The VT-CLAIM research partnership officially launched the project during the Kick-Off Meeting held at the Osservatorio Etneo of Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia (INGV), bringing together researchers from the different Work Packages to establish a common scientific vision and define the roadmap for the next four years. The project is supported by a strong international research team, drawing on expertise from leading institutions across Europe and beyond to ensure a truly multidisciplinary and globally informed approach.
The meeting marked the beginning of a multidisciplinary collaboration aimed at investigating the complex interactions between climate, volcanic activity and tectonic processes through the integration of Earth Observation, in-situ measurements, Artificial Intelligence (AI) and physics-based modelling.
Building a common scientific vision
The opening session introduced the overall objectives and scientific strategy of VT-CLAIM, highlighting the need to move beyond traditional discipline-specific approaches towards an integrated Earth-system perspective. As the Project Coordinator Dr. Gaetana Ganci noted, “VT-CLAIM represents a unique opportunity to bridge climate, volcanic and tectonic sciences through advanced data integration and AI. By working together as an international community, we aim to uncover new causal relationships that will deepen our understanding of the Earth as a connected system.”
The project will develop a harmonised multi-domain Data Backbone and an AI Discovery Engine capable of identifying candidate causal relationships across climate, volcanic and tectonic systems. These AI-derived results will subsequently be validated and interpreted through explainable and physics-guided approaches.
Work Packages and scientific activities
During the meeting, the leaders of the eight Work Packages presented the scientific activities planned for the project.
The discussions covered:
* climate, volcanic and tectonic indicators;
* development of the AI-ready Data Backbone;
* AI methodologies for causal discovery and attribution studies;
* regional validation through field experiments in the Mediterranean, Iceland and Polar Regions;
* communication, dissemination and Open Science activities.
The presentations provided the opportunity to align methodologies, discuss technical challenges and identify the first collaborative actions across the different scientific domains.
Looking ahead
The first phase of the project will focus on establishing the common data infrastructure, defining harmonised indicators and implementing the AI-ready framework that will support all subsequent scientific activities.
Beyond research, VT-CLAIM is already investing in education and community building. One of the first dissemination initiatives will be the **VT-CLAIM Day**, organised within the 2026 Blended Intensive Programme in *Mathematical Modelling for Natural Disasters*, where researchers will introduce the project’s scientific challenges to students and early-career scientists (https://www.intermaths.eu/bip2026).
The Kick-Off Meeting represents the first step of a collaborative journey that will bring together expertise from volcanology, seismology, geodesy, geochemistry, oceanography, climate science and Artificial Intelligence to advance our understanding of the Earth as an interconnected system.
