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This deliverable focuses on the formation of the Eratosthenes Centre of Excellence thematic research clusters of Environment & Climate, the Resilient Society and Big Earth Data Analytics in terms of the operations, research collaborations, tools to facilitate research, agreeing internal structures and allocating staff responsibilities. This deliverable will focus on the integration of recruited research personnel, research equipment and the Strategic Partners’ expertise to meet the needs of the research groups.

Background: Integration of heterogenous resources is key for Rare Disease research. Within the EJP RD, common Application Programming Interface specifications are proposed for discovery of resources and data records. This is not sufficient for automated processing between RD resources and meeting the FAIR principles. Objective: To design a solution to improve FAIR for machines for the EJP RD API specification. Methods: A FAIR Data Point is used to expose machine-actionable metadata of digital resources and it is configured to store its content to a semantic database to be FAIR at the source. Results: A solution was designed based on grlc server as middleware to implement the EJP RD API specification on top of the FDP. Conclusion: grlc reduces potential API implementation overhead faced by maintainers who use FAIR at the source.

This deliverable provides an extensive analysis of the dissemination activities and workshops organisation of the EXCELSIOR H2020 Teaming Project. The analysis starts with the report on our participation in conferences (11) and how the project was promoted through it. Then, we explain about the participation of our team members in talks (17), workshops (7) and seminars (12) as invited speakers. The deliverable continues with a thorough presentation of the lectures by invited speakers (8), the webinar (1) and the workshops (2) organized by our team. Additionally, we document about our participation in other events (i.e., European Researcher’s Night 2021 and SpaceUPCyprus 2021 Live). The last chapter provides the publications, journal papers, conference papers, and book sections for the reporting time period. The deliverable concludes by providing information on the outcome of the reported activities and how they have contributed to the progress of the EXCELSIOR H2020 Teaming Project. It is concluded that there is a strong need to establish links in the EMMENA region and connect with them. This has not been achieved yet, but a strategy was prepared to raise awareness about the EXCELSIOR Project in the EMMENA region and establish partnerships, starting with targeted stakeholders’ workshop in autumn 2021, where selected stakeholders from the region will be invited to be informed them about the project and provide them the space to discuss their needs and identify common scientific interests and ways of collaboration.

This document represents the ‘Workplan for transfer of knowledge and experience’ (deliverable D.6.2) for the EXCELSIOR project. It focuses on the scope and activities of WP6 ”Knowledge Transfer and Capacity Building”. The main objective of WP6 is to coordinate and manage the knowledge transfer and capacity building that will take place during the EXCELSIOR project with Strategic Partners. The document will provide a workplan of how knowledge transfer and capacity building will take place between the Strategic Partners via workshops, seminars and secondments. This plan relies heavily on the extensive work done at the preparation of the project in defining the seminars, workshops and secondments that will take place between the Strategic Partners. This deliverable focuses on the initial workplan developed for Capacity Building Scheme A, which runs from M26 to M44. The deliverable includes the capacity building and knowledge transfer activities that will be conducted by the Strategic Partners DLR, NOA and TROPOS. The course description and program for selected trainings can be found in the appendices. The present document constitutes the ‘Workplan for transfer of knowledge and experience’ for Capacity Building Scheme period ‘A’ in the framework of the EXCELSIOR project, dedicated to Task T6.1 ‘Personnel Mobility Scheme’ under work package WP6 ‘Knowledge Transfer and Capacity Building’. D6.2 focuses on the trainings that will take place during the Capacity Building Scheme A of the project. This document provides a guideline of the knowledge transfer activities, but it is not limited to the activities that will take place during Capacity Building Scheme A. The Strategic Partners suggested that a flexible workplan is needed in order to identify the gaps and needs of the researchers of the ECoE, especially during the first Capacity Building Scheme and adjust the workplan as needed in order to facilitate more effective knowledge transfer and capacity building. The secondments will be selected by the Strategic Partners as needed, during the knowledge transfer activities, parallel to the demonstration projects in WP7. Selected descriptions of knowledge transfer activities are featured in Appendix A and Appendix B.

Thanks to powerful search engines and innovative geo-portals able to display satellite imagery to the general public upon a click, the way we perceive and experience space technologies and their products has irreversibly changed in the last few decades. The new generations of satellites orbiting around the Earth are now being designed considering not only technology-driven possibilities, but also realistic user-driven necessities by providing a complete and timely coverage of the planet for research and monitoring purposes, in case of natural hazards and other emergencies. The next questions are why and how could information from satellites have a greater impact on research and business and on society today? And more specifically, what could be the outcome of this impact on our cultural heritage, including archaeological findings and cultural landscapes? This book aims to investigate the potential value that satellite technologies and remote sensing (RS) could provide for a more sustainable mapping, monitoring, and management of heritage sites, be it for purposes of regular maintenance or for risk mitigation in case of natural or man-caused hazards. The framework of the publication is enhanced by recent events during armed conflicts in the Middle East, and the renewed attention of public administration toward the importance of international collaboration when it comes to the protection and conservation of cultural heritage and common values.

