The GEH developed in a co-creation approach an integrated roadmap, taking all participating initiatives into consideration and identifying relevant common research needs and opportunities that emerge through the unique collaborations within the GEH. Several scoping workshops and a strategic road mapping workshop identified thematic research areas across the various initiatives as well as opportunities and priorities for advancing the GEH. The results from these activities supported the scoping process for the two joint calls, which were implemented within the first two years of the GEH.
The 1st joint call “Contributions to a sustainable and resilient agri-food system” with18 funders from 15 EU and Non-EU countries resulted in 10 transnational research projects with a total funding of 10.2 M€. The timing of the first GEH call perfectly filled the expected funding gap between ending ERA-Nets and the start of Horizon Europe partnerships within similar research remits. The 2nd call “Crop and livestock farming meeting the challenges of climate change”, was co-developed by partners of the GEH, the Global Research Alliance on Agricultural Greenhouse Gases and the Wheat Initiative. Ten funders from six EU and three international partner countries provide a budget of 6.7 M€ to this call. The funding recommendation is expected in November 2024. Currently the preparation for the 3rd call is underway.
With a call for “Early Career Researcher Hosting“ the GEH offered young scientists of the agri-food and biotechnology area the possibility, to spend several weeks in a foreign institution related to their expertise. 14 young scientist were selected and their visits commenced from January 2024 onwards.
A series of 21 scientific webinars, the “Breakfast Club”, allowed researchers from previous funded projects to present and discuss their results with a wider community.
For monitoring and evaluation of funded research projects indicators and key questions as well as monitoring and reporting processes from participating networks were collected, categorised and further consolidated.
A “Living Archive of International Programming” has been established and provides a unique reference book of best practice examples of international programming in the agri-food and biotechnology sectors, while a Masterclass “Learning from the Past, Preparing for the Future” facilitated exchange amongst practitioners. Furthermore, two Annual Socratic Dialogue Events (ASDEs) together with a mapping exercise, several workshops and region-specific meetings delivered clear recommendations to improve the cooperation with Eastern European, Mediterranean and African countries.