Perspectives on digital music edition, heritage preservation, annotation and analysis: a COST Action meeting in Barcelona

The Short-Term Scientific Missions (STSM) program within COST Actions is a important initiative designed to foster international collaboration and knowledge exchange. For researchers involved in the COST Action CA21110, Building an Open European Network on OsteoArthritis Research (NetwOArk), STSMs provide an opportunity to visit other participating institutions to advance research goals, share expertise, and establish interdisciplinary partnerships. These missions, lasting between 5 days and 6 months, align closely with the objectives of NetwOArk, driving innovation and fostering a collaborative approach to osteoarthritis (OA) research.In the NetwOArk COST Action, STSMs are not limited to early-career scientists. They are also open to healthcare professionals, patients, and community stakeholders belonging the different working groups, emphasizing the Action's commitment to creating a shared platform of cooperation. The primary goal of NetwOArk is to bridge the gap between scientists, OA patients, and healthcare workers, fostering dialogue, understanding, and collaboration. This inclusive approach ensures that research is informed by the real-world experiences of patients and practitioners, leading to more impactful outcomes.To date, 13 individuals, including scientists and healthcare personnel, have successfully undertaken STSMs within NetwOArk, contributing to the development of innovative strategies and solutions. Applicants must identify a host institution within the network, develop a clear mission plan outlining objectives and outcomes, and submit their application via the e-COST platform. Further details about the application process, eligibility criteria, and deadlines are available on the official NetwOArk website or the CA21110 page on the COST Association portal. STSMs are crucial for accessing specialized resources, acquiring new skills, and building robust, interdisciplinary networks that enhance research impact. By fostering collaboration between scientists, healthcare workers, and OA patients, these missions are instrumental in addressing osteoarthritis challenges. STSM also lay the groundwork for future European funding opportunities, such as Horizon Europe, ensuring sustainable progress in OA research and innovation. For more information about upcoming calls, visit the NetwOArk website or contact the STSM coordinator of CA21110. https://netwoark.eu/

This work aims at offering an overview on the scientific results stemming from a selection of three Short-Term Scientific Missions (STSMs) carried out in 2016 and funded by the COST Action TU1208 “Civil Engineering Applications of Ground Penetrating Radar.” The research activities focused on the development and use of electromagnetic modelling and inversion techniques for Ground Penetrating Radar applications. In a STSM, a scientist has the possibility to visit a colleague abroad, in order to undertake joint research and share experience, techniques, equipment and infrastructures that may not be available in the home institution. This is a powerful networking tool that allows developing linkages and scientific collaborations between institutions involved in a COST Action.

<p>Scientists and experts participating in COST Actions can benefit from a wide range of COST networking tools. Meetings, workshops, conferences and training schools can be organized. Short-term scientific missions (STSM) can be funded: these are exchange visits where an Action Member spends five days up to six months abroad, in a host institution; the aim of STSMs is to foster collaboration between institutions and sharing of new techniques that may not be available in a participant’s home institution. COST also funds dissemination and communication of Action’s outcomes within research communities and beyond. Finally, conference grants for early-career researchers from Inclusiveness Target Countries (ITC) aim at helping participants from ITC to attend international science and technology related conferences that are not organised by COST Actions.</p><p>In this presentation, we discuss the challenges and lessons learnt in COST Action TU1208 “Civil engineering applications of ground penetrating radar” [1] while using COST networking tools to fulfill the objectives of the Action, enhance its impact, and maximize the benefits of its Members. We consider one tool at a time focusing on the obstacles that we encountered and how we overcame them, as well as giving hints on how the Action and its Members made the most from the use of the tool. We describe how the use of the tools changed during the Action’s lifetime. </p><p>COST networking tools can of course be used in a customary way and they are all extremely frutiful. More creative solutions can be implemented too, to keep Members engaged or achieve particular goals. Therefore, this presentation continues with examples of less-common exploitations of the tools in TU1208. For instance, we used the “Meeting” tool for the organization of a series of science communication initiatives aimed at increasing public awareness about ground penetrating radar capabilities and applications and at establishing a dialogue with policymakers, stakeholders and end-users of our research (TU1208 GPR RoadShow [2]); the Roadshow included non-scientific workshops, practical demonstrations, and a series of educational activities with children and citizens. We repeatedly exploited the “Meeting” tool also for one week gatherings with a small number of Members, where we worked full-time together at bringing forward specific Action’s activities, one of the challenges of COST Actions being the lack of funds to finance research and the difficulty to “make Members work” for the Action when they are at their home institutions.</p><p>We hope that recently started Actions can build upon our experience.</p><p> </p><p>[1] L. Pajewski, A. Benedetto, X. Dérobert, A. Giannopoulos, A. Loizos, G. Manacorda, M. Marciniak, C. Plati, G. Schettini, I. Trinks, "Applications of Ground Penetrating Radar in Civil Engineering – COST Action TU1208," Proc. 7th IWAGPR, 2013, Nantes, France, pp. 1-6, doi.org/10.1109/IWAGPR.2013.6601528</p><p>[2] L. Pajewski, H. Tõnisson, K. Orviku, M. Govedarica, A. Ristić, V. Borecky, S. S. Artagan, S. Fontul, and K. Dimitriadis, “TU1208 GPR Roadshow: Educational and promotional activities carried out by Members of COST Action TU1208 to increase public awareness on the potential and capabilities of the GPR technique,” Ground Penetrating Radar, Volume 2(1), March 2019, pp. 67-109, doi.org/10.26376/GPR2019004</p>

