Twenty partners in Bulgaria come together for European Researchers Night ‘20 to present FRESHER (Find Research Everywhere, SHare and expERience) - a 12-month project led by the Centre for Research & Analysis, in a Consortium, now in its 5th year, with the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, universities, research institutes, the only Bulgarian tech park, a chamber of industry and commerce, the local office of a pan-European organisation, education entrepreneurship, and associate partners. FRESHER offers a series of specially curated, coordinated, multi-day participatory events at over 50 venues and 30+ schools in 25 cities/towns/villages. The talks, shows, hands-on experiments, lab visits, citizen research, competitions will reach 3.6 mln, and engage directly with 30,000 in face-to-face events at schools, libraries, museums, academic and outdoor venues, public transport and online. Building on well researched, popular formats for researchers’ engagement with the public, FRESHER provides multidisciplinary content around the International Year of Plant Health. The topic will feature in the programmes of all partners to assert the relevance of research to everyday life. Building on the Consortium’s existing understanding developed through previous local initiatives including Researchers Night, and addressing findings of research (MASIS report, Education & Training Monitor 2019 for Bulgaria, Women in Digital Scoreboard 2019, Science, Research & Innovation Performance in EU 2018), FRESHER focuses on enhancing public engagement with research and shortening the gap in the decision of young people and girls in particular to choose STEAM careers. The activities will step on previous evaluation and generate fresh, aligned data. The project will strengthen the capacity of all partners to organise accessible events for the general public, and to tailor messages for underserved audiences, including girls, young people at risk of school drop-out, as well as people with special needs.

Let’s harness the floating offshore wind energy potential of the Black Sea, let the wind BLOW. Offshore wind is currently one of the most cost-efficient, clean and scalable power sources. As of today, offshore wind farms rest on bottom-fixed foundations and are mainly deployed in shallow water areas with depths less than 50m. Floating offshore wind energy is expected to play a key role to materialise the vast potential of deep-sea areas. Project BLOW aims at unlocking the Black Sea fLoating Offshore Wind potential, by demonstrating a disruptive cost-efficient floating integrative unit design optimised for low and medium wind speed areas. BLOW will implement a 5 MW demonstrator in the Black Sea and will pave the way to industrial mass production and to the deployment of floating offshore wind farms. In order to accelerate the energy transition in the region, the project will couple synergies with the Oil & Gas sector and foster societal acceptance and cross-border policy development. BLOW targets an expected LCOE of 87€/MWh by 2028 (and 50€/MWh beyond 2030) and an environmental impact reduced by 40%.

REFRESH (Relate, Experience, Find Research Everywhere and SHare) is a 20-month project led by Centre for Research & Analysis with 20 partners and 27 associates. The Consortium includes 14 academic institutions, Bulgaria’s only tech park, a chamber of industry and commerce, the local office of a pan-European organisation, education entrepreneurships and a media outlet. The main ideas on which the proposal relies are coordinated, multi-city and international series events under a single, recognisable brand, with similar (familiar) formats but with fresh (and well communicated) content, led by central multidisciplinary themes in 2018 (European Year of Cultural Heritage) and sport (European Capital of Sport Sofia), and culture (European Capital of Culture Plovdiv 2019). Building on the Consortium’s existing understanding, developed through previous local initiatives including Researchers Night, and addressing findings of research (Special Eurobarometer 401, the MASIS report , the in-depth Education and Training Monitor 2017 for Bulgaria , the recently published Communication on Strengthening the European Identity through Education and Culture , REFRESH focusses on enhancing the public understanding of and engagement with science, encouraging children especially girls, to study STEM subjects. The participatory events will reach 3.6 mln, and engage 80,000 in least 14 cities/towns with live-streaming, face-to-face events at schools, libraries, museums, city venues and public transport, science talks and shows; hands-on experiments, lab visits and citizen science. The activities of the first year will allow learning to accrue from a thorough evaluation. The project will strengthen the capabilities of the partners in organising events for a general audience in open access format, and for underserved audiences, including girls and young people at risk of school drop-out, as well as young people with special needs.

Progress in early warning to tackle the threat posed by increasing coastal hazards is uneven across Asia, with some high-risk, low-capacity countries falling behind. Many countries are calling for regional multi-hazard early warning (MHEW) systems as an effective means of sharing scientific knowledge and applications, sharing costs and addressing trans-boundary disasters.CABARET aimed to promote international cooperation at the regional level, between Higher Education Institutes (HEIs) in Asia and Europe, and among Asian HEIs themselves, to improve MHEW and increase resilience among coastal communities. CABARET brought together a partnership of fifteen HEIs from ten countries in Europe and Asia, in cooperation with the IOC-UNESCO Indian Ocean Tsunami Warning System (IOTWMS) and the Asian Disaster Preparedness Center. Five selected partner countries in Asia – Indonesia, Maldives, Myanmar, Philippines and Sri Lanka – were the target for capacity building and included communities that are highly exposed and vulnerable to the threat posed by multiple coastal hazards. CABARET has achieved the goals by: Identifying intra and inter regional cooperation capacity needs across partner country HEIs for the development of more effective MHEW; Creating an innovation hub for resilient coastal communities, promoting scientific cooperation and knowledge transfer in Higher Education within Asia, and between Asia and Europe on MHEW; Developing a capacity building roadmap to address regional gaps and priorities; Exploring, promoting and initiating opportunities for fruitful university partnerships with socio-economic actors in coastal communities; Developing innovative multi-disciplinary training courses tailored for rapid skill (knowledge, qualifications,) acquisition for professional teams involved in multi-hazard early warning at the national and regional level; Publicising the capacity building progress, successes and outcomes as far as possible, and raising awareness across the field of HE about capacity building for MHEW and increased disaster resilience in coastal communities.Collectively, the partnership:•Organised 6 international meetings and four multi-disciplinary, capacity building workshops involving 319 participants•Supported a regional survey of tsunami capacity among twenty countries, in cooperation with the IOC-UNESCO IOTWMS•Published five national position papers and a regional position paper on MHEW preparedness•Published over fifty multi-institution, international and multi-disciplinary research papers on tsunami and multi-hazard early warning, and coastal resilience•Facilitated seven EU-ASIA and ASIA-ASIA exchanges involving thirty-five people from HEIs•Formed seven special interest groups that facilitated fourteen capacity building activities and provided a platform for further cooperation •Held a mentoring programme for early career researchers and developed six open educational resources on multi-hazard early warning•Organised special sessions on tsunami and multi-hazard early warning in six international conferences and events•Secured four externally funded spin-off projects and submitted numerous research proposalsThese activities have changed the understanding, awareness and attitudes among national and subnational actors on the critical areas of capacity for effective end to end tsunami early warning. CABARET has helped to enhance regional and trans-boundary cooperation for MHEW, and empower individuals and organisations with the skills, competencies and credentials needed to promote and sustain regional cooperation within Asia and Europe, and within Asia itself, aimed at reducing the likelihood and impact of disasters in coastal communities.