DIAMOND completes first reporting period with 1,500-plus participants surveyed

The EU-funded DIAMOND project says it has finished its first 15-month reporting period after surveying more than 1,500 people across Europe. The milestone advances its effort to build AI-driven tools that assess employability and match vulnerable individuals with upskilling programs.

Why it matters: - DIAMOND is trying to turn employability data into tools that can help vulnerable people access training, micro-credentials and better job pathways. - The project’s work could also inform future European labour market policy by linking re-skilling efforts to measurable economic and social outcomes. - The first reporting period gives the consortium its first validated evidence base for the Employability Growth Index, or ᴱGROW.

What happened: - The DIAMOND consortium completed its first official reporting period after 15 months of research and technical development. - The project surveyed more than 1,500 participants across Europe during the period. - The work is funded by the European Union’s Horizon Europe programme. - The project is led by Aarhus University and includes a consortium of partners across Europe.

The details: - DIAMOND developed the Employability Growth Index, or ᴱGROW, as a human-centric taxonomy for measuring employability. - ᴱGROW measures both “Empowerment Capabilities,” including self-efficacy and learning styles, and “Transformative Capabilities,” including digital and green skills. - A systematic literature review identified eight core dimensions of employability, including social skills, emotional intelligence and adaptability. - Initial research found that ᴱGROW has potential to predict and explain an individual’s employability potential. - The consortium said the surveys produced early empirical insights into knowledge gaps tied to the green and digital transitions. - The team also built the MOVEᴱ prototype, short for Modular and Versatile Platform for Engagement and Employability. - MOVEᴱ is designed as a multi-sided ecosystem where AI-supported recommendations can match users with tailored upskilling programmes based on their ᴱGROW profile. - The learning platform and data pool behind MOVEᴱ are now in place for future pilot implementations. - DIAMOND also laid groundwork for future econometric cost-benefit analyses of re-skilling programmes. - The project aims to use those analyses to estimate micro- and macro-economic effects and support a stochastic life-cycle model for social inclusion. - DIAMOND says its work aligns with UN Sustainable Development Goals 4, 5 and 8. - The project links SDG 4 to accessible micro-credentials through the full goal page. - The project links SDG 5 to inclusive access to career growth through the UN goal page. - The project links SDG 8 to stronger economic resilience through the full goal page. - Project funding comes from the European Research Executive Agency, with more information available at the agency website. - More information about the project is available at the project's website. - The project number is 101178081 under HORIZON-CL2-2024-TRANSFORMATIONS-01.

Between the lines: - The reporting-period update shows DIAMOND moving from framework-building to testing whether its assessment model and digital platform can work in practice. - The emphasis on AI matching, micro-credentials and social innovation experiments suggests the project is aiming to connect research outputs to deployable policy and workforce tools. - The reported progress also positions DIAMOND as part of a broader EU push to link digital and green skills with inclusion goals.

What's next: - DIAMOND will shift in its second reporting period to active Social Innovation Experiments. - The consortium plans deeper collaboration with grassroots organizations to test re-skilling programmes in real-world settings. - The next phase will focus on using validated results to influence European labour market policies. - The project says it will continue moving from awareness-building toward broader uptake of its findings.