On 20 and 21 May 2026, the EU Horizon Europe project SUNDANSE (Innovative sediment management for a SUstaiNable Danube black SEa system, see here for more details) held its General Assembly meeting in Paris, hosted by Eden Microfluidics.
The meeting discussed the progress within all Work Packages of SUNDANSE and the work to come. ESC is a partner in SUNDANSE working on various aspects of how any improved knowledge on the sediment management of the Danube can be translated into better guidance for inland waterway transport. The project has already identified critical bottlenecks in all member states along the Lower Danube and is now developing tools and models to better predict and manage these issues.
These advances will also be made available via so-called Open Calls in which administrative organisations along the Danube but also from other waterways can apply for project-internal support (100 kEUR) to apply these advanced methods and knowledge to areas outside the pilot sites of the Danube where they had been developed. We will keep you updated when the next round of Open Calls will be published.
In addition, SUNDANSE is constantly seeking for options to publish its research advances in scientific conferences and journals. The most recent achievement is that SUNDANSE will publish research papers about “Sustainable Monitoring and Management of Freshwater Surface Ecosystems Quality” in the Frontiers in Environmental Science journal (see here). The goal is to foster innovative and practical solutions that align with the principles of sustainable development. Key objectives include improving methods for measuring and interpreting the flow, bathymetry, and quality of water, sediment, and biota; assessing the interactions among pollutants and biological systems; evaluating socio-economic impacts linked to ecosystem changes; and designing adaptive management strategies based on modelling, artificial intelligence, and Nature-Based Solutions (NBS).