Antiviral drugs will be key in the management of future virus outbreaks. For each virus family with epidemic/pandemic potential, stockpiles of potent drugs are needed that can be deployed when a new pathogen emerges. Such broader-acting drugs (targeting conserved viral functions) are needed as of “day one” of an outbreak, for treatment and prophylaxis (e.g., in HCW and frail patients). In combination with quarantine measures, such drugs will delay (global) spread, allowing time for vaccine-development. Since the 2003 SARS outbreak, PANVIPREP’s core partners have successfully collaborated in leading European antiviral drug research projects. This provides a solid scientific basis in combination with translational drug discovery expertise. The team includes virologists, biochemists, structural biologists, medicinal chemists and pharmacokinetics experts. Previously developed know-how and toolboxes will be a major asset to achieve immediate impact. PANVIPREP aims to greatly expand the antiviral portfolio and identify novel druggable targets of high-risk RNA viruses. Hits will be identified through (i) phenotypic antiviral screening of compound libraries (ii) structure-based drug design, (iii) in silico screening, supported by the latest machine-learning methods. We will deliver 25 to 50 high-quality, broad(er)-spectrum (pan-genus/pan-family) hit molecules/hit series. Two of these will be developed to the early lead stage, including proof of concept in animal infection models. Remaining hits will serve as chemical tool-compounds to explore mechanisms of action thereby identifying novel druggable targets in RNA virus replication. This in turn will accelerate target-based drug design efforts. The workflow will integrate best practices in antiviral drug discovery with a range of methodological innovations, including AI-based methods, thus renovating and accelerating the antiviral hit discovery pipeline future use and contributing to pandemic preparedness.

The project responds to the growing cultural and religious diversity in EU countries, which brings new challenges to social work and education in social work. Social work faces a challenge to promote the integration of refugees and other incoming aliens from the third countries for whom their spirituality and religiosity are an essential part of their lives. Therefore, the project aims to apply the theme of spiritual assessment to the study and education in social work which, in addition to the biological, psychological and social aspects of the client's life and life situation, seeks to take into account the spiritual aspect. Spiritual assessment is an established topic, especially in the discourse of social work in the USA; only partial attention is paid to it in Europe. However, the consideration of clients' spirituality is part of the content of the higher quality of social services in the EU, which is implemented even in such secularized countries as the Czech Republic. In the spirit of constructivist approach, social worker uses spiritual assessment to try to understand client's life situation and the role of spirituality in his/her life. Social worker thus can identify client’s values and motivations and can also prevent the risk factors of fundamentalist spirituality and religiosity that worsen client’s life situation. If client wishes, social worker can engage client’s spirituality in a complex approach to addressing client’s life situation. Therefore, the discourse of spirituality and religiosity is closely interconnected to the ethical discourse in social work because social worker works with the value system of client, society, social work profession itself, and his/her own value system, and has to make complex decisions requiring high ethical competence. The European tradition of the secular concept of social work and religious freedom is not disturbed in this way because the social worker does not transport, in fact he/she mustn’t transport, his/her own spirituality and religiosity towards the client, much less question and defame client’s spirituality and religiosity. The aim of the project is to innovate the curriculum of study programs in social work. These innovations will be achieved through the creation of new education modules at master's level and the creation of the joint degree doctoral study program that will be introduced and accredited by participating universities. The modules and the program will focus on the issues of spirituality and social ethics in social work. Partial goals are the creation of support materials for educational modules - booklets and internet portal in English, Czech, French, German, Hungarian and Spanish. The theoretical and methodological basis of the project solution will be the concept of social work as the act theory that works with the so-called transdisciplinary structure of social work. The transdisciplinary concept specifies the basic interdisciplinary nature of social work. The discourse on this topic is developed especially in German-speaking countries. The structure of thinking in social work is based on so-called transdisciplinary relations between disciplines at different levels of abstraction and their interdisciplinary relations at the same level of abstraction. Vertically (transdisciplinary view), social work as the act theory interconnects the level of meta-theories (epistemology, ontology, theory of science, etc.), the level of theories adopted into the discourse of social work from other fields (psychology, sociology, law, etc.), and the practical level of techniques and coduct in practice. Horizontally, it interconnects the theories of different disciplines on each these three levels in the spirit of interdisciplinary nature of social work. Within this conception, it is therefore possible to work well with both spirituality and religiosity, as well as with the issues of ethics and values. The transdisciplinary structure of social work as the act theory makes it very easy to interconnect the abstract themes of ethics or spirituality with specific procedures in practice which are justified by the results of sociological or psychological (or other) research. It is also possible to reflect specific practice using methods from fields such as sociology, and to interpret it using ethical argumentation. This approach will be implemented into the curricula of training modules and the doctoral study program in the form of knowledge and competences so that the students could acquire and use it in practical work with clients, or learn to reflect it and develop it within doctoral studies. The creation of the joint degree doctoral study program will ensure long-term dissemination of anticipated innovations, because the project issues will be further developed within the training of doctoral students and their dissertation work. Thus, there will be new well prepared experts able to train social workers in specific thematic innovations.

Reaching net zero Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions by 2050 is key to limit global warming to 1.5 °C and achieve the targets set out in the Paris Climate Agreement. Mitigation approaches such as renewable energy sources, improved energy efficiency and forest preservation, need to be combined with active carbon dioxide (CO2) removal (CDR). Low-cost nature-based solutions need to be identified, assessed and promoted on a large scale for both CO2 sequestration and biodiversity conservation. WILDCARD will, for the first time in Europe, assess the overall potential impact of natural rewilding of abandoned agricultural land and proforestation on carbon sequestration and biodiversity at multiple spatial and temporal scales. Combining field observations, remote sensing, and vegetation modelling with economic, societal and political analyses, WILDCARD will inform national and European policy makers on the contribution potential of nature-based solutions to achieve net zero emissions by 2050. The project will investigate the regulatory, cultural and economic barriers to natural rewilding and proforestation, and identify which social innovation mechanisms, models and incentives can better support our CDR approach. WILDCARD will use a dedicated cross-scale analysis, linking site-based in-depth knowledge on rewilding impacts and socio-economic consequences to a European-scale assessment, embedded in the current EU policy context and informed by global scenarios from IAMs and ESMs. The final project’s aim is to offer concrete and realistic policy options aimed at enhanced uptake of rewilding as a significant solution to achieve global climate objectives.

NEXTFOOD will drive the crucial transition to more sustainable and competitive agrifood and forestry systems development by designing and implementing education and training systems to prepare budding or already practicing professionals with competencies to push the green shift in our rapidly changing society. NEXTFOOD will challenge the linear view of knowledge transfer as a top-down process from research to advice and practice, and support the transition to more learner-centric, participatory, action-based and action-oriented education and learning in agrifood and forestry systems. In several pioneering case studies, covering agrifood and forestry systems in Europe, Asia and Africa, farmers solve real challenges related to sustainability together with researchers, students and other relevant stakeholders while developing both green technical skills and soft collaborative competencies. NEXTFOOD will assure quality in research and education by creating a peer-review system for evaluation of practice-oriented research outputs focusing on sustainability and practical usefulness. In addition, we will develop an international accreditation framework for education and training in fields relevant to sustainable agrifood and forestry systems. An innovative action research process will guide the NEXTFOOD project’s development in a cyclical manner, ensuring that the research process and actual case studies are ever-improving. This will exemplify how practice-oriented research can be instrumental to achieve: better collaboration between university and society, more innovation in the agrifood and forestry systems sector, and a progressive agrifood community ready to tackle complex sustainability challenges of the 21st century