Proposed activities should cover all of the following aspects:

• Establish a broad pan-European interdisciplinary network of researchers, scientists, and research performers including national science academies, universities and research centres representing diverse and interconnected food systems-related disciplines.
• The network will conduct different types of research: inter-, transdisciplinary and participatory research, as well as policy/regulatory research.
• Interdisciplinary research activities will develop new systems science insights, models, methods and tools to assess and manage the full systemic complexity of food systems, their multiple drivers and dynamics, with the aim of providing research outcomes that deliver co-benefits and minimise adverse effects. The research will also increase understanding of how food systems interact with other bioeconomy demands on biological resources (e.g., energy system, bio-based industry, climate mitigation and adaptation, supply of ecosystem services, etc.).
• Transdisciplinary and participatory research activities will foster collaboration with different food systems stakeholders to identify knowledge gaps, high priority research needs, and collaborative responses to them. This may include the organization of iterative stakeholder workshops, interviews, questionnaires and the collaboration with existing or future food policy/living labs.
• Policy and regulatory research activities will be designed to provide evidence to support systemic policy and decision making, as needed. In this respect, research is welcome on how to transition to a true cost of food that adequately embeds social and environmental externalities at all levels (global to local).
• Building on the RTD/2020/SC/022 study “Promote education, training and skills across the bioeconomy”, the network will develop open access educational material/curricula to be used by Higher Education Institutes to help strengthen their existing food systems-related teaching and research with an inter- and transdisciplinary systems dimension.
• Support the training, mobility, mutual learning and knowledge sharing amongst researchers (including masters to post-doc levels) and foster open science approaches that also accelerate gender equality, attract young talents, foster inclusiveness and reuse of research knowledge (including the sharing of FAIR and open digital research or educational output). This will also include the organization of a high-level annual summer camp/school providing inter- and transdisciplinary food systems and bioeconomy science training open to youth from all over Europe.
• Organise an international bi-annual conference dedicated to advancing integrated food systems science. In this context special attention will be placed on awarding excellence amongst young researchers, including young women researchers.
• Establish a high-level liaison with EU and relevant international initiatives acting at the science-policy interface for improved food systems governance.
• Proposals are encouraged to cooperate with actors such as the European Commission’s Joint Research Centre (JRC). The JRC may provide expertise on how to strengthen the relationship between scientists and European policy makers and to promote research and collaboration on food systems science.