In the last years, extreme weather patterns of water scarcity (droughts) and water abundance (floods, rapid showers) are becoming more frequent and prolonged in the EU. If we do not remedy this situation, by 2050 water scarcity will lead to €12,2 billion losses per year and affect 17% of EU population. RAINS will contribute to improve the resilience of EU agriculture to water scarcity by demonstrating 10 solutions (irrigation practices, technologies and tools) that will increase the efficiency of water and nutrient management in agriculture and reduce the impact of extreme weather events. RAINS solutions include alternative forms of water supply, combined use of water and biofertilisers, improved soil water-retention, water-N/P modelling and some smart solutions (Optifangs-IA, WaterIQ) to contribute to decision-making and to integrated irrigation management across farm systems. Solutions will be demonstrated at 10 demo-farm systems representing agroecology, organic production, conventional, intensive and urban agriculture, replicated in Greece and Spain. We will also develop a hydrological and N/P model to optimised agriculture production at catchment level. A well, we will conduct co-creation workshops, knowledge transfer activities and create materials such as guidelines (2), White Papers (2) and Practice Abstracts (40). Policy focused sessions will deliver 3 sets of policy and incentives recommendations, engaging quadruple helix agricultural stakeholders, to pave the way for the uptake of sustainable irrigation and fertilization management solutions in practice in the EU. In the long term, RAINS will contribute to improve water efficiency by 50% in 12,700 ha. in more than 20 EU regions, and support >500 farmers in the transition to a more sustainable irrigation. And by 2050, the implementation of the RAINS project will save up to €6.1 billion, 244.348 million litres of water and 35.4 t CO2 eq. avoided emissions.

"Project ""Quality Food & Consumer Studies"" thematically followed the ""European Consumer Agenda - Boosting confidence and growth for 2012 - 2020"" that identified the key measures needed to empower consumer and boost their trust. In the field of research and innovation it payed attention to deeper scientific understanding of consumer behavior and the health, safety and sustainability aspects of the choices they face. Recent initiatives included also the ""Quality Package"" adopted by the Commission in 2010, which aimed to improve information for consumers on food quality through a comprehensive policy on certification schemes, value - adding terms and standards for agricultural products.The aim of the project was to modernize and improve the quality of university education in the field of food science, food marketing and consumer studies, applied through the synergic effect of international cooperation, transfer of innovation and creation of new values in project consortium of 10 partners from 9 EU countries. The partnership was geographically balanced and composed of 8 universities (Slovak Republic, Poland, Czech Republic, Austria, Spain, United Kingdom - they left project partnership and Denmark) and 2 institutions/companies from the business sector (Germany, Netherlands). In terms of characteristics of participants, the main target groups were university teachers and university students. The third target group were people from enterprises, and research institutes with the aim to transfer knowledge from theory into practice. In terms of project profile, it was focused on 2 topics - Food Science (Food Quality section) and Sales and Marketing (Consumer Studies section).Project in the form of international mobility and training activities as well as through transfer of knowledge and creation of new values created a framework and conditions for the development and pilot implementation of 6 intellectual outputs focused on food quality, safety, sensory studies, sensory and aroma marketing, neuromarketing for food marketers, augmented reality for food marketers and consumers, health, nutrition, food consumer trends and product development. Intellectual outcomes in three cases represented not only innovative, but an entirely new product in the field of education , which had not been used in the educational process at partner universities so far (aroma and sensory marketing, neuromarketing for food marketers, augmented reality for food marketers).Intellectual outcomes were presented in the form of books, methodologies, supplemented by CDs, videopresentations so that they can subsequently be used for the pilot implementation of blended learning in two online modules and summer schools (Food & Sensory & Consumer and Neuromarketing and Augmented Reality). To disseminate the results at local, national and European / transnational level, two international workshops and participation at two presentations events (International Scientific Days in Nitra in Slovakia and at the same time Festival of Science and Education in Poland and Agricultural exhibition AGROKOMPLEX 2017 in Slovakia) were planned apart from the usual dissemination activities.Results of the project were contribute to the quality and modernization of teaching content and methodology of teaching at partner universities, contribute to quality education of future graduates, who would be prepared to bring innovative solutions into the food industry and trade as well as they would available for transfer into the business sector."

