Safety Assessment of Non-Electric uses of nuclear energy (SANE) project investigates the potential of non-electric usage of nuclear energy, the safety aspects of reactors designed for non-electric use as well as the safety implications of the end use. As many of the applications are novel, their use needs to be properly communicated to various stakeholders, and for this the project includes work on risk communication. Non-electric uses are identified in EU SMR pre-Partnership as one of the high level R&D needs, and the understanding of the potential applications and their limitations as well as the challenges in integration of nuclear energy to end use were seen as important issues to be studied. Non-electric uses will be an important way to diversify the income streams of nuclear plants, as the electricity production will become more and more competitive. Nuclear has unique advantages in non-electric uses as it can produce lot of energy locally for large local uses. SANE aims to review potential future uses of nuclear energy in order to facilitate their implementation in the near future. This project aims to provide information for both industrial applications retrofitted to operating nuclear power plants, as well as for novel reactors dedicated for non-electric uses. Information needs for appropriate risk communication is studied with case studies in several countries, and a specific study on communications during abnormal situations is done based on the events that transpired in Ukraine during Russia's invasion.

BRIDGEGAP is a multidisciplinary research project reuniting former members of the ANTICORRP consortium (Transparency International, ERCAS/SAR, CSD, University of PISA, University of Perugia) who have continued to invest in the development of data commons allowing corruption understanding and monitoring on the basis of objective data (e.g. Integrity Watch, Index for Public Integrity, T-Index, Russian Economic Footprint), with new academic partners who published novel methods to measure money-laundering (Utrecht University) anthropologists and criminologists who pioneered corruption studies in liberal democracies (IFFS), and new IT groups like the Ukrainian organisation YouControl, the first to interconnect data to enable searches of the assets of sanctioned individuals through its algorithm Follow the Money. BRIDGEGAP fills the knowledge gaps regarding both the extent to and the mechanisms by which corruption infiltrates open societies even across borders and it produces measurements of corruption across countries and time by its innovative models, as well as social network maps. It also assesses and offers solutions to the digital transparency gaps, ranging from the tools of transparency, the use and abuse of technology in corruption and anticorruption to the state of it. Finally, it assesses public accountability and anticorruption regulation across EUMS and candidate states to identify regulatory and impact gaps, thus addressing the academia–policy gap in corruption studies. The research will result in academic publications as well as in interactive analytical and research commons like comparative law repositories EU Compass, European Transparency Index, Follow the Money search engines across newly interconnected databases. All its pooled data will be displayed transparently on the website as a Data Hub and will offer end users the same investigation and analytical tools as the project researchers, inviting crowd-sourcing and offering online tutorials.

The Directional Composites through Manufacturing Innovation (DiCoMI) project aims to bring together leading innovatorsfrom across Europe, and beyond, to develop a new method of producing composite material parts with optimised fibredirectionality. The DiCoMI project will integrate advanced manufacturing techniques, composite materials science, and manufacturing system design. As such, it requires a high level of inter-disciplinary cooperation as well as collaborationbetween researchers and industrials. The outcome will be a truly novel composites manufacturing system capable of producing parts with increased accuracy, reduced cost and enhanced functionality. DiCoMI project will focus on Directional Fibre-Reinforced Polymers (FRP) materials and combined different manufacturing techniques into a unique and innovative hybrid system. DiCoMI project will have a direct impact on the European and international scientific state of the art in the fields of composite materials and manufacturing equipment, while supporting the innovation potential in the automotive and aerospace industries.

Land degradation (LD) is the world's greatest environmental challenge affecting the environment, agriculture, and human wellbeing. Intensified by natural disasters and desertification, the LD may present potential risks and socioeconomic tension at the European Union (EU) frontier. The project aims to develop an innovative framework to provide an Early Warning System (EWS) and responses to the LD threatening the EU from its external border, using multi-source and multi-scale Earth Observation (EO) data. The consortium consists of the University Lusofona, PT, which will work with big data management, smart computation, and risk analysis, - Center for Remote Sensing of Land Surfaces of the University of Bonn, GE, bringing their long-term research expertise on the LD, - Scientific Centre for Aerospace Research of the Earth, UA, supporting with in-depth knowledge on development and application of advanced EO-based technologies, - SME ECOMM, UA, implementing the emergent geo-informational solutions, - the University of Zilina, SL working in multi-state simulation system for the LD risk assessment and advanced cloud computing, - the University of Marrakech, MOROCCO, with longterm experience in the inland LD and desertification evaluation using the EO data, - The Resource Ingeneering Company (RESING) implementing the developed EWS Prototype, providing the necessary data and logistic support. The EWS Prototype will be delivered to the EU and tested in complementary conditions in Ukraine, facing anthropogenic impact risks, and in Morocco where desertification risks are intensifying. The intersectoral region-specific expertise and skill-transfer secondments will ensure the self-sustainability and further evolution of the delivered system and of the Consortium. Dissemination of the approach to the agricultural consumers will support the development of environmental and socioeconomic factors, reach out to the remote rural society and enhance cooperation with and within the EU.

ELSMOR (towards European Lisencing of Small MOdular Reactors) aims to create methods and tools for the European stakeholders to assess and verify the safety of light water small modular reactors (LW-SMR) that would be deployed in Europe. ELSMOR advances the understanding and technological solutions pertaining to light water SMRs on several fronts: • Collection, analysis, and dissemination of the information on the potential and challenges of Small Modular Reactors to various stakeholders, including the public, decision makers and regulators. • Development of the high level methods to assess the safety of LW-SMRs • Improvement of the European experimental research infrastructure to assist in the evaluation of the novel safety features of the future LW-SMRs. • Improvement of the European nuclear safety analysis codes to demonstrate the capability to assess the safety of the future LW-SMRs Establishing education and training in the field of innovative nuclear reactors for young professionals is also emphasized. The ELSMOR project is built upon the expertise of the consortium that consists of technical support organizations, technical research centres, industrial partners, and universities with the long experience in European nuclear safety analysis and the development and implementation of innovative nuclear technologies. The industrial partners include utilities, small medium sized enterprises as well as the consortium currently developing the French LW-SMR (F-SMR design). The developers of European safety analysis tools and other computer codes use their well-established paths for exploitation of the improved and validated simulation tools. The licencing approaches and methods would be expected to be directly utilized by SMR designers like the French consortium. The outcomes should make the licensing process more fluid and comprehensive; this should also be true from the regulator point of view.