The RURALIZATION project brings about a refreshing take on arresting the decline of rural areas. Based on targeted interviews with young people across Europe, it offers insights and key solutions for policymakers. The work can help Member States attract a new generation of countryside-dwellers.
Labour markets are changing dramatically, with millions now finding and carrying out work online. However, as official statistics only capture traditional labour markets, an EU-funded project has been tracking the growing world of online work.
Although being stuck in a brain scanner while being exposed to a horror film may not be everyone's idea of fun, monitoring volunteers' grey cells throughout this process can tell scientists a lot. EU-funded research using this and other memorable techniques has generated new knowledge on the way we process and transmit social information.
Ocean research is a traditionally male-dominated field but the EU-funded project Baltic Gender has been inspiring change by helping scientists in five Baltic countries to better understand how a more gender-equal institute can benefit their work.
Although formal regulations are in place to ensure equal opportunities, female researchers remain significantly under-represented in many areas of scientific research. EU-funding is being used to support actions aimed at creating a more gender-balanced research culture in Europe.
Across the EU, women account for just 13 % of the information science technology and digital workforce. In a bid to improve the gender balance, EU project EQUAL-IST has developed tools to boost female inclusion in university research careers across the sector.
An EU-funded project is developing innovative ways to mimic the micro-environment that cancer cells encounter inside the human body. The creation of artificial 3D tumour models could pave the way for more accurate testing of cancer drugs and ultimately lead to better treatments.
The potential for new advances drawing on medical physics and biomedical engineering is vast. Cross-disciplinary expertise is needed to unlock it for the benefit of society and industry, say the partners in an EU-funded network that is helping 15 young researchers to hone the required skills.
Preparing for a career in academia? The opportunity to acquire training in areas as varied as ethics, writing and team management can help to pave the way, say the coordinators of an EU-funded programme that supported 29 promising postdocs. A follow-on project is under way.
An EU-funded project has created an ERA Chair to improve research management in the Institute of Physical Chemistry, Polish Academy of Sciences, where a new research group is developing an innovative optical-imaging method for biomedical applications, such as the diagnosis of eye diseases.
