Agricultural policies like the EU CAP are widening the scope to contribute to the Paris climate agreement and the Sustainability Development Goals. From the Commission's legislative proposals (June 2018) it is expected that the European Union (EU) Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) will be redesigned in line with this. Consequences are among others a move of the CAP to farm specific measures and an improved link to environment, climate change and ecosystem services. It is proposed that Member States and regions develop their own CAP strategic plan with more attention to the regional implementation of the CAP. This wider scope and measures with a focus on individual farmers ask for a new generation of impact assessment tools. Current state-of-the-art agricultural models are not able to deliver individual farm and local effects as they are specified at higher levels of aggregation. Making use of improved possibilities opened up by progress in the ICT area, our project MIND STEP will improve exploitation of available agricultural and biophysical data and will include the individual decision making (IDM) unit in policy models. Based on a common data framework MIND STEP will develop IDM models, including agent-based models, focussing on different topics in an integrated manner in different regional case studies. The IDM models will be estimated and calibrated using agricultural statistics and big datasets, drawing on established econometric and evolving machine learning techniques and using both traditional models of optimising behaviour and theories from behavioural economics. MIND STEP will closely cooperate with a range of stakeholders to co-create and apply the MIND STEP model toolbox to selected regional, national and EU wide policy cases. MIND STEP cooperates with other consortia under the topic to share ideas and innovations. Finally, MIND STEP develops an Exploitation Strategy and Plan to guarantee the sustainability of the project results upon its completion.

The main objective of the project is to develop solutions to recover the waste heat produced in energetic intensive processes of industrial sectors such as cement, glass, steelmaking and petrochemical and transform it into useful energy. These solutions will be designed after an evaluation of the energetic situation of these four industries and will deal with the development of Waste Heat Recovery Systems (WHRS) based on the Organic Rankine Cycle (ORC) technology. This technology is able to recover and transform the thermal energy of the flue gases of EII into electric power for internal or external use. Furthermore, a WHRS will be developed and tested to recover and transform the thermal energy of the flue gases of EII into mechanical energy for internal use (compressors). In order to reach this objective several challenging innovative aspects will have to be approached by the consortium. It is planned to design and develop a multisectorial direct heat exchanger to transfer heat directly from the flue gases to the organic fluid of the ORC system and to develop new heat conductor and anticorrosive materials to be used in parts of the heat exchanger in contact with the flue gases. These aspects will be completed by the design and modelling of a new integrated monitoring and control system for the addressed sectors. The consortium consists of 8 partners from 4 European countries. They cover several relevant sectors of the energy intensive industry, namely cement, steel, glass and petrochemical sectors. The industrial involvement in the project is significant and the project addresses the implementation of a full demonstration of the WHRS for electrical energy generation in one of the industrial partners (CEMENTI ROSSI) and a semi-validation of the WHRS for air compressors energy supply system at pilot scale.

Learning science helps to train students in observation, reasoning and argumentation, which are some of the foundations for all learning. It also helps improve transferable skills, such as logic, critical thinking and organisation. In order to develop an awareness of the complex interactions in contemporary society between science, technology, society, education and the environment, it is important to have an understanding of scientific practices and processes. This understanding also helps students to become active, scientifically literate citizens. With waning interest in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) among young people, OTTER aims to enhance understanding of education outside the classroom (EOC) methods and how they can be utilised to increase interest in STEM subjects among students and improve their acquisition of scientific knowledge and transferable skills. The project will connect EOC experts from Finland, Hungary, Spain and Ireland, strengthening networks within Europe and building a foundation for the development of EOC pilot schemes within the four focus countries. The effects of these pilots on the performance of participating students, including their levels of sophisticated consumption and scientific citizenship, will be analysed to better understand the effects of EOC on EU citizens. The pilots will build on recent momentum in tackling environmental issues and help to promote sophisticated consumption by incorporating a theme of reducing and managing plastic waste. The analysis will seek to identify differences in the effect of the programmes on students from different geographical locations and of different genders, comparing those who participated in the EOC pilot schemes with students who only participated in formal education. OTTER will further aim to improve accreditation of EOC teaching methods within Europe, contributing to the selection of accreditation tools available for use beyond the end of this project.