Forests have an important role in the achievement of the objectives of the European Green Deal. Forest trees are increasingly threatened by invasive pests, with many of them being regulated in the Union territory. FORSAID has as an overall goal to develop a comprehensive combination of innovative digital technologies aimed at detecting regulated forest pests at an early stage, surveying their occurrence in the territory, and providing essential information for the adoption of phytosanitary measures to limit their spread and impacts. The project adopts a multi-actor and multidisciplinary approach tailored to develop and favour the adoption of digital technologies at different spatial and temporal scales associated with a selected list of important regulated forest pests. The Internet of Things (IoT) will be used to create networks of insect traps for major guilds of insects, thanks to innovative deep learning analysis of images sent remotely from the traps. Robotized devices will be developed and tested for the automatic barcoding of the captured pests. Drones equipped with sensors will be used for the scanning of plant health status through the measure of physiological variables. Remote sensing techniques will be used to validate existing ground-truth data on the occurrence of tree alterations associated with abiotic and biotic factors, and models based on Artificial Intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) will be developed to discriminate different types of stresses as soon as they appear. An economic analysis will address the costs and benefits of using digital technologies for the detection and surveillance measures, considering the economic, environmental, and social impacts of regulated pests in EU forests. Stakeholders from the forest sector will be involved in a multi-actor approach to drive the research to applicable results and co-construct guidelines for the best use of new digital technologies for forest pest detection and monitoring.

This research project will study the formation of large meteorite impact craters, characterized by central peaks or rings, flat floors and terraced walls. The complex morphology results from the gravity driven collapse of a much deeper and narrower transient cavity. Standard material models fail to explain such a collapse and specific temporary weakening mechanisms have been proposed. The most successful approach, the Acoustic Fluidization (AF) model, relies on the temporary softening of heavily fractured target rocks by means of an acoustic field in the wake of an expanding shock wave originated upon impact. The project aims to (i) constrain the mechanics of large crater collapse, (ii) constrain AF parameters and enhance AF implementation into simulation software (iSALE), (iii) test the revised AF model with planetary case studies. These objectives will be achieved through a multidisciplinary approach: (1) Small-scale impact experiments will use a target of granular material, which will be acoustically fluidized by an external source to mimic the fluid-like rheology of planetary targets during collapse; (2) Numerical models of complex crater formation, which require the AF parameters to be constrained, will be calibrated and validated against experiments and up-scaled to dimensions of natural craters. The originality lies in combining the systematic laboratory experiments with numerical simulations to improve a widely used AF model. The fulfilment of the project will be ensured by the host and partner institutes, and the planned training activities (laboratory and modelling techniques). The results will be disseminated to the scientific community through peer-reviewed papers and conference contributions. The project will foster excellence in Europe by establishing a network of collaborations that will promote high-quality research, inspire the next generation of planetary scientists, and encourage research in interdisciplinary fields like Solar System exploration.