SEASONED's overall aim is to improve the knowledge, skills, and competencies of the research and administrative staff of the Faculty of Biotechnology and Food Science (FBFS) of Wroclaw University of Environmental and Life Sciences (UPWr) in the field of sensory evaluation of food and consumer behaviour with particular attention to newly designed innovative processed food products with health-related properties. The project aims to establish an international network of leading universities and centres in food sensory analysis (SDU, UMH, BCC) to step up in science and research, improving managerial and administrative capacities, networking skills and strategies to engage society and citizens as well as public authorities and private businesses, and regional and European institutions. SEASONED will enable FBFS and its partners, leading research institutions from Spain, Denmark, and United Kingdom, to co-develop a capacity building programme to share and integrate expertise and skills to access new research avenues and develop new approaches to prepare competitive research applications within the EU and global challenges (Green Deal, UN SDGs). Implementing Gender Balance Monitoring, Open Science, Citizen's Engagement, FAIR data research principles, and monitoring of Key Performance Indicators project will create short- to long-term societal, scientific, and economic impacts. Ultimately, UPWr's ambition is to develop and reach the top of the sensory evaluation centres' competencies and become the leading centre of excellence in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE). As a result, at the end of the project and far beyond the project duration, UPWr wants to establish a Consumer Behaviour Centre (CBC). SEASONED CBC will be a unique platform dedicated to scientists (ESRs including the MSc and PhD students, ERs, other scientists from national and international units), business partners and consumers from this part of Europe.

"Soft skills, according to ESCO’s (European Skills, Competences, Qualifications and Occupations) definition, are the cornerstone for the personal development of a person; the building blocks for the development of the ""hard"" skills and competences required to succeed in the labour market. Success in the labour market is seen to be more and more dependent upon possessing the hybrid skills – technical and soft skills – that employers increasingly value.Soft skills can be distinguished into personal and interpersonal skills or interpersonal qualities and personal attributes that one possesses. This conceptualises soft skills in somewhat abstract terms and characterises them as innate. The idea on which this project is based sees soft skills as having “hard” component, which makes it possible to develop them by learning using appropriate tools, procedures and methods.The human resource functions within companies often use soft-skills as a catch-all term without ever really defining them. But when placed in context – e.g. problem solving in relation to a systems failure on a production line – this might be regarded as a “not-so-soft-skill” (NSSS). This because there are tools, procedures and methods for learning how to solve problems. Of course, this needs to take into consideration the attitude of the person (their fortitude, determination, etc.), but there are other elements to problem solving too that can be learnt.This lack of clarity has many consequences, not least that it is likely to lead to a poor match between applicants for a job and the content of that job, thereby wasting the time of the applicants and the recruiters. ULISSE project aimed to unveil the true meaning of soft skills by developing the concept of “NSSS” and creating a common language with respect to soft skills among the key actors involved (intermediaries, job seekers and employers). Based on this, the project partners designed specific training paths for addressing the company’s NSSS needs, to increase the students employability and the job match-making. The training courses were focused on tools, procedures and methods, specifically designed to address this goal, ensuring effective and Pareto efficient results. or designing the course, the partners first created a common lexicon of soft skills, through a data mining process: different databases, scientific papers and job vacancies provided by all the partners will be processed in a semi-automatic way using the Technimeter®. Soft skills have then be unveiled, i.e. broken down (or “decomposed”) into more detailed and specific skills - representing their “hard side” - to be addressed efficaciously with tools, procedures and methodologies. The result was synthesized in a mind-map, expressing the “unveiled” soft skills and their relations. To select the topics to address in the training course, the partnership conducted a gap analysis overlapping the skills in students’ CVs and the already existing University training with the results achieved in IO2. The workshops designed and then piloted in all the project countries involved 63 students and blended theory, methods and tools, exercises, practical work. The partnership has given open-access to all the learning materials, ppts, exercises and methodologies adopted during the course, now available on the project website ""www.ulisseproject.eu"". Partners also elaborated an innovative evaluation methodology, keeping into account two elements learned by their experience: i) the bias due to the common misunderstanding on the true meaning of them and ii) that the real outcome is the actual implementation of the tools, procedures and methodologies in every-day working-life. This methodology was based on a three-step procedure, assessing the students before the training course, at the end of it and one month later.Finally, the partners developed an IT tool called Soft Skills Detector (http://ulisseapp.s3-website-eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/home) aimed at helping companies to describe their job vacancies in a more effective way, thus facilitating the matching of job supply and demand. The toolkit has been designed and then piloted with a limited number of companies, before releasing the final version in English and all partner languages.The key target groups for the project were employers, employment intermediaries (headhunters, recruiters, other Career Services (CS), etc) and job seekers, in our case University students/graduates. Employers benefited from the Soft Skills detector developed by the partners for supporting them write job vacancies in a more effective way. Universities benefitted from all the research activities carried out on soft skills and the training materials and assessment methodologies. CS increased their effectiveness in their intermediary role to help students design their career path; while students benefitted from the courses and materials delivered in increasing their employability."