First Reflections from the DIAMOND Empower Consortium Meeting in Porto
On 26-27 May 2026, the DIAMOND Empower consortium came together at the Porto Innovation Hub for two days of exchange, reflection, and forward planning, warmly hosted by Proportional Message Associacao in Porto.
The meeting offered an important opportunity to review the progress achieved during the first reporting period and prepare for the next stage of DIAMOND Empower: moving from research and design towards testing, learning, implementation, and wider communication of project results.
Over the two days, partners discussed the project’s first results, the ongoing development of the ᴱGROW Index, progress on the DIAMOND Empower platform prototype and AI recommender model, Grassroot Living Lab planning, data acquisition, microcredentials, future course development, and the promotion of project results through accessible and relatable ᴱGROW profiles. The agenda combined partner presentations, collaborative workshops, and planning sessions for the coming project activities.
What happened in Porto?
The first day focused on sharing progress across the consortium and aligning the next steps of the project.
Partners reflected on the first reporting period and discussed initial results for Empowerment Capabilities and Transformative Capabilities, as well as the continued development of the ᴱGROW Index.
The meeting also included updates on the DIAMOND Empower platform prototype and AI recommender model, which are being developed to support more personalised employability pathways for learners, educators, organisations, and support providers. Partners also discussed Grassroot Living Lab preparation, microcredentials, communication, dissemination, exploitation, and the wider impact of project results.
The second day moved into hands-on collaboration.
Workshops focused on Grassroot Living Labs and Data Acquisition, the Platform and AI Model, Microcredentials and Course Development, and Research and Living Lab Facilitation. These sessions helped partners explore future testing contexts, platform onboarding, course development, data integration, learner engagement, and research planning.
Why this matters
The Porto meeting marked an important step in connecting DIAMOND Empower’s research, digital tools, learning activities, and communication work. As the project moves from first results towards testing and implementation, the consortium is focusing on how its outputs can become useful, understandable, and relevant for the people and organisations they are designed to support.
This includes developing tools that can help make employability support more personalised, creating flexible learning pathways through microcredentials, and testing approaches in real-world contexts through Grassroot Living Labs. It also means communicating project results clearly, so that research findings can reach educators, organisations, policy stakeholders, civil society actors, and people navigating employment transitions.
At its core, DIAMOND Empower is working towards a future where skills, experience, motivation, and potential are better recognised – and where people can access more inclusive, human-centred pathways into learning and employment.
Funding Agency: European Research Executive Agency (REA)
