admixture date estimation software, such as DATES, to evaluate the efficacy of the proposed methodology by using published data from hundreds of samples, and by producing a new genomic and radiocarbon dataset from a site in Portugal. The latter will allow subsampling and simulation analysis, which will be essential for statistical testing of a new open source bioinformatic analytical tool, named OCCUPOMICS, which would allow the user to quickly calculate site occupation intervals and calendar dates by inputting a genomic dataset and any related direct radiocarbon dates.This project, therefore, could lead to a decreased need of radiocarbon dates when site-wise genomic data is available, provide improved precision in dating sites, as well as saving unique osteological material and reducing costs.

EXCELScIOR will develop, extend and fully unlock the research potential of the University of Coimbra (UC, Portugal) through the implementation of a new interdisciplinary ERA Chair devoted to Meta-research (i.e., “research on research”, or Meta-science). Meta-research fosters reproducibility and interdisciplinarity, making science more efficient through better use of research data, more reliable through better verification and ultimately more transparent (open) and responsive to societal challenges and needs. EXCELScIOR strategic goal is thus to improve UC’s research methods and practices, and enhance approaches to integrate information, generate reliable evidence and maximize its impact, in order to increase the scientific production, quality and organizational praxis of Research & Innovation at UC towards EU/ERA excellence. Biomedical Sciences will be the ERA Chair’s primary target during the project’s execution, but the intrinsic nature of meta-research is seemingly apposite and will then continue to revolutionize and advance multiple other research areas, within UC and beyond. The named ERA Chair holder _ Professor John Ioannidis from the University of Stanford _ is considered a pioneer in meta-research, being one of the ten most-cited scientists globally across all sciences. His work in the field attained worldwide recognition and has transformed research in biomedicine and multiple other scientific areas. Under his leadership, this ERA Chair will strive and, in the long term, evolve into a new research to action center _ the Meta-Research Innovation Center - Coimbra (METRIC C) _ bound to operate in tandem with the Meta-Research Innovation Center at Stanford (METRICS) and its sister in Berlin (METRIC-B), both of which co-founded and (co-)directed by Professor Ioannidis.