Project representatives move from poster to poster, pausing to discuss, exchanging insights and experiences. Eyes scan badges, names are noted, emails exchanged. Conversations flow over coffee, about starting projects, partners, shared collaborations, early challenges, doubts and questions. And then the magic happens. Two days into PRIMA Project Day, participants are already connecting, creating synergies, and learning from each other’s projects.
For two days in Barcelona, PRIMA Project Day 2025 buzzed with 100 participants, with a total of 57 projects represented, engaging in conversations, sharing ideas, and building connections across the PRIMA Community.
PRIMA community in the spotlight
More than just a networking event, the Project Day embodies PRIMA’s commitment to create connections across its research portfolio.
Alongside project participants, representatives from National Funding Agencies, the PRIMA Chair, EU Commission officials, the Scientific Advisory Committee, and PRIMA staff joined in, showing the full ecosystem supporting projects on their journey to success.
Let’s pitch! Communicating projects effectively
For EU-funded research projects, the ability to communicate complex scientific work into clear, compelling narratives is essential. Whether addressing policymakers, potential partners, or the broader public, researchers must adapt their discourse to be understood by diverse audiences. The pitching is a needed exercise, helping project teams refine their communication messages and learn to convey their project’s uniqueness.
This year’s pitch session featured 28 pitches, with each project having exactly two minutes to present. The session was animated by members of the Scientific Advisory Committee, who provided immediate feedback and engaged directly with the teams.
“The primary purpose of the short pitch is to convey the essentials,” noted one participant in post-event surveys. Another admitted they “needed to be better prepared to communicate their project“, a telling acknowledgment of the challenge many researchers face.
Another participant reflected: “We often focus only on our own project and don’t fully realize the breadth of PRIMA projects and the variety of themes and topics. The pitch session is a great way to get an overview of what PRIMA is funding.”
Café Scientifique: another overview of what PRIMA is funding
The Café Scientifique organized during Project Day transformed the traditional poster session into an engaging marketplace of ideas. Projects from the 2023 cohort displayed 30 posters focusing on their objectives and Key Exploitable Results (KERs). In EU-funded research, identifying and communicating KERs is crucial, these results represent the tangible outcomes that can be translated into real-world applications, policy recommendations, or further innovation, ensuring that research investments deliver lasting impact beyond academic publications.
Additionally, three posters from the NEXTGEN4MED and WEFE4MED initiatives enriched the exhibition, showcasing examples of successful inter-project collaboration. Over two and a half hours, researchers circulated, compared notes, and identified concrete collaboration opportunities. The results? A growing list of synergies: Joint events, joint conferences and coordinated communications actions. Knowledge sharing, exchanging information on demonstration sites, methodologies, and research experiences. Research and technical collaboration; exploring shared protocols. Future Opportunities, mapping out potential joint research activities or collaborations.
Some connections were immediate; others planted seeds for future joint research.
Empowering the next generation and building communities
The event also spotlighted two PRIMA initiatives planting the seeds of community through their two initiatives: one supporting young researchers, the other building a WEFE Nexus community of practice.
The WEFE4MED Community of Practice, presented by Marios C. Georgiou (Cyprus Insitute) advances a critical mission: fostering the adoption of a Water-Energy-Food-Ecosystems (WEFE) Nexus approach throughout the Mediterranean. The WEFE4MED Nexus Community of Practice (NCoP) is dedicated to advancing integrated solutions by fostering multi-stakeholder collaboration. It connects scientists, policymakers, and practitioners to co-develop and implement WEFE Nexus solutions that address the region’s interconnected challenges. Project coordinator Marios called upon all project coordinators to join this community of practice, strengthening the collective capacity to tackle Mediterranean sustainability challenges.
NEXTGEN4MED, presented by Chiara Ceseracciu and Daniele Secci, represents a dynamic, youth-driven movement born from the collaboration of three PRIMA-funded projects: OurMED, NATMed, and SALAM-MED. This initiative unites efforts to empower the next generation of water leaders in the Mediterranean, addressing the region’s pressing water challenges by equipping early-career researchers and young professionals with essential tools, networks, and interdisciplinary approaches. NEXTGEN4MED issues a call to action, inviting young scientists, institutions, and stakeholders to join the movement and help shape a more resilient, inclusive, and water-secure future for the region.
Synergy in action, breaking the silos.
The PRIMA Project Day 2025 demonstrated that research richness extends beyond individual projects.
The success of this year’s gathering reinforces a fundamental truth: in addressing complex regional challenges, the whole truly becomes greater than the sum of its parts. Through synergy, PRIMA projects are not just conducting research, they are part of a community working on Mediterranean sustainability.
But perhaps the deeper value lies in something harder to measure: a strengthened sense of shared purpose. In addressing the Mediterranean’s climate, water, and food security challenges, no single project works in isolation. The solutions these challenges demand require the kind of cross-pollination that only happens when researchers step out of their silos.
You can access all the pictures from the event here:
