TORCH D4.2 - Common Science Agenda Challenge List

TORCH’s WP4 (‘Common Science Agenda’) aims to put forward a list of research challenges, based on the joint strengths of the CHARM-EU Alliance institutions, and connected to its Thematic Areas (Table ES1), to be developed further as pilots during the second half of the Project. The R&I transformative agenda acknowledges the diverse strengths and specialization of its partners, and relies on their complementarities to put the focus on some relevant challenges clearly connected to the UN SDGs. In addition, it will reflect on the state of the art, the financing mechanisms, barriers and common infrastructures needed to implement them.

This report lists some research challenges the Alliance could develop further as pilots during the second half of the project, from a multi-disciplinary, multi-university and gender-balanced perspective, combining curiosity-driven and utility-driven research, with a clear view on their societal impact. The methodological approach to find common research strengths among the five universities, and ultimately leading towards the formulation of the challenges, is described in detail. A multi-step participatory process was carried out, which was supported with a bibliographic analysis that helped establish the current state of authorship networks among the Alliance. The participatory process involved 389 researchers in its first phase (Figure ES1), and led to the definition of three target SDGs, considering each partner research priorities:
· SDG3 - Good health & Well-Being
· SDG10 - Reduced Inequalities
· SDG13 - Climate Action

A subsequent participatory step facilitated the organization of three SDG-driven focus groups, in which around 100 researchers participated, to settle on the topics that could be developed further as challenges, as well as to find small sub-groups of experts to draft the different proposals. Six potential research lines, the outlines of which are reproduced in full in this document, emerged as the CHARM-EU research challenges at this stage:
· ‘ACTIVE: Adult Child and Teenage participation In physical actiVity across Europe’ (SDG3-C1).
· ‘Prevention and preparedness of negative effects of climate change on vector-borne infectious diseases’ (SDG3-C2).
· ‘Coping with digitalization and the transformation of the world of work as a new source of inequalities’ (SDG10-C1).
· ‘Designing better universities to fight against inequalities’ (SDG10-C2).
· ‘Preventive Water Sustainable Management of Freshwater resources within a global change frameset (PWSM)’ (SDG13-C1).
· ‘Mapping Risks, Joining Funds, Taking Actions – Fostering Nature-based Solutions to Mitigate Climate-related Hazards’ (SDG13-C2).

These proposals will be shared with the Alliance’s academic community (and general public via the appropriate Project’s communication channels), and discussed during the first TORCH Annual Forum (Budapest, March 2022), to incorporate the non-academic actors insight. Subsequently, they will be submitted for the consideration of the CHARM-EU Vice-Rectors Committee and Rectors Assembly, in order to establish which of them will be developed further during 2022 as pilots, as described in TORCH WP9 (Action Plans and Pilots). The teams of researchers responsible for their formulation will be encouraged to apply for international and national funding opportunities that will allow implementing them as research projects from 2023 onwards.