This paper provides an overview of the members and activities of Working Group (WG) 2 of the COST Action TU0905 Structural - Novel design methods and next generation products. Within the main theme Characterization and Material Improvement the working group was subdivided into three task groups (TG): Thermal Tempering, Strength and Ageing of Glass and Interlayer Properties. Working group 2 has actively contributed to the meetings and various events within the COST Action, such as the Training School and COST action conferences. Several Short Term Scientific Missions (STSM) have been undertaken by members of WG 2, which resulted in joint publications. Due toe the network, new research collaborations have been initiated by members of WG 2, which already led to successful joint research applications.

<p>Every devastating large flood usually leads to initiation of different flood risk reduction activities. There are numerous options available how to approach flood risk management. Only limited part of approaches considered land management as significant topic in the flood risk management. Therefore, efficient and effective land management for flood retention and resilience is needed. COST action LAND4FLOOD (CA 16209) deals with natural flood retention on private land. More information about the specific cost action can be found on the web-page http://www.land4flood.eu/ and LAND4FLOOD twitter account @Land4Flood.</p><p>Some of the recent activates of the COST action include:</p><p>-Organization of series of workshops on different topics such as “Strategies for achieving flood resilience”, “Delivering Nature-Based Solutions (NBS)”, “NBS for flood retention in Southern Europe”, “Compensation Mechanism for Flood Storage”, “Innovative and successfully implemented strategies for achieving resilience in Flood Risk Management with a special focus on private and public property flood resilience” and organization of stakeholders meetings.</p><p>-Publication of policy briefs entitled “How Private Land Matters in Flood Risk Management?” that is also translated in French and Spanish and “Compensation for Flood Storage” that is available in Portuguese, Spanish, Czech and French versions.</p><p>-Support of multiple Short Term Scientific Missions (STSM) and ITC and conference grants.</p><p>-Publication of book about “Nature-based Flood Risk Management on Private Land” and multiple scientific papers.</p><p>-Preparation of the LAND4FLOOD leaflet (i.e. http://www.land4flood.eu/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/Leaflet-LAND4FLOOD-final.pdf) that is translated into Albanian, Bulgarian, Slovakian and Slovenian languages.</p><p>Moreover, the COST action will finish in September 2021, thus there are still several ongoing projects such as open STSM calls, workshop initiations, research project application and book proposals. For example, a recent book proposal that has just been launched will review what we know about flooding land and how to implement spatial flood risk management and resilience. More specifically, as pointed out land is needed for flood risk management. Thus, to store excess water and retain it without major damage. However, this land is often in private ownership. This book proposal will explore different options regarding storage of water in the catchment during flood events: in the hinterland with decentral measures, along the rivers in polders, washlands and in resilient cities. The book will put the focus on land as a biophysical system (including hydrological aspects), as a socio-economic resource, and as a possible solution for flood risk reduction (i.e. asking for policy interventions to activate the land for flood protection measures). These three areas (i.e. hinterland, along the streams, in resilient cities) and the three analytical lenses (i.e. processes to influence stakeholders and interests in land, socio-economic context of land and environmental conditions of land for retention) will indicate how to use land to reduce the impact of flooding.</p>

