“Advancing Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion in Clinical Trials” (EDICT) establishes an innovative Doctoral Network to transform how equity, diversity, and inclusion (EDI) principles are embedded in clinical trials across Europe. While clinical trials are essential for advancing medical knowledge, systematic exclusion of diverse populations undermines scientific validity and limits healthcare impact. EDICT will train the next generation of research leaders, equipped with specialised methodological expertise and practical skills to transform how clinical trials are designed and conducted, ensuring meaningful representation of diverse populations. Leveraging expertise from multiple sectors—including academia, the pharmaceutical and MedTech industries, patient advocacy, regulatory bodies, trial networks, science communication, and evidence production—EDICT will support 16 (14 EU; 2 Swiss) doctoral candidates in developing solutions that enhance recruitment, improve data inclusivity, and ensure that trial outcomes are representative of broader population needs. The network will deliver concrete EDI innovations, including standardised metrics for measuring trial diversity, AI-powered tools for detecting recruitment bias, culturally-adapted consent processes, and implementation frameworks. These outputs will transform how EDI is implemented across the clinical trials ecosystem. Through structured mobility between interdisciplinary academic, industry and policy environments, doctoral candidates will develop comprehensive expertise across four key domains: standardised measurement of trial diversity, innovative EDI methodologies, practical implementation tools, and frameworks for systemic change. EDICT will establish a permanent network of EDI champions, driving sustainable improvement in clinical trial inclusivity while advancing Europe's capacity to conduct equitable, representative, and scientifically robust health research.

HappyMums is designed to improve our understanding on the biological mechanisms underlying the development of depressive symptoms in pregnancy, and the efficacy of interventions. It will interrogate a large collection of cohorts with multiple biological, medical, clinical, socio-demographic and environmental and lifestyle data to identify the most robust risk factors triggering depressive symptoms, but also moderators of the risk. By putting together unique human samples of placenta, chorionic villi and amniotic fluid, and animal models, HappyMums will improve the understanding of the neurobiological mechanisms affected by depressive symptoms in pregnancy that lead to alterations in the foetal environment, shaping offspring risk for developing negative mental outcomes. The use of three complimentary rodent models will allow to achieve a proof of causality, and the presence of an innovative fish model will elucidate the mechanisms specific to placenta by which adverse maternal conditions are transmitted to the offspring without the potentially confounding mitigating effects of compensatory postnatal maternal care. This knowledge will allow the identification of new targets for the development of novel medications, for the repurposing of existing medications or for the development of non-pharmacological interventions. HappyMums will also develop a digital platform where AI tools-based data can be collected, together with biological, clinical, medical, environmental and lifestyle data, through a mobile phone App that will be at the interface with clinicians via a dedicated dashboard. This will allow early screening of depressive symptoms, prompt diagnoses, personalized treatments, and the promotion of protective lifestyle attitudes. Overall, HappyMums will not only increase the knowledge in the field of mental disorders in pregnancy, but also improve the wellbeing of these women, providing unprecedented benefits also to the offspring and thus to society at large.

Science, research and innovation should be and through history they have been a drive of social and economic progress. Today more than ever our society is driven by scientific discoveries, innovation, and technology development. We cannot imagine our lives without privileges of modern society which were enabled by some of greatest researchers and innovators of 19th and 20th century. At the verge of fourth industrial revolution we should not forget our heritage and debt we have towards innovators such as Nikola Tesla – one of the fathers of second industrial revolution or researchers such as Marie Marie Skłodowska-Curie. Goal of this project Techno-Past-Techno-Future: European Researchers’ Night (TPTF-ERN) is complementary to the common main objective of European Researchers’ Night as it aims at deepening the understanding on what science and innovation represent. Researchers should be viewed as artists in their own way as their work is a way of expressing their creativity and originality. Their work changes the way we look at the world.