Abstract
EMSO ERIC is a unique European distributed marine Research Infrastructure dedicated to the observation and study of the deep ocean in the long term in fixed regional areas. It provides different services of which access to its infrastructure by external users -engineers, scientists and researchers-, working both in the public and private sectors. The aim of this service, called physical access, is to facilitate access to instrumented platforms deployed at different sites across the European seas, from the seabed to the surface, in order to perform experiments in geosciences and engineering in real ocean conditions. Depending on the logistics and availability of each site, users may deploy their own platforms, instruments, systems or technologies to be tested by the existing equipment that, in this case, can provide reference measurements. Users may also deploy their own systems on the existing EMSO platforms, either in standalone mode or connected to them, receiving power and, in some cases, being able to transmit data by satellite or by cable, depending on the site. Projects requiring the use of several EMSO sites are also accepted. The host EMSO Regional Facility provides logistics and technical support in order to deploy and recover the systems, access the data and it may also offer training and co-development. EMSO ERIC launches the physical access call on a yearly basis and evaluates the received project proposals every two months. Access is free of charge and funding is available for travel, consumables, shipping, operations and hardware adaptations needed to run the project. Since 2022, when the first call was launched, ten projects with varied topics have been funded and are in different phases of execution.

Abstract
The deep ocean is vast and challenging to observe; however, it is key to knowledge of the sea and its impact on global climate. Fixed sea observing points (such as the EMSO observing nodes) provide a limited view and are complemented by expensive oceanographic campaigns with systems demanding high logistical requirements such as deep-sea ROVs.  These costs not only limit our capability for key ocean data collection in the deep but also introduce their own environmental costs.Emerging challenges in knowledge and pressure on the exploration of the deep ocean demand new technological solutions for monitoring and safeguarding the marine ecosystem.Innovative robotic technologies such as the TURTLE robotic deep-sea landers can combine long-term permanence at the seabed with mobility and dynamic reconfigurability in spatial and temporal deep-sea observation.Robotic systems of a heterogeneous nature (from conventional gliders, AUVs, or robotic landers) can be combined with standard and new sensing systems, such as bottom-deployed sensor nodes, moored systems, and cabled points when feasible.These systems can provide underwater localization services for the different assets, energy supply and high bandwidth data transfer with robotic docking stations for other mobile elements. An example of the synergy obtained with these new systems is the possibility of using robotic landers as carriers of EGIM (EMSO Generic Instrument Module) sensor payloads, providing power and data storage and flexibility in the deployment and recovery process.This approach, partly taken in the EU-funded Trident project to develop technical solutions for cost-effective and efficient observation of environmental impacts on deep seabed environments, allows for a substantial reduction in the operational and logistic requirements for deep-sea observation, greatly reducing the need for costly oceanographic campaigns or the use of expensive (economic and logistical) deep sea ROV systems.In this work, we present some of the new developments and discuss the transition from existing technological solutions to new ones integrating these recent developments.

Abstract
Crowdsourced data streams are popular and extremely valuable in several domains, namely in tourism. Tourism crowdsourcing platforms rely on past tourist and business inputs to provide tailored recommendations to current users in real time. The continuous, open, dynamic and non-curated nature of the crowd-originated data demands specific stream mining techniques to support online profiling, recommendation, change detection and adaptation, explanation and evaluation. The sought techniques must, not only, continuously improve and adapt profiles and models; but must also be transparent, overcome biases, prioritize preferences, master huge data volumes and all in real time. This article surveys the state-of-art of adaptive and explainable stream recommendation, extends the taxonomy of explainable recommendations from the offline to the stream-based scenario, and identifies future research opportunities.

Abstract
The challenge of engineering education is to transform engineering students into agents of innovation and well-being. In addition to solid scientific and technical knowledge, critical thinking, problem-solving and interpersonal competencies, it implies the ability to design and implement solutions supported by ethical and sustainability principles. With this goal in mind, the European Project Semester (EPS) provides a student-centred project-based learning framework. It is offered by a group of European higher education institutions, including the Instituto Superior de Engenharia do Porto (ISEP), the engineering school of the Polytechnic of Porto. Students work in teams of four to six, from different fields of study and nationalities, to design solutions to problems that affect individuals, society or the planet, taking into account the state of the art, the market and the ethical and sustainability implications of their decisions. These solutions are then implemented in a proof-of-concept prototype. Most of the projects address problems in education, the environment, food production and smart cities and have a strong educational, ethical and sustainability drive, encouraging students to develop sustainability competencies. This work analyses team papers of illustrative EPS@ISEP projects searching for evidences of the development of sustainability competencies. The proposed method maps keywords related to the sixteen United Nations Sustainable Development Goals to the contents of team papers by applying natural language processing and reusing the list of SDG keywords proposed by Auckland University. The results confirm EPS@ISEP fosters sustainability competencies in engineering undergraduates. © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2025.

Abstract
People around the globe struggle with health issues requiring regular medication. Children, in particular, suffer more and more from chronic illnesses. In 2024, a team of six EPS@ISEP students chose to design a solution for this problem, followed by the assembly and testing of the corresponding proof-of-concept prototype. The aim was to design a solution for children to take the right medication, at the right time and in the right dose, in a pleasant and engaging way, based on technical, ethical, sustainability and market analyses. Focusing on children between the ages of 8 and 12, the team decided to incorporate a motivational system based on rewards to ensure that they take their medication correctly. The outcome is billy, a pill dispenser controlled via an app which allows carers to plan doses and release rewards, and children to autonomously take their medication. The system dispenses up to 21 doses of medication to the child through fingerprint authentication, and photographs the child taking the medication to reassure carers.

Abstract
Habitat loss, climate change, and pesticide use are key threats affecting beetle populations. This paper describes Scarabreed, a project that contributes to mitigate the beetle decline crisis. It was carried out by a team of six European students from different engineering fields and nationalities within the European Project Semester (EPS) at the Instituto Superior de Engenharia do Porto (ISEP), a project-based and teamwork learning framework. The designed solution - the Beetle Breeder Version 2 (BBV2) - consists of a smart modular vivarium created especially for beetle breeding. It monitors and controls relevant habitat parameters and offers two user-friendly interfaces (on-device and a Web application). The innovative modular structure of the vivarium allows easy scaling, customisation, and transportation. As a whole, the project offers significant environmental benefits: (i) facilitates the captive breeding of endangered beetle species, promoting population restoration efforts; (ii) fosters, as an educational tool, youth and general public awareness about the crucial role beetles play in ecosystems; and (iii) adopts eco-efficient and responsible business practices by following ethics and sustainability driven design and marketing.