Big Data Era in Sky and Earth Observation (BIG-SKY-EARTH, http://www.bigskyearth.eu) is a recently started COST Action that aims at setting the ground for a long-term networking between astronomy and remote sensing research communities in the area of Big Data utilization. COST Action is a networking funding scheme that allows researchers to jointly develop their ideas and initiatives in a given scientific field. Even though COST does not fund research itself, COST Actions are active through a range of research supporting networking tools, such as meetings, workshops, conferences, training schools, short-term scientific missions (short travels of researchers to foster their collaborations) and dissemination activities. COST Actions are open to researchers from universities, public and private research institutions, as well as to NGOs, industry and SMEs.

New DNA sequencing technologies either currently available or under development will eventually enable eukaryotic genomes to be sequenced for less than a thousand euros. This technologypush will have a major impact on plant genomics and biological research and lead to a dramatic expansion in both the availability of sequence data and the range of sequence based applications. New innovative techniques are required to unlock the information contained in the sequence data and to apply the acquired knowledge for plant science and crop improvement. The wide variety and often unique characteristics of plant genomes pose additional challenges and opportunities. The need for and the dissemination of efficient strategies for handling and analysing high throughput sequence data in plants requires cooperation at the international level to develop new approaches analytical tools and share best practice. This COST Action will establish a network of researchers that coordinate, focus and strengthen national and pan-European statistical genomics and bioinformatics. It will be built on close interactions with other disciplines such as genetics, genomics and breeding. The Working Groups will arrange workshops, Short Term Scientific Missions, a website and Wiki, training courses, and publications to disseminate aims and achievements.

The Saving European Archaeology from Digital Dark Age (SEADDA) COST Action (CA18128) is funded by the Horizon 2020 Framework Programme of the European Union and aims to create a network for archaeologists and digital specialists to build capacity for the long-term preservation of digital data for archaeology. More than 20 countries are involved in SEADDA, and have undertaken surveys, publications, workshops, STSMs (Short Term Scientific Missions) and other activities carried out to increase awareness and share expertise. Within the scope of the project, Internet Archeology 58 2021, titled "Digital Archiving in Archeology: Assessing the State of the Art", and then Internet Archeology 63 2023, titled "Digital Archiving in Archeology: Additional State of the Art and Further Analyzes" were published. This article will give a brief introduction to SEADDA but will focus primarily on what we are learning from Internet Archaeology 58 and Internet Archaeology 63, how it is helping us to understand digital archaeological data around the world. In this study, 37 articles from 31 different countries were examined, according to three main categories: administrative structure, physical and digital archives for archaeological data. In the light of the data obtained, it is difficult to generalize about archaeological data processes and management; however, different countries and regions are applying different methods to create repositories. Legislation, budgets, and human resources are all factors which affect these processes for preserving digital archaeological data for future generations. But, all countries need to share expertise, and engage in capacity building, especially around legislations, human resources, standards and guidelines, whilst financial support needs to be prioritized.

