The deluge of big data, accompanied by developments in software and hardware technologies leveraging them, has created new opportunities for research and industry. Europe The main challenges, though, faced by researchers and service providers working with personal data, are stemming from the fact that these data need to be processed in a privacy-preserving way, as they contain sensitive information. Although several technologies have been developed to facilitate the processing of data while preserving privacy, they have not made significant inroads into real use cases, due to several reasons. ENCRYPT will develop a scalable, practical, adaptable privacy-preserving framework, allowing researchers and developers to process data stored in federated cross-border data spaces in a GDPR-compliant way. Within this framework, a recommendation engine for citizens and end-users will be developed, providing them with personalised suggestions on privacy preserving technologies depending on the sensitivity of data and the accepted trade-off between the degree of security and the overall system performance. The ENCRYPT framework will be designed taking into consideration the needs and preferences of relevant actors, and will be validated in a comprehensive, 3-phase validation campaign, comprising i) in-lab validation tests, ii) use cases provided by consortium partners in three sectors, namely the health sector, the cybersecurity sector, and the finance sector, that include cross-border processing of data, and iii) external use cases including privacy preserving computations on federated medical datasets. ENCRYPT will be realised by a multidisciplinary consortium of 14 partners, comprising six companies (including three SMEs, one start-up, and two enterprises), and eight research institutes/universities, and covering the value chain for privacy-preserving computation technologies.

Masonry benefits contemporary architecture regarding sustainability and application to free-form construction. A masonry structure can be considered as an assemblage of conventional or interlocking rigid blocks with frictional joints. Although interlocking blocks’ resistance to sliding is higher and their construction is easier when compared to conventional blocks, there is no digital framework to design structurally-sound assemblages composed of interlocking blocks with diverse typologies. Therefore, I intend to develop a digital framework that supports designers in the design of structurally feasible and assemblable masonry assemblages of interlocking blocks. The framework will accomplish the following: -it allows designers to model an assemblage and to analyze its structural feasibility; -for the structurally infeasible model, it will automatically modify the geometry of the interlocking blocks’ connectors, making the model structurally feasible; -during the geometric modification, it will avoid geometries which do not construct the assemblable blocks. To evaluate the structural feasibility, a novel experimental method will equate the frictional resistance of the corrugated face of an interlocking block to that of the flat face of an equivalent conventional block. I also propose an extension of the limit analysis method, in which block resistance to sliding is different in different directions, and plan to use equations from the experimental method. The project is an interdisciplinary research in the fields of architectural, computational and structural design and will train skills helping to establish me as a researcher leading studies on structurally informed architectural design as well as to become an entrepreneurial architect who uses masonry in contemporary architecture. It will also create opportunities for host organizations to collaborate with architectural academia and manufacturing industry in the field of integrated architectural-structural design.

SERA is the "Seismology and Earthquake Engineering Research Infrastructure Alliance for Europe", responding to the priorities identified in the call INFRAIA-01-2016-2017 Research Infrastructure for Earthquake Hazard. The overall objective of SERA is to give a significant contribution to improve the access to data, services and research infrastructures, and deliver solutions based on innovative R&D in seismology and earthquake engineering, aiming at reducing the exposure of our society to the risk posed by natural and anthropogenic earthquakes. To this end, SERA will: Involve the communities involved in previous successful projects including NERA and SERIES; Offer transnational access to the largest collection of high-class experimental facilities in earthquake engineering; Offer virtual access to the main data and products in seismology and anthropogenic seismicity; Promote multi-disciplinary science across the domains of seismology, anthropogenic seismicity, near-fault observatories and deep underground laboratories, to achieve an improved understanding of earthquake occurrence; Revise the European Seismic Hazard reference model for consideration in the ongoing revision of the Eurocode 8; Develop the first comprehensive framework for seismic risk modeling at European scale; Develop the new standards for future experimental observations in earthquake engineering and for the design of future instruments and networks for observational seismology; Develop reliable methodologies for real-time assessment of shaking and damage; Expand access to seismological observations; Network infrastructures and communities in the fields of deep seismic sounding, experimental earthquake engineering and site characterization; Provide an important contribution to the construction and validation of EPOS; Provide effective communication and outreach to all stakeholders.

BACKGROUND: Global warming and climate extremes such as heavy precipitation, flooding, and drought are increasing risks for waterborne diarrheal disease. While these effects already burden low- and middle-income countries, where diarrheal diseases are the second leading cause of childhood deaths, Europe has shared and underappreciated vulnerabilities. There is an urgent need to prepare and protect our water and communities from these threats. AIM: To inform key climate, environmental, and health adaptation policies, in order to support and prepare citizens, communities and governments by better measuring the impact of future climate shocks on the burden of water-borne diarrheal diseases. APPROACH: We bring together scientists from climate, environment, health, and social sciences to collaborate with communities, industry, public authorities and policy makers across socioeconomic settings. We will model the future impact of global climate change, on local water quality and quantity, and diarrheal disease outcomes. In case studies in Ghana, Tanzania, Italy, and Romania, we will measure current interactions of climate, behaviour, and water quality on pathogen-specific diarrheal disease risks and the safety of water supply systems. We will engage individuals and communities to understand situated understandings and practices to improve risk communication and ownership. With policy makers, we will design appraisal structures to assess the economic impact and value of planetary health interventions to prevent climate-related diarrheal disease. IMPACT: SPRINGS will improve integrated climate and health surveillance, create climate-resilient water supply systems, engage citizens and stakeholders, and use evidence-based value assessments to prioritise interventions to prevent climate-induced diarrheal disease. Long term adaptive capacity and climate-resilience will increase in Europe and beyond, preventing unnecessary illness and deaths from waterborne diarrheal disease.