The THCS JTC2023 Midterm Monitoring Meeting took place on 26–27 May 2026 at the University of Latvia in Riga, bringing together representatives of funded projects, funding organisations, members of the expert evaluation panel, THCS partners and Advisory Board members. The meeting provided an opportunity to review the progress achieved during the first two years of project implementation, discuss challenges and future plans, and support projects in the second half of their lifetime.
The meeting opened with welcome remarks from the Latvian Council of Science, the host organisation, followed by an introduction from the THCS Monitoring Team and an overview of the Partnership by the THCS Coordination Team. Participants were also presented with Horizon Europe opportunities for researchers, including relevant funding schemes, collaborative opportunities, open science requirements, support mechanisms for junior researchers and the growing emphasis on impact-driven project design and stakeholder engagement.
The central element of the programme was the monitoring session, during which 27 of the 28 projects funded under the Joint Transnational Call 2023 presented their achievements, challenges and planned activities for the remaining project period. Each project was allocated a dedicated session, including a presentation by the project coordinator or representative and a discussion with expert evaluators. Additional contributions from funding organisations, THCS partners and fellow project teams created a valuable environment for exchange, peer learning and constructive feedback.
The project presentations covered scientific and technical progress, achievements to date, project management aspects, dissemination and communication activities, challenges encountered and planned activities for the next phase. Across the funded portfolio, several common trends emerged, including the development of integrated care pathways, the expansion of home-based and community-based models of care, the adoption of digital health and artificial intelligence solutions, and new approaches to patient participation, empowerment and self-management.
The meeting also featured a workshop on the THCS Impact Assessment Framework, coordinated by ProMIS within Work Package 8. The session focused on how to assess not only scientific outputs, but also the contribution of projects to the transformation of health and care systems. The framework presented during the workshop is based on a logical chain linking inputs, outputs, outcomes and impacts at project, JTC and Partnership level, with particular attention to transformative impact.
Insights collected during the workshop showed a shared understanding of health and care systems transformation as a multidimensional process involving innovation, sustainability, accessibility, integrated and community-based care, digital technologies, patient and caregiver empowerment, and stronger collaboration among stakeholders. Participants also identified transformative impact as one of the most challenging dimensions to assess, underlining the need for continuous monitoring, reliable data collection and sustained stakeholder engagement throughout the project lifecycle.
The discussions also highlighted the importance of strengthening the connection between funded projects and decision-making environments. While patients, healthcare professionals and research partners were reported as actively involved in monitoring and assessment activities, institutions and policymakers were perceived as less directly engaged, pointing to the need to further support policy uptake, scalability and the integration of project results into health and care systems.
The meeting concluded with positive feedback from the expert panel, which recognised the overall quality and progress of the funded portfolio. Individual feedback will now support project teams during the second half of their implementation period and contribute to maximising the impact of THCS-funded research and innovation activities.