Reviewed by: Stewards of Memory: The Past, Present, and Future of Historic Preservation at George Washington’s Mount Vernon ed. by Carol Borchert Cadou Anna Nau Stewards of Memory: The Past, Present, and Future of Historic Preservation at George Washington’s Mount Vernon. Edited by Carol Borchert Cadou, with Luke J. Pecoraro and Thomas A. Reinhart. Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press, 2018. ISBN: 9780813941516 Hardcover: 280 pages Mount Vernon is known to most Americans as the historic home of the first president of the United States. It is also considered the birthplace of the historic preservation movement in the United States. The continuing legacy of the latter forms the central subject of Stewards of Memory. This diverse collection of eight concise, readable essays by respected scholars and preservation professionals uses Mount Vernon as a case study offering a cross-section of current theories and practices in historic site preservation and management. These include cultural landscape research, digital documentation tools, and the challenges of achieving more inclusive historic interpretation. The book grew out of a 2013 symposium celebrating the 160th anniversary of the purchase of Mount Vernon by the Mount Vernon Ladies’ Association (MVLA). As the oldest preservation organization in the United States, the MVLA’s contributions to preservation have been well established. The essays here succeed in presenting a window into the paradigms and practices of current work, as lead editor Carol Borchert Cadou, former Senior Vice-President for Historic Preservation and Collections at Mount Vernon, sets forth in the introduction. But the volume would have benefited from an organization that grouped the essays in such a way as to make those themes more apparent. This shortcoming, however, does not detract from the contribution made by each essay. Together, the essays offer enriching interdisciplinary insight into the challenges, needs, and opportunities facing America’s historic sites and house museums in the twenty-first century. This is facilitated by the contributing authors’ diverse backgrounds that include history, architectural history, historic preservation, architecture, archaeology, and collections management. In the opening essay, “New History in Old Buildings,” Carl R. Lounsbury presents an engaging examination of how historic site research and interpretation has evolved over the last fifty years. The new social history methodologies of the 1960s and 1970s fostered broader definitions of historic and architectural value that moved beyond the early twentieth-century model of commemoration and antiquarianism. Drawing on his own experiences at Colonial Williamsburg and other sites in the southeast, Lounsbury traces how scholars have incorporated advances in archaeology and materials analysis along with more inclusive research and survey practices to reach new understandings of sites like Mount Vernon. This research has in turn revised concepts of early American society. Expanded research methodologies are only one part of the preservationist’s toolbox, as George W. McDaniel demonstrates in his essay on “whole place preservation.” In “Stepping Up and Saving Places,” he examines five cases that illustrate varying degrees of success in the preservation of historic sites and their broader environments, including Mount Vernon and the Ashley River region around Drayton Hall in South Carolina, where McDaniel formerly served as director. He argues that effective preservation demands thoughtful management of change in the landscapes surrounding historic sites through proactive, widespread community support. That support requires strong partnerships and advocacy as well as an understanding of larger economic and social contexts. In his essay entitled “’We Have Done Very Little Investigation There; There Is a Great Deal Yet to Do’,” Luke J. Pecoraro examines another aspect of cultural landscape preservation in a brief summary of past and current “Archaeology of George [End Page 43] Washington’s Mount Vernon.” He presents new efforts to understand and protect the larger cultural landscape of the site—the historic core and the original eight thousand acres—as a means to tell a broader history of its multiple generations of owners, occupants, and uses. This includes a program to document forgotten slave cemeteries using GIS (geographic information system) software to analyze historic maps and visitor accounts as well as continued efforts to protect Mount Vernon’s historic viewshed along the Potomac River. Historians of the American preservation movement may find the essays by Lydia Mattice Brandt and Scott...

Knowledge sharing is the key to society‟s economic, social, scientific and cultural development. It is mainly through writing that knowledge is created, shared and acted upon across cultural boundaries. Research into writing in schools and the workplace, contributes to the quality of the knowledge cycle. Writing is an extremely varied activity, ranging from jotting down shopping lists, writing school essays and designing blogs and websites to penning novels and monographs. It can be created in various ways (handwriting, keyboarding, dictation, speech synthesis) and contexts (text messages, letters, press releases, essays, poetry, scientific papers, company reports, legal texts, etc.). The common underlying factor is that writing involves the construction of knowledge objects which are shared, understood while the writer is absent, and stored for the future. Advances in the study of writing can have far-reaching consequences for our understanding of writing processes, of evidence-based teaching methods and of democracy. The long-standing focus on reading skills is consistent with the official line that citizens must primarily be able to understand written information. However, to make their voices heard, readers must also be able to write. With the advent of new information technologies, new curricula and greater specialization in the workplace, written communication has become a vector for integration and success within our society. In order to improve the teaching and use of writing, there must be continuous development in knowledge of the cognitive and linguistic processes associated with text production by skilled and, by developing writers, and by text users. Europe has an active and dynamic writing research community that makes a significant contribution to international scientific advances. Nevertheless, for historical, linguistic and cultural reasons, research is not as unified as in the USA; researchers are relatively isolated and inter-country cooperation could be improved significantly. This means it is difficult to develop comparative studies of writing instruction and to share good practice and sharing knowledge across boundaries. Overcoming this problem requires (i) the creation of a platform that spans the gap between 'regional' research cultures, promoting cooperation and providing high quality scientific data. This will permit (ii) the dissemination of recommendations on writing to a broad spectrum of end users - schools, universities, workplaces, citizens. The COST Action IS0703 European Research Network on Learning to Write Effectively (ERN-LWE) represents an efficient and effective route to achieve this twofold objective. By co-operation between research teams from different states that are already investigating writing (or are planning to do so) permits the development of an active, open network, based on the commitment of researchers and boosted by regular scientific events, meetings and junior researchers‟ training. and its constitutive tools (working groups, short term scientific missions, conference, training schools, workshops) are of invaluable assistance and accelerate the emergence of a writing network, bringing concrete results from studies already underway and stimulating new ones in countries which do not yet have structured writing research. Strong links between researchers and professionals (teachers, educators, technical writers, administrators, etc.) will ensure that recommendations about how to write effectively will penetrate many areas of society. The Action‟s research and innovation effort focuses on four areas, each associated with one of four working groups, and with the following aims: - Early acquisition of writing skills in education. describing the acquisition of writing by pupils with or without learning difficulties in their mother tongue and a second language; understanding learning difficulties; analysing the impact of teaching situations. - Improvements in written communication, in education and in the workplace: describing the development of different writing skills in two languages; understanding the factors favouring the development of expertise; comparing and designing specific and appropriate training situations. - Design of written documents in the workplace: describing how professional writers manage their skills and knowledge; improving documents‟ communicative impact; modelling expertise. - Technological advances in writing tools: developing and standardising technological tools for studying and fostering the writing process. This book is an original and interesting presentation of the main research conducted by the COST Action ERN-LWE inside these four areas. I hope that readers will find it interesting and through it they will discover the richness of writing research and its contribution to broader social issues.

