Bridging European policy and practice
Brussels, 2 October 2025
Organised by the European Commission and the European Research Executive Agency
The workshop convened a diverse community of stakeholders that play an important role in developing the European Research Area (ERA) through policymaking at EU and national levels and through the implementation of Horizon Europe work programme “Widening participation and strengthening the European Research Area” (WIDERA). The participants represented WIDERA-funded projects, the ERA Forum, the WIDERA Programme Committee and National Contact Points, the European Commission, and the European Research Executive Agency.
There is a special link between the ERA policy and the WIDERA work programme, as the work programme functions as a vehicle for implementing the ERA policy priorities, as set out in the Pact for R&I in Europe and in the ERA Policy Agendas. Through its multitude of actions, WIDERA supports reforms and strengthens capacities of R&I actors, institutions, and ecosystems in line with ERA priorities. This makes feedback-to-policy – i.e., channeling insights from Horizon Europe projects into policymaking – valuable not only to policymakers at the EU level, but also at national and regional levels. The large portfolio of projects funded under the WIDERA work programme generates a wealth of policy-relevant results.
The feedback-to-policy workshop brought projects funded under the WIDERA work programme into direct contact with European and national policymakers with the objectives to:
– inform policymakers of the policy-relevant project results and impacts;
– broaden the uptake of project results within the ERA community;
– nurture dialogue, collaboration, and community building;
– inform future policy and programme development.
The main take-aways from the workshop are outlined in the workshop report (see link below).
Showcase of policy-relevant WIDERA projects
Projects funded under the work programme component “Reforming and Enhancing the European Research and Innovation System” are designed to support the implementation of ERA policy priorities. The following projects provided testimonials, best practices, and policy recommendations:
– Research careers: Sustainable Careers for Researcher Empowerment (SECURE)
– Research management: Career Acknowledgement for Research (Managers) Delivering for the European Area (CARDEA) and Creating a European Framework for Research Management Training and Networking (RM FRAMEWORK)
– Knowledge valorisation: Creating FUTUre societal RESILIENCE through innovative, science-based co-creation labs (FUTURESILIENCE)
– Research assessment reform: Strengthening CoARA and Enabling Systemic Reform of Research Assessment - A Booster (CoARA Boost)
– Gender equality: Advancing the zero-tolerance approach to gender-based violence in higher education and research in the European Research Area (GENDERSAFE)
– Ethics: Operationalising AI ethics for learning and practice: a global approach (AIOLIA)
– Citizen engagement: European Citizen Science (ECS)
– Open science: Unpacking the possibilities of Intellectual Properties for Open Science (IP4OS),
– Reproducibility: Improving Reproducibility In SciencE (iRISE)
– Open access publishing: Developing Institutional open access publishing Models to Advance Scholarly communication (DIAMAS)
Projects funded under the work programme component “Widening Participation and Spreading Excellence” help transform institutions and national R&I systems, with special focus on widening participation and reducing geographical disparities. The following projects presented good practices and project outcomes and impacts:
– Teaming: Establishment of Smart City Center of Excellence (FINEST TWINS); BiG DAta for SmarT SociEty (GATE)
– Twinning: Strengthening excellence for advanced osteosarcoma’s predictive models (PREDICTOS), SUSTainable industrial DESIGN of TEXtile structures for composites (SustDesignTex)
– ERA Chairs: Fire-safe Sustainable Built Environment (FRISSBE); Establishing the Center for Environmental and Technology Ethics (CETE-P)
– Excellence Hubs: Carbon Initiative for Climate-resilient Agriculture (CARBONICA); A Greek-Turkish Solar Energy Excellence Hub to Advance the European Green Deal (SolarHub)
– European Excellence Initiative: European Higher Education Institutions Network for Climate and Atmospheric Sciences (Edu4ClimAte); Strengthening Research and Innovation Excellence in Autonomous Aerial Systems (AeroSTREAM)
For more information on how Horizon Europe supports the ERA, please visit ERA in Horizon Europe.
Presentations - Widening projects
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