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EuroFUE-UJI has attended a Brokerage Event for Science with and for Society in Brussels. The conference aimed to gather potential partners and to invite the European Commission to provide first-hand information on the call.

This event has been organised by Sis.net2, the international network of National Contact Points (NCPs) in the field of Science with and for Society in Horizon 2020, in cooperation with the European Commission.

The call sought to contribute in European social challenges addressed by Horizon 2020, creating in this way capacities, and developing innovative ways to connect science and society, opening new research and innovation activities.

Science with and for Society allows all social agents (researchers, citizens, political decision-makers, businesses, etc.) to work together throughout the research and innovation process, aligning its results and the project itself  with the values, needs and expectations of European society.

EuroFUE-UJI has held several bilateral meetings with different potential partners, with the objective of including them in a H2020 proposal project about Responsible Research and Innovation (RRI), headed by the research group Ética Práctica y Democracia of the Jaume I University.

EuroFUE-UJI has participated in the SwafS (Science with and for Society) H2020 briefing. The meeting has took place in the function room of the University Carlos III, and the topic has revolved around the different SwafS H2020 calls by the deadline April 2nd 2019.

Francisco Javier Prieto Fernández, Deputy Rector of the University Carlos III of Madrid (UC3M), has welcomed the meeting assistants around 10 in the morning. Next, 2019 calls (‘Science with and for Society’) have been presented by Rocío Castrillo, national contact point of the program ‘Science with and for Society’ at Europe Office.

After a break, Carlos del Cañizo, GRECO project coordinator of the Technical University of Madrid (UPM), and Elías Sanz Casado,  sciShops project participant of the University Carlos III (UC3M), have shared their experiences in the participation of SwafS projects and highlighted the importance of being in Brussels in order to establish new partnerships.

Esther Rodríguez, responsible for H2020 Unit, has adjourned the meeting, starting in this way bilateral meetings.

The Francesc Ribalta High School has opened its doors to EuroFUE-UJI in order to conduct a Gender Workshop in cooperation with GeST (gest.uji.es) with the objective of creating a space for debate and learning on the figure of women in STEM studies (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics).

The student body have participated in different activities, such as performance games of sexist situations that exist in their environment proposed by the young people themselves. They have also launched a debate starting with the reading of several statements in which gender roles are highlighted as “Women can have the same skills as men” or “A man can also take care of household chores”, from which very interesting ideas have emerged. After this, the students were asked their opinion about women in the STEM field of study, offering them the opportunity to share their experiences and personal vision.

Firstly, this projects aims to establish the synergies between schools and the labour market  in order to achieve a creative and meaningful participation of girls in education STEM throughout a tutoring program. Secondly, it intends to develop a virtual platform as a resource centre for practical and innovative learning solutions to complement school curricula and, finally, to exploit and disseminate personalised activities by promoting the use of the platform.

EIGE’s (European Institute for Gender Equality) study on the economic benefits of gender equality (2017) shows that reducing gender segregation in STEM education alone could lead to an additional 1.2 million jobs in the EU. These jobs are estimated to occur mostly in the long term, however, as employment is likely to be affected only after new women STEM graduates choose to work in the STEM fields.

In parallel, higher productivity associated with these STEM jobs is likely to result in higher wages for newly graduated women – affecting the gender pay gap as well as income and living standards of women, men, children and their extended families (European Parliament, 2015).

Thanks to the contribution of the IES Francesc Ribalta and its faculty and student body, EuroFUE-EUJI and the research group GeST have carried out this workshop where all participating parties have had the opportunity to learn about their environment and about themselves.

AGNESS, a H2020 European project proposal, has been presented this January as the first work within the management assignment for the promotion, boost and technical assistance in international projects of the UJI to the FUE-UJI. This proposal has been submitted in the CE-RUR-10-2019 call.

Its aim is to facilitate the creation of sustainable, circular and innovative businesses in the agro-food citrus system, one of the most important fresh fruit crops in the EU agro-food sector and worldwide.

The proposal has focused on Spain, Italy and Greece, since these countries represent 94% of EU citrus production and have suffered the highest losses in the production area. AGNESS pretends to be a driving force so as to revert the adverse situation throughout the development of a Circular Bio-based Ecosystem for the Rural Development. Maria Jesús Muñoz, professor of the Jaume I University, and its research group SoGReS (Grupo de investigación en Sostenibilidad de las Organizaciones y Gestión de la RSE-Mercados Financieros) have led the proposal, composed of 29 partners of different european countries.

The FUE-UJI is a member of RESTAT (REcognition of Skills to Transform Accessible Tourism), a new project approved under the Erasmus + programme in the form of ‘Strategic Partnerships in the field of education and training’.  It will last two and a half years and will seek to meet the needs surrounding the accessibility of tourism in Europe through training and the incorporation of more accessible infrastructures. The consortium is formed by seven entities from the following countries: Italy, Spain, Greece, Czech Republic, Romania and Bulgaria.

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