On 28 July 2026, the EMPOWERMed consortium held its first Annual Scientific Board Meeting to review the scientific and technical progress achieved during the project’s first fourteen months.
The meeting provided an important opportunity to assess the implementation of the project’s Work Packages, discuss common scientific and operational challenges, receive recommendations from the Scientific Board, and support the consortium’s preparation for the upcoming PRIMA Mid-Term Evaluation.
💧 About EMPOWERMed
EMPOWERMed—Enhancing Management of Water Scarcity through Proactive and InnOvative WatER Accounting Approaches in Mediterranean Regions—is a research and innovation project funded under PRIMA Section 2.
The project is developing an integrated water-accounting framework that combines hydrological modelling, remote sensing, agricultural experimentation, socio-economic analysis, participatory Living Labs, and Decision Support Systems to improve the management of water scarcity across Mediterranean regions.
🔹 Meeting Highlights
During the meeting, the consortium presented progress across the project’s scientific, technical, management, and dissemination activities.
The main topics included:
✅ Project coordination, administrative management, governance, completed deliverables, and responses to initial implementation challenges
✅ Water-scarcity assessment and hydrological modelling activities
✅ Development of Living Labs and engagement with farmers, institutions, and other relevant stakeholders
✅ Collection, harmonisation, and integration of field, remote-sensing, modelling, and socio-economic data
✅ Irrigation experiments and agricultural water-management activities
✅ Development of the project’s integrated database and future Decision Support System
✅ Socio-economic assessment and policy-related research
✅ Communication and dissemination activities, including the EMPOWERMed website, LinkedIn page, visual identity, and dissemination priorities
The presentations also identified several shared challenges, particularly concerning data availability, data harmonisation, field surveys, model validation, and administrative procedures affecting access to relevant datasets.
🔬 Scientific Board Recommendations
The Scientific Board welcomed the multidisciplinary character of EMPOWERMed and recognised the progress achieved by the consortium.
Its consolidated recommendations emphasised the need to:
🔹 Strengthen scientific and operational integration between all Work Packages
🔹 Clearly document modelling assumptions, validation procedures, data limitations, and uncertainty analyses
🔹 Accelerate data collection and harmonisation across the participating countries
🔹 Establish common standards for metadata, quality control, preprocessing, and data integration
🔹 Maintain a strong connection between remote-sensing products, modelling activities, and field measurements
🔹 Further integrate farmers’ knowledge, stakeholder feedback, and local expertise through the Living Labs
🔹 Clearly demonstrate the project’s scientific innovation and added value
🔹 Prepare robust scientific results, measurable performance indicators, and supporting evidence for the PRIMA Mid-Term Evaluation
The Board also highlighted the importance of positioning EMPOWERMed within the broader field of smart and sustainable agriculture by demonstrating improvements in water productivity, agricultural resilience, crop performance, and sustainable resource management.
🔜 What’s Next?
Following the meeting, the EMPOWERMed partners will continue working to accelerate data collection, strengthen methodological documentation, improve collaboration between Work Packages, and advance the project’s modelling, experimental, Living Lab, database, and Decision Support System activities.
The consortium will also focus on consolidating scientific results and performance indicators in preparation for the upcoming PRIMA Mid-Term Evaluation.
We thank the Scientific Board members and all participating partners for their valuable recommendations, constructive discussion, and continued commitment to the successful implementation of EMPOWERMed.
Stay tuned for further updates on the project’s progress and activities across the Mediterranean region.
#EMPOWERMed #PRIMA #WaterScarcity #WaterAccounting #Mediterranean #ScientificBoard #Hydrology #RemoteSensing #LivingLabs #DecisionSupport #SmartAgriculture #SustainableAgriculture #StakeholderEngagement #ScienceForPolicy #ClimateAdaptation