NitroPortugal: Strengthening Portuguese research and innovation capacities in the field of excess reactive nitrogen
NitroPortugal is H2020-TWINN-2015 Coordination & support action (nr 692331)

For nearly a century mankind had caused unprecedented changes to the nitrogen cycle by more than doubling the transformation of non-reactive atmospheric di-nitrogen (N2) into reactive nitrogen (Nr) forms, which cascade through the environment. From this problem, five key issues have been identified by the European Nitrogen Assessment: i) Water quality, ii) Air quality, iii) Greenhouse gases, iv) Ecosystems and biodiversity and v) Soil quality (WAGES concept).

NitroPortugal will provide training of the Portuguese partners in the five topics of the WAGES approach. It will raise the S&T staff skills and scientific productivity of the partners to create a cohesive and comprehensive knowledge working group. The Key Training Elements can be summarized as:

• Training in key research areas of the nitrogen cycle and corresponding scientific production;
• Training on nitrogen integration and synthesis, to build the ground for the elaboration of a Portuguese Ni-trogen Assessment, which will be addressed both as training as well as science output;
• Training on science interface to national and international policy development, creating an interface to the UNECE-TFRN delivering substantial synergy with the twinning activity.

The work plan to fulfill the objectives of the project has been subdivided into 9 major work packages (WP)

WP1 is dedicated to project management, administration and co-ordination and will be ongoing throughout the project. ISA, the leader of this work package, will ensure that all milestones and deliverables are achieved on time and according to the work plan, and will ensure efficient collaboration takes place not only pro-ject-internally between all the partners, but also with external national partners and in collaboration with other na-tional entities. Further details are provided in Sections 3.2 (management structure and procedures).
WP2 consists of the scientific and knowledge management of the project throughout the project. Lead scientists from the supporting countries' teams (NERC, Aarhus University) will integrate the Scientific Coordina-tion Group (SCG) and will supervise the quality of the science and technology training and outreach produced during the project. The SCG will also chair the thematic workshops which are a key component of the training and outreach activities within the consortium. Materials produced will be of a scientific but also technical and practical nature, to be supplied to policy boards (e.g. Portuguese Environmental Agency). The usability of these documents will be maximized through implementing the "user test" technique (WP9 task 9.7.) which will be supervised by the SCG. The aim of the call for twinning projects is for partners lacking key skills to benefit from the experience of their peers to improve their scientific skills, profiles and productivity by working with teams from international centres of excellence. A range of training and outreach activities are planned to be carried out within the consorti-um only, chaired by the UK and Danish partners (NERC and AU) under WP3. These integrative training activities on the holistic view of the N issue will be organized in WP3. We propose five specific training WPs (WP 4 to 8), one for each of the WAGES topics (Water, Air, Greenhouse gases, Ecosystems and biodiversity and Soils). These will mainly consist of staff exchanges, expert visits, thematic workshops and other outreach activities coordinated by WP3. A common structure of tasks will be adopted for each of these WPs: a) to review and organize all availa-ble databases existing on the topic, followed by a publication, b) to identify scientific gaps and identify key ques-tions for discussion. C) to discuss these questions at five thematic outreach thematic workshops. Outputs from these workshops will also be published. To ensure the impact of the project at the scientific level, several publications are planned (see deliverables under each WP). Further external dissemination and outreach activities outside the consortium are planned in WP9, to ensure that the project outcomes impact on a wider audience. For this purpose, a range of activities are planned, including a wrap-up workshop resulting in an holistic view of nitrogen in Portu-gal, which will serve as basis for the Portuguese Nitrogen Assessment, summer schools, and interactions with poli-cy makers, stakeholders and the wider public who often have very little knowledge on N.