SHERPA is a four-year project (2019-2023) with 17 partners funded by the Horizon 2020 programme.
The project aims to gather knowledge that contributes to the formulation of recommendations for future policies relevant to EU rural areas, by creating a science-society-policy interface which provides a hub for knowledge and policy.
SHERPA will contribute to policy development in three main areas:
- Provision of inputs for the design of future research policies, with a focus on the preparation of work programmes under Horizon Europe.
- Support for implementation of policies relevant to rural areas in the programming period 2021-2027; and
- Supporting for setting the direction of rural policy in the next programming period.
To achieve this, the project will:
- Map the main drivers of future trends and dynamics of EU rural areas;
- Establish Multi-Actor Platforms (MAPs) as effective and sustainable Science-Society-Policy interfaces;
- Create a shared knowledge base relevant to EU rural policy by taking stock of results of past and ongoing research projects;
- Engage in a dialogue between citizens, researchers and policy-makers across EU territories;
- Formulate recommendations linked to different scenarios for the development of modern rural policies at European, national and regional levels, as well as for the future rural research agenda.
In this project, I am the leader of the work package Screening of rural trends and rural policies. Its objectives are:
- To capture, analyse and map long-term trends and dynamics of EU rural areas to understand the associated drivers of these trends and how they are influenced by EU policies
- To link definitions of ‘rural’ to policy, strategies and instruments in a multi-level governance framework
- To monitor and update knowledge of the most relevant developments in rural policies post-2020
- To equip the Multi-Actor Platforms with updated insights on rural trends and policies
The tasks of this work package are:
- Task 3.1 Monitoring policy developments relevant to rural areas
- Task 3.2 Scoping of the definition of rural and rapid appraisal of rural trends in Phase 1 MAPs
- Task 3.3 Review of trends, policies and strategies relevant to rural areas
- Task 3.4 Foresight Prospects for the future
The deliverables of this work package are:
- D3.1 Timetable of the EU negotiation and policy developments
- D3.2 Framework providing definitions, review and operational typology of rural areas of Europe
- D3.3 Review of trends and policies in rural areas
- D3.4 Report on the forecast evolution of European rural areas