Societal Challenges

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Horizon 2020 reflects the policy priorities of the Europe 2020 strategy and addresses major concerns shared by citizens in Europe and elsewhere. The societal challenges programme section brings together resources and knowledge across different fields, technologies and disciplines, including social sciences and the humanities. This will cover activities from research to market with a new focus on innovation-related activities, such as piloting, demonstration, test-beds, and support for public procurement and market uptake. This gateway hosts the articles published on Open Research Europe stemming from the Industrial Leadership programme section supported by Horizon 2020.

Research Article

Peer review process completed

Identified barriers and solutions for sustainable water in Europe: an analysis of seawater and wastewater mining

Authors: Carlos Picon, Wytze van der Gaast

Funders: Horizon 2020, Societal Challenges

Peer reviewers: Alfonso Expósito García

Published: August 4, 2026
Research Article

Peer review process completed

Bridging the adoption gap: The role of agricultural consultants behavior in decision support system adoption

Authors: Jotham Jea Akaka, Aurora García-Gallego, Nikolaos Georgantzis, Efi Vasileiou

Funders: Horizon 2020, Societal Challenges

Peer reviewers: Ataharul Chowdhury

Published: July 29, 2026
Software Tool Article
Revised
Peer review process completed

LMDmapper: an open-source desktop tool for spatial mapping of laser microdissection samples

Authors: Antton Alberdi, Jaime Ramirez, Nanna Gaun, Zoé Horisberger, Bryan Wang, Urvish Trivedi, Amalia Bogri

Funders: Horizon 2020, Societal Challenges

Peer reviewers: Pierluigi Di Chiaro, Yuliaxis Ramayo-Caldas

Published: September 8, 2026
Research Article

Peer review process completed

Citizen-centric pathways to Positive Energy Districts: Lessons from European PED projects

Authors: Stavros SPYRIDAKOS, Sofia-Natalia BOEMI, Elpida Tzika, Raymond Sterling, Benedetta Barchi, Marcello Curci, Beril Alpagut, Łukasz Wilczynski, Magdalena KOSIOREK, Alexander Deliyannis, Maria-Ioanna PAVLOPOULOU, Paula Vega, Veronika Cerna

Funders: Horizon 2020, Societal Challenges, Horizon Europe

Peer reviewers: Muhyiddine Jradi, Paola Clerici Maestosi

Published: July 6, 2026
Method Article

Awaiting peer review

Semantic integration of hybrid threat intelligence: The HiPSTer Ontological Method for cross-domain correlation in influence operations

Authors: Evaldas Bružė, R. Andrew Paskauskas, Raminta Matulytė, Giedrė Sabaliauskaitė, Tomas Lavišius

Funders: Horizon 2020, Societal Challenges

Peer reviewers: No information provided

Published: June 18, 2026
Research Article

Peer review process completed

Integrating zeolite-based cation exchange and membrane contactors for ammonium recovery as ammonium sulphate: pilot experience from WalNUT project

Authors: Alicia González-Míguez, Clara Reino, Celia-María Castro-Barros, Leticia Rodriguez-Hernandez

Funders: Horizon 2020, Societal Challenges

Peer reviewers: Asifa Anwar, Diana Arellano

Published: June 13, 2026
Systematic Review

Peer review process completed

How can gender mainstreaming policy and policymaking foster gender equality? A qualitative systematic review of lessons learned from GM research.

Authors: Emily St Denny, Paul Cairney

Funders: Horizon 2020, Societal Challenges

Peer reviewers: Gill ALLWOOD, Stephanie Paterson

Published: May 15, 2026
Method Article

Peer review process completed

A methodological framework for the standardised evaluation of olive genetic resources: GEN4OLIVE harmonized protocols

Authors: Hristofor Miho, Diego Barranco Navero, Isabel Trujillo Navas, Pablo Morello Parra, Georgios Koubouris, Carlos Trapero Ramirez, Álvaro López-Bernal, Amira Oueslati, David Flores Mesas, M. Teresa García López, Pedro Valverde Caballero, R. Efe Deger, Esteban Meca, Enzo Perri, Elena Santilli, Juan Moral Moral, Cristina Estudillo Cazorla, Diego Cabello Pozo, Meelad Yousef Yousef, Songul Acar, Melek Gurbuz-Veral, Feliciano Priego Capote, Asma Zahiri, Sara Oulbi, Maria Isabel Márquez Pérez, Concepción M. Díez

Funders: Horizon 2020, Societal Challenges

Peer reviewers: Nunzio D'Agostino

Published: September 2, 2026
Research Article

Awaiting peer review

Diagnostic frameworks and abortifacient findings in domestic ruminant abortions: a multicountry European study (2022–2024)

Authors: René van den Brom, Sue Neale, Katja Mertens-Scholz, Christian Menge, Laurent Delooz, Reinie Dijkman, Liesbeth Allais, Anneleen Matthijs, Marcella Mori, Elsa Jourdain, Elodie Rousset, Tom N. McNeilly, Gorka Aduriz, Ana Hurtado

Funders: Horizon 2020, Societal Challenges

Peer reviewers: No information provided

Published: September 1, 2026
Research Article

Awaiting peer review

Nonlinear network inference reveals two independent axes of ecological organisation in the rumen microbiome

Authors: Wanxin Lai, Andy Leu, Torgeir Rhoden Hvidsten, Phillip B. Pope, Rainer Roehe

Funders: Horizon 2020, Societal Challenges

Peer reviewers: No information provided

Published: September 28, 2026
Data Note

Awaiting peer review

The HEADSpAcE Data Center: An international data and biospecimen resource for head and neck cancer translational research

Authors: Shama Virani, Laia Alemany, Wolfgang Ahrens, Shaymaa AlWaheidi, Lidia Arantes, Aude Bardot, Paul Brennan, Cristina Canova, Amelie Chabrier, David I Conway, Grant Creaney, Mauricio Cuello, Cecilia Cuffini, Maria Paula Curado, Ana Carolina de Carvalho, Evandro de Souza, Brenda Diergaarde, Tom Dudding, Valerie Gaborieau, David Hayes, Claire Healy, Ivana Holcatova, Rayjean Hung, Jens Klussmann, Pagona Lagiou, Areti Lagiou, Geoffrey Liu, Clovis Lopes Pinto, Silvia Lopez de Blanc, Louise McNeilage, Laura Mendoza, Jose Carlos Oliveira, Andrew Olshan, Hernan Ortiz, Sandra Perdomo, Shahid Pervez, Jerry Polesel, Miranda Pring, Luis Felipe Ribeiro Pinto, Lorenzo Richardi, Max Robinson, Paula Rodriguez-Urrego, Pierre-Eric Roux, Pierre Saintigny, Stacey Santi, Deborah Saunders, Marta Vilensky, Sandra von Zeidler, Tim Waterboer, Kazem Zendehdel, Ariana Znaor, HEADSpAcE Consortium

Funders: Horizon 2020, Societal Challenges

Peer reviewers: No information provided

Published: October 7, 2026
Research Article

Awaiting peer review

Harmonization, interoperability and an open architecture for all the stakeholders of a pan-European electrical system: the vision of the project OneNet

Authors: Ivelina Stoyanova, Mario Couto, Ferdinando Bosco, Matteo Troncia, Katharina Wehrmeister, Alberto Dognini, Konstantinos Kotsalos, José Pablo Chaves Ávila, Jacob Mason, Ilias Zafeiropoulos, Alessio Coccia, Vassilis Sakas, Juan Adolfo Galeano Martinez, Helena Gerard, Vincenzo Croce, Apostolos Kapetanios, Helias Karagozidis, Antonello Monti

Funders: Horizon 2020, Societal Challenges

Peer reviewers: No information provided

Published: October 16, 2026
Review

Awaiting peer review

Connecting public responses to engagement practice in CCS deployment: an integrative framework

Authors: Christian Oltra

Funders: Horizon 2020, Societal Challenges

Peer reviewers: No information provided

Published: October 9, 2026
Research Article
Revised
Peer review process completed

Exploring Actinomycetes-derived natural products for activity against Streptococcus suis

Authors: Ayelén Perez Falcón, Marianna Iorio, Margherita Sosio, Florencia Correa-Fiz, Stefano Donadio, Virginia Aragón

Funders: Excellent Science, Horizon 2020, Societal Challenges, Marie-Sklodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA)

Peer reviewers: Ali Majhool, Iqbal Ahmad

Published: October 20, 2026
Research Article
Revised
Peer review process completed

Scaling up from laboratory experiments to pilot trials to recover protein from tomato waste remaining after processing and exploring the use of proteolysis as a further purification step

Authors: Paul Baker, Adam Charlton

Funders: Horizon 2020, Societal Challenges

Peer reviewers: Adilson Roberto Locali Pereira, Bung-Orn Hemung, Busra Oktar, Gebeyehu Ayele, Harshi Singhi

Published: July 9, 2026
Research Article

Peer review process completed

Assessment of pesticide use among wheat growers in the UK between 2016-2024; correlation between preventative actions, treatment frequency index, and yield.