Purpose -The purpose of this study is to address the challenges faced by rural areas and promote their sustainable development. It emphasizes the importance of re-establishing connections and cultivating a sense of belonging within rural communities, while safeguarding their cultural heritage. The study explores the potential of digital and creative tools in enhancing learning, supporting food production and tourism, facilitating research and providing engaging experiences. It also examines the economic condition of rural areas and the potential for their contribution to the national economy. Additionally, the study highlights the significance of sustainable community development, the role of rural areas in resilience and climate change adaptation and the complexities surrounding rural migration. The aim is to provide insights and recommendations for policymakers and stakeholders involved in rural development initiatives, focusing on the Mediterranean region. Design/methodology/approach -This study develops an understanding of the role of digital and creative strategies in rural communities, highlighting their significance in preserving food heritage, culture and community capital while driving economic development. It specifically focuses on the Unesco Intangible Mediterranean Diet (UIMD) as a potential catalyst for regeneration through the integration of creative and digital tools and three cases are presented. The first is the impact of the Future Food Institute (FFI) ecosystem in the Living Lab in Pollica (Salerno, Italy); the second focuses on the digital tools provided by the CKF to support rural areas; and the third is a new identity and promotion of territorial development, co-designed in the Val di Vara (VdV) a rural region of the Ligurian inland in Italy, through digital strategies, heritage preservation and slow tourism development. The three cases highlight different ways of enhancing environmental and cultural heritage and demonstrate how collaborative creativity and digital tools contribute to the co-construction of knowledge and addressing critical issues to promote sustainable growth in rural areas. Findings -The findings of this study indicate that re-establishing connections and fostering a sense of belonging within rural communities is crucial for their sustainable development. The use of digital and creative tools presents significant opportunities in enhancing various aspects such as learning, food production, tourism and research in rural areas. The study also reveals the potential economic contributions of rural areas to the national economy. It emphasizes the importance of sustainable community development and highlights the role of rural areas in resilience and climate change adaptation. Additionally, the study addresses the complexities surrounding rural migration and emphasizes the need for comprehensive policies to ensure the well-being and rights of migrant workers. The insights and recommendations provided in this study aim to guide policymakers and stakeholders involved in rural development initiatives, particularly in the Mediterranean region. Research limitations/implications -Nonetheless, it is imperative to acknowledge certain limitations within the scope of this study, primarily associated with the specific sample selection, potentially influencing the broader applicability of the findings. There is potential to explore a wider geographic area in future Creativity and digital strategies 113

Visual inspection assisted by well-structured forms allows experts to collect homogeneous data in order to report typical damage/vulnerabilities of structures. This is the basis for deriving vulnerability factors to predict failure mechanisms and identify urgent interventions. A database model with an associated structured form for the assessment of historic timber roof structures has been developed during a two-week Short Term Scientific Mission (STSM) in May 2015 at CNR IVALSA Institute in San Michele All’Adige (Italy). The aim is to assist during inspection in recording all the necessary information and later in analysing data from several inspections, allowing to identify typical damage and its causes. The database model, starting from the work of COST Action FP 1101 and further developed and digitalised during the STSM, has been initially populated with data previously collected by the University of Strathclyde through visual assessment of 29 historic timber roofs in Scotland.

