Alcohol addiction ranks among the primary global causes of preventable death and disabilities in human population, but treatment options are very limited. Rational strategies for design and development of novel, evidence based therapies for alcohol addiction are still missing. Within this project, we will utilize a translational approach based on clinical studies and animal experiments to fill this gap. We will provide a novel discovery strategy based on systems biology concepts that uses mathematical and network theoretical models to identify brain sites and functional networks that can be targeted specifically by therapeutic interventions. To build predictive models of the ‘relapse-prone’ state of brain networks we will use magnetic resonance imaging and neurochemical data from patients and laboratory animals. The mathematical models will be rigorously tested through experimental procedures aimed to guide network dynamics towards increased resilience. We expect to identify hubs that promote ‘relapse-proneness’ and to predict how aberrant network states could be normalized. Proof of concept experiments in animal will need to demonstrate this possibility by showing directed remodeling of functional brain networks by targeted interventions prescribed by the theoretical framework. Thus, our translational goal will be achieved by a theoretical and experimental framework for making predictions based on fMRI and mathematical modeling, which is verified in animals, and which can be transferred to humans. To achieve this goal we have assembled an interdisciplinary consortium (eight European countries) of world-class expertise in all complementary skills required for the project. If successful this project will positively impact on the development of new therapies for a disorder with largely unmet clinical needs, and thus help to address a serious and widespread health problem in our societies.

"Digitalization is transforming the skills needed by Europe's working population to successfully engage in the world of work in a globalized modern economy. Consequently, national education systems must swiftly and appropriately respond to the challenges digitalization poses.Digital transformation is generating a fierce debate among education providers, policy-makers, economists and industry leaders about its societal impact. As digitalization disrupts society ever more profoundly, concern is growing about how it is affecting issues such as jobs, wages, inequality, health, resource efficiency and security. Current estimates of global job losses due to digitalization range as high as 2 billion by 2030 (World Economic Forum). There is currently great uncertainty, with concerns also about its impact on wages and working conditions.Within the European Union, the European Commission's Digital Economy Society Index for 2018 shows that EU countries face deep digital development gap and therefore „it should invest more in digital and also complete the Digital Single Market as soon as possible to boost Europe's digital performance”. Even more, the same disparity is seen on digital skills, „while Nordic countries and the U.K. have populations with notably advanced digital skills, almost half of all Europeans still lack basic technical competences”, according to the index.In this framework, ESCALATE is a strategic partnership composed by 6 partners from 5 different EU countries: Exeter and Stirling in the West, Bilbao and Milan in the South, Frankfurt in the Centre and Timisoara in the East (Romania was ranked in 2018 as one of Europe's least developed digital economies). The project brings together the right mix of university responsibles, educators/teachers, learners, labour market experts, alongside business and local government to offer a coordinated response to the challenges arising from digitalization. We aim to assist universities in implementing activities designed to increase the levels of digital competences for employability, upskilling, according with a growing range of employment generated by the digital economy, aligned with the needs of and opportunities offered by the labour market and linked to professional profiles. Also, we consider the dual education system and the permanent connection between both university professor (higher education) and business representatives/specialists, by combining school-based learning with work-based practice. This broader comprehensive education approach will ensure the acquirement of new digital skills and improved competences. Our project will explore what constitutes new and emerging innovative practices in understanding and responding to digitalization at university level, but also at regional and local policy levels and then prioritize producing new materials in partner's own 6 key themes, and the project has been designed to include experts within each of these thematic areas.As a result we will be in a position to engage in a second major activity - the transnational trialling (in an identified region within each country) of a successful new innovation - the Digital Skills Escalator - being developed in the Exeter (sub) Region of SW England. This will require a systematic mapping of educational delivery form early school age all the way through to postgraduate and CPD educational offers and is an effective means of identifying not only where the gaps in a region/locations provision may be but also a means of identifying all of the agencies and institutions involved in digital skills delivery. Finally, the new materials and approaches developed by the partners will be combined into a new Training Course mainstreamed through Europe’s expert network of labour market observatories - the European Network for Regional Labour Market Monitoring (ENRLMM) and offered to those seeking to modernize digital skills and associated educational policies/practices in light of the threats posed by the changing world of work.ESCALATE will bring considerable impact on the community of educational providers, teachers, learners, labour market observatories and analysts across Europe to help them advise and support the decision making process on responses to digitalization. The new model will therefore help policymakers to design effective responses to the threat of digitalization, embeding digital literacy as a key educational goal and helping to grasp the job opportunities of the future.In conclusion, ESCALATE aims to understand '""university disruption"" at regional and local levels and the threats posed to universities and labour market from digitalization; who are the educational institutions and organizations involved; what innovations can be employed to help understand and tackle digitalization impacts; and ultimately we seek to elicit more effective local and regional higher education institutions' responses to digitalization across Europe."

Tinnitus is the perception of a phantom sound and the patient’s reaction to it. Tinnitus remains a scientific and clinical enigma of iTinnitus is the perception of a phantom sound and the patient’s reaction to it. Although much progress has been made, tinnitus remains a scientific and clinical enigma of high prevalence and high economic burden. It affects more than 10% of the general population, whereas 1% of the population considers tinnitus their major health issue. Recent cohort studies show that tinnitus prevalence tends to increase over time and with older age. Assuming that there is no cure to be found, the prevalence estimates in Europe would double by 2050. A large variety of patient characteristics - including genotyping, aetiology, and phenotyping - are poorly understood, because integrated systems approaches are still missing to correlate patient`s characteristics to predict responses to combinatorial therapies. Although genetic causes of tinnitus have been neglected for decades, recent findings of genetic analysis in specific subgroups (gender and phenotype) have highlighted that bilateral tinnitus in men reached a heritability of 0.68. This heritability is close to autism, schizophrenia and Attention Deficit Hyperactive Disorder (ADHD). There is no current consensus on tinnitus treatment. UNITI’s overall aim is to deliver a predictive computational model based on existing and longitudinal data attempting to address the question which treatment approach is optimal for a specific patient based on specific parameters. Clinical, epidemiological, medical, genetic and audiological data, including signals reflecting ear-brain communication, will be analysed from existing databases. Predictive factors for different patient groups will be extracted and their prognostic relevance will be tested in a randomized controlled trial (RCT) in which different groups of patients will undergo a combination of therapies targeting the auditory and central nervous systems.