Antarctica is changing. In February 2022, sea ice around Antarctica reached the lowest area that has been observed since satellite records began in 1979. This marks the first time that the area of sea ice ice has been observed to shrink below 2 million square kilometres. Compared to the average minimum, the 2022 February minimum is missing an area of sea ice that is about three and a half times the size of the UK. Directly following on from the sea ice minimum, in March 2022 record air temperatures were recorded across much of East Antarctica, with some meteorological stations observing temperatures 40C warmer than normal. These unprecedented conditions were associated with a very intense 'atmospheric river', a narrow corridor of warm water vapour, bringing warm air and moisture to the high Antarctic Plateau. We do not know whether these extreme regional climatic events are just 'one offs', and highly unlikely to occur again, or whether they are an indication of how Antarctic climate will develop in the future. These recent extreme weather events and conditions in Antarctica have prompted fresh concern about how climate change in this remote region will impact Earth. The protection of coastlines around the world from the future rise in sea level from Antarctica requires a better understanding of how the weather of Antarctica will evolve over the coming century. Any loss of Antarctic ice mass as a result of weather changes may raise the sea level around the globe. SURFEIT will thus investigate how changing snow and radiation, or surface fluxes, over the coming century will affect Antarctic snow and ice. The international SURFEIT team will: (i) improve how polar clouds are represented in our climate models; (ii) use pre-existing, and new, observations alongside climate model output to help improve our understanding of changes in snowfall over Antarctica; (iii) ensure we can accurately predict small-scale and extreme-event weather changes; and (iv) improve how we link our earth and ice system model components together, so that we can make better predictions of when Antarctic ice may fracture, and so raise global sea level. Our work on improving snowfall and ice predictions will help us answer our overarching question 'How will changes in Antarctic surface fluxes impact global sea-level to 2100 and beyond?'

Amphibians are currently suffering severe worldwide declines caused by chytridiomycosis, an emerging infectious disease caused by the fungal pathogen Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis (Bd). So far, disease mitigation strategies have taken a host-level approach, in which only the host-pathogen interactions have been considered. However, recent results have shown that disease dynamics can be affected by pathogen-environment interactions and underscored the importance of the host-pathogen-environment interplay. Indeed, in the field and laboratory, freshwater zooplankton was found to trigger Bd infection in two amphibian species by directly consuming Bd zoospores. This study raises the hope that chytridiomycosis outbreaks could be controlled in nature by natural augmentation of zooplankton. The project FreeMi aims at developing a safe and effective mitigation strategy targeting Bd at the habitat level. To achieve this aim, I will first identify whether amphibians are protected by the species richness, the overall abundance and/or a few key zooplankton organisms able to consume a high number of Bd zoospores. The samples will be collected from two regions: the Pyrenees and Germany. Then, I will identify the local species that are the most efficient at consuming zoospores. I will isolate these species and establish self-maintaining cultures in outdoor microcosms. Finally, I will test the efficiency of the cultures, in single as well as community trials, under biologically relevant conditions. Compared to other approaches, this highly innovative approach lacks the downsides associated with introducing non-native biocontrol agents (such as antifungal chemicals or non-native skin bacteria) in the environment. Moreover, it would allow to treat all amphibian individuals present at a site, of all species and from larvae to adults directly in the field, and therefore would be more cost-effective than individual treatment strategies.

Cities around the globe are struggling to meet the needs of their citizens with respect to food, energy and water. These three sectors are inextricably linked and actions in one sector more often have impacts in one or both of the others; these interacting sectors can therefore be seen as a Food-Energy-Water Nexus (FEW Nexus) of systems. The ERANET Sustainable Urbanisation Global Initiative (EN-SUGI) will bring together the fragmented research and innovation expertise across Europe and beyond to find innovative new solutions to this FEW Nexus challenge. Furthermore, by linking the activity of the Joint Programming Initiative (JPI) Urban Europe and the Belmont Forum (BF), EN-SUGI develops more resilient, applied urban solutions that bring research and innovation together from across the globe. EN-SUGI is a project that foresees the participation of 19 Funding Agencies eligible for the EU top up, 18 from JPI Urban Europe and 1 from Argentina, and 6 FAs non eligible for EU top up, under the umbrella of the Belmont forum , collaborating on a volunteer base. EN-SUGI Main objectives and impacts are: To support development of practical innovations and new collaborative research that will allow urban areas to understand and address the challenges of the Food-Energy-Water systems. (Impact = 12-14 projects funded, and 15 cities/local authorities engaged) To provide a framework for aligning R&I agendas of JPI Urban Europe and the BF,. The alignment will help foster transdisciplinary collaboration and co-creation in research and innovation, and facilitate the use of global expertise and knowledge (Impact = 24 funding organisations involved) EN-SUGI will foster development of international relationships between the different parts of the research and innovation community – to enable them to contribute to addressing those challenges and goals, while aligning them to wider, strategic initiatives, including the SRIA agenda, Future Earth and UN –Habitat.