The kick-off meeting of the ERUM project (Enhancing Research Understanding through Media) took place on December 5^th and 6^th, at the Aristotle University, Thessaloniki, Greece. The ERUM project is funded by the European Commission, under the Erasmus+ framework (Strategic Partnerships in Higher Education). The project consortium is composed by seven partners (University of Vienna, Cyprus University of Technology, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, University of Alcalá, University of Versailles, Vytautas Magnus University and the European University Foundation) in seven countries (Austria, Cyprus, Greece, Spain, France, Lithuania and Belgium).

Cyprus was represented by the Cyprus Interaction Lab (https://www.cyprusinteractionlab.com/) of the Social Computing Research Center (http://www.socialcomputing.eu), which is involved in all of the Intellectual Outputs as a contributor,  will host the 4^th Transnational Project meeting, and has a leading role in the organization of the second multiplier event in Limassol.

Dr. Andri Ioannou (Assistant Professor at the Cyprus University of Technology and Director of the Cyprus Interaction Lab) is the local coordinator of ERUM and Dr. Yiannis Georgiou (Postdoctoral Researcher at Cyprus Interaction Lab) acts as project manager and main researcher from CUT. Other people involved in the project are Michael Sirivianos (Assistant Professor, Cyprus University of Technology) and Sotirios Chatzis (Assistant Professor, Cyprus University of Technology).

The main objective of the ERUM project is to develop a relevant transversal educational offer on the topic of “quality of information between mis and disinformation today” for higher education students who are partaking in the shaping of the present and future of the information and knowledge society. It also brings about a shift in the way higher education institutions and media are collaborating vis-a-vis evidence-based and research communication.

The first day of the kick-off meeting began with partners’ introduction followed up by a presentation an introductory presentation about the project by Alessandra Santoianni, Judith Goetz and Johanna Urban on behalf of the coordinating partner (University of Vienna). Next, a sequence of additional presentations took place focusing on Risk Analysis and Impact assessment, Dissemination Plan, Financial Management as well as on Tools and plans to structure coordination/cooperation. Subsequently, the second day of the kick-off meeting included presentations about the first two Intellectual Outputs (IOs) of the project by the IOs leaders as well as planning about the next steps and milestones of the project.

The ERUM European project is expected to be completed by the end of May 2022. The official website of the project will be announced soon. Stay tuned to follow up the ERUM project’s updates.