BACKGROUND Mental health disorders pose a significant challenge in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs), contributing substantially to the global disease burden. Despite the high prevalence of these disorders, LMICs allocate less than 1% of health budgets to mental health, resulting in inadequate care and a severe shortage of professionals. Stigma and cultural misconceptions further hinder access to mental health services. These challenges are present in Bangladesh, with high prevalence rates of depression and anxiety, a centralized and under-resourced mental health care system. Digital tools, such as smartphone applications and online platforms, offer innovative solutions to these challenges by increasing accessibility, cost-effectiveness, and scalability of mental health interventions. OBJECTIVE This study aims to characterise the views around digital tools for mental health among residents of Korail, a major slum in Dhaka, Bangladesh, including the use of smartphones and investigate acceptable digital tools, and barriers and facilitators for digital mental health tools. METHODS Eight focus groups (FGs) were conducted with 38 participants, including individuals with serious mental disorders and their caregivers. The FGs were transcribed, translated, and analysed using thematic analysis with NVivo 14 software. RESULTS The findings revealed a general lack of awareness and understanding of digital mental health tools among slum residents. However, there was a notable appetite in these tools, recognising their potential to provide timely and cost-effective support, reduce hospital visits, and make healthcare more accessible. Participants highlighted the convenience and communication benefits of smartphones but expressed concerns about misuse such as excessive use, particularly among adolescents. Barriers to the utilisation of digital mental health tools included limited technological literacy and accessibility issues. Despite these challenges, participants acknowledged the potential of these tools to bridge the gap in mental health services, especially for those unable to travel. The importance of providing proper guidance and education to maximize the effectiveness of digital tools was emphasized. CONCLUSIONS Digital mental health tools hold promises for improving mental health care in underserved slum communities. This study underscores the need for further research and investment in tailored digital mental health solutions to address the unique needs of slum populations in LMICs.

The COST ProgrammeThe Cooperation in Science and Technology Programme (COST) is an inter-governmental framework for European Co-operation in the field of Scientific and Technical Research. COST is managed by the European Science Foundation, and in May 2005 supported almost 200 Actions involving nearly 30000 scientists from 32 European member countries and more than 50 participating institutions from 11 non-member countries. These Actions are networks of coordinated national research project in fields which are of interest to a minimum number of participants (at least 5) from different member states. COST Actions cover basic and pre-competitive research as well as activities of public utility. The members of each Action are drawn from member countries which have ratified the Action, and their activities are informed by a programme accepted by the ESF management at time of application and reviewed on an annual basis throughout the Action. Each Action comprises three principal activities: the workshops where the science or technology matters of the Action are presented and discussed; the Action's short-term scientific missions, which allow contacts made during workshop networking to be developed; and, thirdly, the dissemination of the Action's science through publication or electronic communication.

Countries all over the world, and especially in Europe, are increasingly using the burden of disease approach to assess the health status of populations and to identify the main drivers of ill health. Thus, there is an increasing need for equitable capacity building on the one hand (including an improved understanding of the complex methods behind global and national burden estimates), and harmonization of methods on the other hand to keep the results comparable. Furthermore, involved researchers also strive for a platform to exchange experiences and foster collaboration. To address the current challenges in burden of disease research, our COST Action CA18218-European Burden of Disease Network will build strongly on the COST mechanisms, such as short-term scientific missions and training schools to foster and increase capacity building activities across Europe. Our Action will also serve as a technical platform where knowledge and expertise can be shared among experienced and less experienced researchers. Collaboratively, the technical platform will provide unique opportunities for developing a joint research agenda in the domain of burden of disease, for fostering methodological developments, and for developing new collaborative research. With this presentation, we aim to show how the COST Action is fostering methodological advances and technical capacity building, focusing on 1) the role and aim of short-term scientific missions including real case examples; 2) the concept and structure of the Action's training schools; and 3) examples of specific methodological activities underway as part of the Action. The session will conclude with an interaction with the audience during which the needs and expectations of the attendees will be elicited.