Authors: Mark W. Ramsden, Ella Bradfield, Ellie Dearlove, Owen Griffiths, Rosie Knapp

Funders: Horizon 2020, Societal Challenges, Horizon Europe

Peer reviewers: Juergen Schwarz, Peng Han

Published: April 10, 2026
Method Article
Revised
Peer review process completed

Method development for pancreatic and ovarian cancer baseline ctDNA detection and measurable residual disease monitoring

Authors: Tim Alexander Steiert, Philipp M. Altrock, Axel Künstner, Vishal Dixit, Burkhard Brandt, Pamela Pinzani, Hauke Busch, Andre Franke, Michael Forster

Funders: Horizon 2020, Societal Challenges

Peer reviewers: Myron Best, Yibo Dai

Published: July 13, 2026
Method Article

Peer review process completed

Inertial human motion capture with automatic IMU-to-segment position and orientation calibration using JointTracker and deep learning with uncertainties

Authors: Bertram Taetz, Gabriele Bleser-Taetz, Markus Miezal, Didier Stricker

Funders: Horizon 2020, Societal Challenges, Horizon Europe

Peer reviewers: Elisa Digo, Moein Younesi

Published: March 31, 2026
Research Article

Peer review process completed

Stakeholder perceptions of Nature-based Solutions (NbS): potential, risks and ways forward

Authors: Carlos Picon, Eise Spijker, Luis Virla, Moritz Laub, Siti N. Indriani, Takeshi Takama, Mohamed Ahmed, Eric Rahn, Bibiana Bilbao, Thao Pham, Markus Donat

Funders: Horizon 2020, Societal Challenges

Peer reviewers: Martijn Kuller

Published: November 11, 2025
Research Article
Revised
Peer review process completed

Mapping immersive digital tools in the ICT4Water Cluster: innovation, interoperability and impact.

Authors: Ilias Karachalios, Nikolaos D. Tantaroudas, Christos Makropoulos

Funders: Horizon 2020, Societal Challenges

Peer reviewers: Francesco DE PAOLA, Yutaro Onuki

Published: November 28, 2025
Case Study

Peer review process completed

CCUS and Local Social Perspectives

Authors: Kostas Stavrianakis, JACOB A.E. NIELSEN

Funders: Horizon 2020, Societal Challenges

Peer reviewers: Jingli Fan

Published: October 23, 2025
Open Letter

Peer review process completed

IPM Decisions Platform – a Pan-European online platform hosting decision support systems and associated resources for integrated pest management.

Authors: Mark W. Ramsden, Berit Nordskog, Tor-Einar Skog, Dave Skirvin, Angelo Marguglio, Antonio Caruso, Christophe Pradal, Lise Jorgensen, Mette Sonderskov, Nikos Georgantzis, Marko Debeljak, Jurij Marinko, Harm Brinks, Bjorn Andersson, Ilias Travlos, Eleanor Dearlove, Neil Paveley

Funders: Horizon 2020, Societal Challenges

Peer reviewers: Daniel Leybourne, Daren Mueller

Published: October 16, 2025
Case Study
Revised
Peer review process completed

Empowering ECRs to make research projects flourish: lessons from a European research project

Authors: Julius Schlumberger, Kelley De Polt, Judith N. Claassen, Timothy Tiggeloven, Sophie L. Buijs, Marleen C. de Ruiter, Maria Vittoria Gargiulo, Joel C. Gill, Núria Pantaleoni Reluy, Robert Šakić Trogrlić, Philip J. Ward

Funders: Horizon 2020, Societal Challenges, Horizon Europe

Peer reviewers: Kofi Agyekum, Leanne Gibbs, Liudvika Leišytė, Marleen Wierenga

Published: August 3, 2026
Research Article

Peer review process completed

Comparison of EEG pre-processing pipelines for spontaneous EEG data in a large neurodivergent cohort

Authors: Rianne Haartsen, Luke Mason, Pilar Garcés, Philipp Bomatter, Jörg Hipp, Mark. H. Johnson, Jan K. Buitelaar, Eva Loth, Declan Murphy, Emily J.H. Jones, The EU-AIMS LEAP group

Funders: Horizon 2020, Societal Challenges

Peer reviewers: Andrea Zanola, Stefania Coelli

Published: October 6, 2025
Research Article

Peer review process completed

Impact of environmental land lease contract specification on implementation of nature inclusive farming

Authors: Roos van Rosmalen, Kina Harmanny, Catharina J.E. Schulp

Funders: Horizon 2020, Societal Challenges

Peer reviewers: Charles Francis, Jason Loughrey

Published: September 19, 2025