TRAILS partners convene in Dublin for the 4th Transnational Plenary Meeting
29/09/2025
On 25–26 September 2025, the TRAILS consortium gathered in Dublin at the Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI). This two-day meeting marked another pivotal step in the project’s trajectory, as partners evaluated achievements, addressed challenges, and charted the course for the months ahead. The TRAILS project, funded under the Horizon Europe Research and Innovation Programme aims to address skills shortages and mismatches across Europe.
Discussions began with project management and administrative updates. Prof. Ioannis Pragidis (DUTH) flagged the next major milestone — the academic workshop and plenary session scheduled for Naples in September 2026.
Momentum continued in the technical sessions. Prof. Georgios Panos (AUTH) detailed advances in secondary data analysis and the planning of large-scale surveys across 24 EU Member States and four candidate countries. Building on that, Sylvana Hiltrop (Skillab) updated participants on the rollout of field experiments and regional workshops in Tuscany, Västra Götaland, and Borås, with upcoming activity slated for Baden-Württemberg and Catalonia under the guidance of EARLALL.
Luke Brosnan (ESRI) then took the floor to review progress on the interplay between technological change, training, and how workers upskill in situ. Next, Tilburg University presented work on elaborating on machine learning methods to detect skills mismatches and their social costs, with preliminary results suggesting notable wage gains among those in telework-friendly roles.
Turning to labour markets and skills, Paul Redmond (ESRI) highlighted survey findings confirming that many EU workers are prioritizing digital upskilling. Complementary contributions from AUTH delved into the economic and social burdens of mismatches in skills and education, backed by rigorous econometric methods.
On the communications front, EARLALL reported steady gains in TRAILS’ outreach: the LinkedIn community has grown, while the project website continues receiving regular updates.
Closing out the program, Paris Karypidis (DUTH) presented the TRAILS Portal, which will unify datasets under a user-friendly interface and offer interactive dashboards to support evidence-based decision making. The architecture and development deliverables for this tool are due in December 2025.
As the meeting drew to a close, partners shifted their focus to the upcoming Academic Workshop in Naples.
The next consortium meeting is scheduled for 8 May 2026 in Amsterdam, hosted by Skillab.
