mERCury will help to 1)facilitate the transnational co-operation and capacity building among ERC National Contact Points (NCPs) to achieve a consistent and harmonized level of support 2)strengthen national and local support to potential ERC applicants, in particular to those from countries with weak participation 3)identify and sharing good NCP practices and raising the general standard of support to ERC applicants 4)enhance the competence of ERC NCPs, including helping less experienced NCPs rapidly acquire the know-how accumulated by NCPs in other countries 5)reach a higher quality and quantity of applications especially from Horizon Europe Widening countries by coaching potential ERC applicants. Our project aims at reaching 3 Specific Objectives (SO): SO1: Improve, professionalise and harmonise services of ERC NCPs. SO2: To Increase capacities of less experienced and Widening countries NCPs, facilitate their work and reduce the gap increasing the participation of applicants from those countries and in any country with weaker participation. SO3: strengthen national and local support to potential ERC applicants, in particular to those from countries with weak participation in the ERC programme. We will reach our SOs thanks to 4 Work Packages that include twinnings, meet&exchange workshops, online working groups, train the trainer events, training sessions and workshops for applicants. These activities will focus on issues specific to the ERC programme and to the ERC NCP work. These activities will be shaped and their topic identified by the same ERC NCPs through a benchmarking questionnaire which will deliver NCPs knowledge, capacity building and upskilling needs. 23 beneficiaries –12 from Widening countries- from all levels of ERC experience will be part of the consortium.

TARGET will initiate institutional change in seven gender equality innovating institutions (GEIIs) in the Mediterranean basin – including research performing organisations (RPOs), research funding organisations (RFOs) and a network of universities. TARGET takes a reflexive approach which goes beyond the formal adoption of a gender equality plan by emphasising an iterative reflection of progress made as well as establishing a community of practice to effect institutional transformation. Actual change is the result of increased institutional willingness and capacity to identify, reflect on and address gender bias in a sustained way. Starting point and anchor of the process is a tailored Gender Equality Plan or Strategy (GEP/GES) in each GEII. TARGET will build the institutional capacity for a reflexive gender equality policy by: developing effective tools for each stage of the GEP/GES (audit, planning, implementation, monitoring, self-assessment) to be customised to the specific institution; supporting the development of competences to conduct a gender audit, to design, implement, monitor and self-assess a tailored GEP/GES; establishing a community of practice of relevant stakeholders within each GEII; initiating an organisational learning process within each GEII which combines self-assessment with GEP/GES evaluation. The TARGET countries have been characterised as relatively inactive in developing gender equality policies in R&I. To ensure that action taken has a multiplier effect, each GEII will undertake targeted dissemination activities to initiate a national/regional discourse on gender equality in R&I. Furthermore TARGET will develop new knowledge for institutions, practitioners and policymakers based on a comparative analysis of GEP implementation and sustainability to provide a basis for effective sharing of practice in both proactive and relatively inactive countries - taking into account differences in cultural, socio-economic and political settings.

National Contact Points (NCPs) for Space provide support on Space funding under EU Framework programmes. In 2007 under FP7 the EU started funding an NCP Space network which was named COSMOS. This enabled the NCPs to benefit from each other’s experience and thus raise the level of the overall quality of their services. Additional services were established like a joint website and news service providing information about Space and EU Framework Programme related topics. Furthermore they organised international information days in support of the European Commission with emphasis on bringing potential project partners together. Last but not least they implemented a country independent helpdesk for EU framework Space research related questions. While the project partners are core of the network the full group comprises the other Space NCPs from EU member states and Associated Countries as well as Space contact points in international partner countries, mainly from Space faring nations. Within COSMOS2020 the network activities are continued under Horizon 2020. Capacity building, information services, project partner search support and more activities will once again reinforce the cooperation of the NCPs and raise the overall quality level of services. This is even more important since their role as only official support entity was decided for Horizon 2020.

The HUMAN_ERA Night proposal aims at organising two events, one in 2018 in Limassol, and one in 2019 in Nicosia. Both events will be dedicated to the Human Era, a concept inspired from the fact that never before has the Earth been so affected by one species as is now by humans. Employing an anthropocentric approach, the HUMAN_ERA Night over the next two years aims to celebrate our Cultural Heritage (2018, on the occasion of the European Year of Cultural Heritage) and Life Sciences (2019) as two different mirrors reflecting the same image, human evolution. The Coordinator, the Research Promotion Foundation (RPF), as the National Agency for supporting Research and Innovation (R&I), has within its remit gained a long experience in organising activities for the promotion of R&I towards the public and especially the younger generation, with the European Researchers’ Night events being an integral part of its philosophy since 2006, and always with the vivid support from the National R&I System. The proposed events will be the result of a long-lasting and well established collaboration (12 years of organising European Researchers’ Night in Cyprus) of the RPF with all relevant R&I stakeholders (government, industry, academia) and civil participants ensuring maximum complementarity and open innovation at the same time. Building on past experiences, HUMAN_ERA Night will bring together researchers from all sectors and disciplines, along with the public, increasing appreciation of the researchers’ work, raising awareness on the importance of R&I for society and the economy and motivating young people to take up a career in research. Through a balanced mix of educational and entertaining, interactive activities, aiming at people of all ages, genders and educational backgrounds, the events will celebrate R&I achievements, especially EU funded and will ultimately remove stereotypes about the researchers’ profession, creating a much needed R&I culture among the Cypriot population.