Many heritage crafts are at risk of being lost to time as they are practised less. To preserve them, the EU-funded Mingei project digitised their creative processes and the final products. As well as safeguarding European culture, the project could boost local tourism.
Migrants often face huge challenges accessing public services in new countries. The EU-funded EASYRIGHTS project created a range of services and approaches to break down linguistic and bureaucratic barriers by considering public services as interfaces between human beings and their rights. The project continues to help migrants integrate across Europe.
Europe faces an influx of refugees, part of the 16 million plus people worldwide experiencing protracted displacement. The EU-funded TRAFIG project developed solutions better tailored to the needs and capacities of displaced persons. The work is already helping displaced people thrive in their new homes.
A series of crises has pushed apart the EU and its citizens. Rather than becoming disillusioned, citizens have increasingly high expectations for the EU and are looking for ways to become more involved. The EU-funded RECONNECT project has developed policy proposals, tools and solutions that can help improve the relationship between the EU and those it represents.
Despite a long history of scientific achievements, women remain acutely under-represented in scientific research and academia. By promoting the use of Gender Equality Plans, the EU-funded SUPERA project aimed to address the inequalities, stereotypes and discrimination that contribute to this shortfall. As a result, several institutions have already started to close their gender gap.
Ancient European hunter-gatherers have been characterised as mainly meat eaters. Yet the EU-funded HIDDEN FOODS project unearthed clear evidence that they in fact routinely ate plant-based foods. This suggests that alongside protein and fat, glucose was potentially key to the survival of the ancestors of European citizens.
The global economy is dominated by multinational corporations whose sheer complexity is often incomprehensible even to journalists and lawmakers. A pioneering mapping exercise by the EU-funded CORPLINK project has helped to explain how, and why, these corporations have become so complex. This approach could offer citizens greater transparency of modern capitalist systems.
The EU-funded DEBUNKER project has been studying the mechanisms creating, reinforcing and correcting misperceptions. Early findings provide a glimmer of hope for those willing to right the wrongs of conspiracy theories, misinformation and fake news. These findings offer hope that our societies can become less polarised and divided and more transparent, ultimately benefiting all citizens.
Even though Neanderthals once dominated Eurasia, we know very little about how they lived and why they went extinct. But a new archaeological method developed by the EU-funded PALEOCHAR project could change that. As a result, the project brings us valuable information and a more complete picture of the Neanderthal world, increasing our knowledge of life on Earth many thousands of years ago.
The ancient Egyptians left behind a plethora of papyri containing valuable written information but most of these have remained unpublished and unstudied. The EU-funded ELEPHANTINE project has created a large database and a new software solution that could soon change this. This could allow for a much better understanding of some of the world’s most fascinating ancient civilisations.