This report represents the Communication Strategy and Action Plan for the project EXCELSIOR, Deliverable D9.1. The Communication Action Plan aims to produce a strategic communication roadmap for the ECoE Communication and Dissemination activities to ensure maximum visibility and awareness has been developed and reached targeted audiences. It aims to highlight the different communication target audiences, the tools, methodologies and expected impacts utilised towards their effective involvement in the project’s activities. Thus, the communication tools (e.g. website, brochure, events) and strategic communication priorities are tailored considering the diverse nature of the different stakeholder groups. The present document constitutes the first issue of ‘Communication Action Plan’ in the framework of the EXCELSIOR project, dedicated to Task 9.1 ‘Communication strategy and action plan’ under the work package WP9 ‘Communication, Engagement and Networking’. The Communication Action plan will be updated according to the needs of the communication strategy. D9.1 is delivered on Month 02 of the project and focuses on the first 15 months of the project, up to the first reporting period of the project. This document will be updated twice, one in Month 32 and one in Month 70 of the project, shared with partners in order to adopt a common policy related to any communication, branding and outreach activities implemented under the auspices of the ECoE.

This document represents the ‘Workplan for transfer of knowledge and experience’ (deliverable D.6.1) for the EXCELSIOR project. It focuses on the scope and activities of WP6 ”Knowledge Transfer and Capacity Building”, whose main objective is to coordinate and manage the secondments and workshops that will take place during the entire EXCELSIOR project in order to facilitate knowledge transfer and capacity building with partnering and supporting organisations. The document will provide a workplan of how knowledge transfer and capacity building will take place between the Consortium partners via workshops, seminars and secondments. This plan relies heavily on the extensive work done at the preparation of the project in defining the seminars, workshops and secondments that will take place between the consortium partners. Deliverable D6.1 is closely tied to WP5 ‘ECoE Resources and Infrastructure’, especially T5.4, Installation, training and technical support. As well, the personnel mobility scheme is critical for task T6.2 Secondments and T6.3 Technical Skills Development. This report provides a guideline regarding how knowledge transfer and capacity building take place. This document will change during every reporting period, to reflect any changes, modification, etc. that are necessary for the optimal functioning of the EXCELSIOR project in order to increase our understanding of what is needed to conduct capacity building for the specific sectors of the ECoE. Therefore, the specific secondments and workshops listed in this report are not final and are indicative. This plan focuses on how knowledge and experience will be transferred mainly, but not exclusively, between the Strategic partners of the EXCELSIOR project. Other experts in EO and remote sensing can provide training and workshops to the ECoE through the EXCELSIOR project. It is vital to develop a methodology in order to monitor a yearly mobility scheme workplan for sustainable know-how transfer for each aspect of the thematic sectors addressed by ECoE, with detailed guidelines regarding training and workshops and update this accordingly every reporting period. The workplan will be updated and adjusted following the WP3 yearly analysis on the strategy and targets for research and innovation. A capacity building strategy and secondment methodology needs to be defined for the EXCELSIOR project. The capacity building strategy has two pillars: (a) a backbone programme for systematic long-term capacity building and knowledge transfer of ECoE staff from the expert partners, with a fixed duration and targets, aiming at both research and innovation upscaling; and (b) ad-hoc visits programme for training on specific skills that may become necessary during the course of the project. The present document constitutes the first version of the ‘Workplan for transfer of knowledge and experience’ in the framework of the EXCELSIOR project, dedicated to Task D6.1 ‘Personnel Mobility Scheme’ under work package WP6 ‘Knowledge Transfer and Capacity Building’. D6.1 is delivered at Month 2 and focuses on the training guidelines of the project. Thus, this document will be updated during the first, second, third, fourth and fifth reporting period of the project.

This report represents the Impact Assessment Methodology for the project EXCELSIOR project. The primary goal of developing the Impact Assessment methodology is to ensure that the overall and specific objectives of the EXCELSIOR project are achieved. This task undertakes the establishment of a methodology for the yearly monitoring of the impact of the different activities carried out by Eratosthenes Centre of Excellence (ECoE) and its partners through EXCELSIOR against a set of quantified targets. The preliminary list of Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) presented during the proposal stage will need to be defined and a community engagement process to collect the information necessary for the assessment will need to be established (WP 9). The task is responsible for steering project activities to be flexible to adjust the activities in agreement with WP and Task Leaders to ensure the achievement of the Project’s strategic objectives. Hence, a Project Management Steering Committee will be established and maintained throughout the EXCELSIOR project to (i) assess the implementation of the work plan and (ii) adjust the activities in agreement with WP and task Leaders to ensure the achievement of the Project’s strategic objectives. WP1 provides the KPI monitoring framework and general quality processes, while the WP3 defines concrete actions affecting all other WPs for meeting the Impact KPIs. This task’s activities will be coordinated with WP3 activities on strategy definition as a continuous process, in order to update the human resources, infrastructure acquisition and overall work plan and to meet new priorities identified. The analysis outputs will update the Project Action Plan of Task 1.1. The present document constitutes the first report of the ‘Impact Assessment Methodology’ in the framework of the EXCELSIOR project, dedicated to Task 1.4 ‘Impact Monitoring and Re-assessment’ under work package WP1 ‘Project Management and Coordination’. D1.12 is delivered at Month 6 and Month 42. CUT is leading the KPI definition and the re-assessment of the Work Plan with the assistance of the Strategic Partners.