Your country? Romania

Your organisation? POLITEHNICA Bucharest

Your job title? Assoc. prof.

Your first and last name? Horia Cucu

Tell us about your successful project (you received funding for): The Speech and Dialogue Research Laboratory (https://speed.pub.ro), part of POLITEHNICA Bucharest (https://upb.ro), was invited in 2022 to be part of a Horizon research project proposal. Our expertise in speech processing turned out to be crucial for the consortium, but our experience in writing successful Horizon proposals was lacking. This issue was overcome with significant help from our NCP and eventually the proposal got funded. This is how AI4TRUST project came to life, a project that aims to combat misinformation and disinformation in the EU by creating a trust-based environment that integrates the automated monitoring of social and news media with advanced AI-based technologies to enhance the work of human fact-checkers. The general objective of AI4TRUST is to enhance the human-based response for tackling misinformation and disinformation across the EU by empowering scientific researchers and media practitioners with advanced AI-based technologies that: (i) allow multichannel, multilingual and multimodal monitoring, detection and recording of misinformation and disinformation on online social media and traditional media; (ii) estimate the risk of unreliable information consumption; and (iii) create a trustworthy online environment involving researchers, media practitioners and policy makers to facilitate the creation and distribution of reliable information and counternarratives, while labelling and countering mis/disinformation.

What was the added value of your NCP: For SpeeD Research Lab, the partnership with our Romanian NCP played a pivotal role in our engagement in European initiatives. The guidance we received for AI4TRUST proposal and two other later proposal brought substantial added value, particularly for shaping proposals and deciding on their structure and content. Having the opportunity to consult with experts who grasp the intricacies of EU-funded projects and can offer timely insights on evolving policies and funding opportunities is truly essential. We strongly endorse the role of NCPs within the European ecosystem and regard their contribution to the research community as exceptionally beneficial.

Tell us what you would like to share with your peers as inspiration? The guidance one receives from the NCP brings substantial added value, particularly when shaping proposals and deciding on their structure and content. It is truly essential to have the opportunity to consult with experts who grasp the intricacies of EU-funded projects and can offer timely insights on evolving policies and funding opportunities.