Work packages & deliverables

WP1: Coordination and project management (IAMM)

Objective: Ensure the successful scientific and operational coordination of all project’s activities.

Tasks

  • Task 1.1 Governance structure and advisory board
  • Task 1.2 Project management
  • Task 1.3 Open science strategy, intellectual property and Data Management Plan
  • Task 1.4 Coordination with European institutions, H2020 and Horizon Europe projects
  • Task 1.5 Ethics

Deliverables

WP2: Action and policy-oriented conceptual and methodological framework (Wageningen University)

Objective: Conceptualise the diversity of features and functionalities of rural areas.

Tasks

  • Task 2.1 State-of-the-art analysis of rural theories and approaches
  • Task 2.2 Multi-spatial rural policy notions
  • Task 2.1 Prototype Rural Diversity Compass

Deliverables

WP3: Novel open data sources for rural areas (IIASA)

Objective: Generate and assess new data to better showcase the diversity of rural areas, their functional characteristics, challenges and opportunities.

Tasks

  • Task 3.1 Screen rural data sources and methods
  • Task 3.2 Explore options, performance and costs
  • Task 3.3 Design and implement new methods
  • Task 3.4 Validation at scale

Deliverables

WP4: Development of tools and indicators to characterise rural diversity (NordRegio)

Objective: Develop indicators for rural areas, to qualify trends, analyse determinants and to assess the resilience of rural areas to major threats.

Tasks

  • Task 4.1 Environmental resilience and climate hazards in rural areas
  • Task 4.2 Socio-economic resilience, social cohesion and vulnerability in rural areas
  • Task 4.3 Food systems and land tenure models in rural areas
  • Task 4.4 Wellbeing and quality of life in rural areas
  • Task 4.5 Rural attractiveness and perceptions
  • Task 4.6 Characterising rural diversity

Deliverables

  • D4.1 Report & dataset on environmental resilience & climate hazards in EU rural areas (April 2025)
  • D4.2 Report & dataset on socio-economic resilience, social cohesion, vulnerability in EU rural areas (April 2025)
  • D4.3 Report & dataset on food systems and land tenure models in EU rural areas (October 2025)
  • D4.4 Report & dataset on wellbeing and quality of life in EU rural areas (October 2025)
  • D4.5 Report & dataset on rural attractiveness and perceptions in EU rural areas (April 2026)
  • D4.6 Scoping of rural typology for the EU (March 2023)
  • D4.7 Novel rural typology for the EU (July 2026)

WP5: Tailored rural policies (Ecorys-HUTTON)

Objective: Develop tools for rural proofing, benchmark policies and assess their impacts on rural communities.

Tasks

  • Task 5.1 A framework for rural proofing on the Rural Compass
  • Task 5.2 Indicators to monitor and evaluate policies
  • Task 5.3 Rural proofing of European policies
  • Task 5.4 Designing tailored policies for rural areas
  • Task 5.5 Knowledge exchange at EU; national and regional levels

Deliverables

  • D5.1 Guidelines for the rural proofing of transition policies in Europe (May 2024)
  • D5.2 Report on the rural proofing of selected policies (March 2025)
  • D5.3 Multi-media recommendations for tailored rural policies (July 2026)

WP6: Multi-actor Labs (UNIPI)

Objective: Engage with rural actors in different rural contexts to collect, analyse and validate data, and to elaborate innovative rural policies based on local needs.

Tasks

  • Task 6.1 Consolidating the Living Labs
  • Task 6.2 Management, co-evaluation and knowledge sharing
  • Task 6.3 Replication Labs
  • Task 6.4 Empowering communities

Deliverables

WP7: Communication, Outreach, Dissemination and Exploitation (AEIDL)

Objective: Empowering rural actors through raising awareness on rural diversity, communicating about the project’s progress and disseminating its results.

Tasks

  • Task 7.1 Design and assessment of the Communication, Outreach, Dissemination and Exploitation (CODE)
  • Task 7.2 Implementation of the CODE Strategy
  • Task 7.3 GRANULAR Digital Platform
  • Task 7.4 GRANULAR Digital toolkit
  • Task 7.5 GRANULAR Knowledge Transfer Accelerator to boost dissemination

Deliverables