THEPS Newsletter #21: The Security Issue issue
Hello,
Did you celebrate Europe Day on Saturday? We did! Each of our team members was either with friends or with family. The future is bright, as we promised you last week (please read that email if you haven’t!).
OK, the future is bright-ish. You signed up for the THEPS newsletter and apart from funding opportunities, news (programmes and EU related) and statistical data, we have provided you with tips and tricks not only on writing better projects, but also on how to make your organisation, municipality, university, VET centre, or start-up more European.
We decided to focus on the safety of your data for this issue. Hey, when have we been boring? NEVER! But certain things must be done. We will explain how to make your computers and profiles secure. “Secure”, as in “your data won’t be stolen by companies”.
Look what else we have for you:
- AI Continent
- Quick News about Erasmus+ exchanges
- Tips & Tricks
- Statistical Data
- What the Future Holds
AI Continent (DIGITAL-2026-AI-DATA-10)
Do your partners complain that EU compliance is too complicated? Do you complain that EU compliance is too complicated? Well, the European Commission has heard our collective screaming and created a call that basically says: “Please, someone, make regulatory reporting less painful.”
Welcome to DIGITAL‑2026‑AI‑DATA‑10‑COMPLIANCE. It’s the call that wants to turn Europe’s regulatory chaos into something… usable. This time, they are looking for projects that build smart, automated, privacy‑friendly digital tools to help organisations share data with public authorities without losing their minds. Think:
- AI tools that check compliance automatically
- Secure data‑sharing systems
- Interoperability with government platforms
- Solutions that reduce admin burden
- Tools that help SMEs survive the paperwork apocalypse
If your organisation has ever said, “There must be a better way to do this,” congrats, babes, this call agrees with you.
So, if you are
- Universities
- Research institutes
- Public bodies
- SMEs
- Tech companies
- Anyone who can build something digital, scalable, and not as ugly as the Erasmus+ forms
...please apply!
Consortium rules: 3 organisations from 3 eligible countries.
Total budget: €8.5 million
Project size: €2 to 5 million
Funding rate: 50% (terrible, we know, but Digital Europe loves co‑funding)
Duration: ~24 months
Deadline: 1 October 2026, 17:00 Brussels time
Read more here.
Quick News about Erasmus+ exchanges
You know us, we are very political, without supporting any of the parties or representatives. But we will leave this here.
Tips & Tricks
Tip 1: As promised, here’s a tip for your safety. Are you using Chrome or a Chrome-based browser? Well, Google has decided that it will not only install a 4-GIGABYTE AI on your computer (?!?!?!?!) without your explicit permission, but it will also steal your data. Here is what Whoopi thinks about the safety of your organisation, university, VET centre:
Let’s fix this breach of trust! Delete the Weights.bin file!
- Open C Drive (C:)
- Open Users
- Open your User Folder
- Open AppData (this might be a hidden folder!)
- Open Local
- Open Google
- Open the Chrome folder
- Open User Data
- Open OptGuideOnDeviceModel
- Open the folder starting with 2025
- Find the file called weights.bin
- Delete the file
If you don’t see this, you are lucky!!! But save this email and check every week!
Tip 2: Yep, Google again! Did you know that Gmail reads your emails and shares them with its AI? Now you do. By reading your emails, we mean absolutely everything - names, cards, contracts, financial aspects…
LET’S TURN IT OFF!!! Here’s how.
1. Open the gear icon in the top right corner
2. Go to See all settings
3. And find Smart features (or whatever the equivalent is in your language
4. ^ Then remove the tick which was clicked without your permission (!)
5. It will ask you to reload the mail
6. And then a request will finally appear for your permission on top
Of course, you are a THEPS reader, so you will not allow them to read your emails!
Tip 3: Get rid of Chrome. Move to Vivaldi. It’s European and safe. Read more here.
Tip 4: Doing this just for yourself is NOT enough. Make sure you share it with your colleagues, otherwise, it would be pointless.
Statistical Data from Greece
Oχι, Greece! :(
The Greek NA funded only 6% of the KA2 projects in 2024 and 30% of the KA1; it was very similar in 2025. Be careful! Choose excellent Greek partners who have proven that they can lead and have had some success!
We will soon share a comprehensive report on funding rates for the Erasmus+ programme from the last few years!
What the Future Holds
We are hoping you found this issue useful. Not everything can be fun; sometimes, we need serious protection. Let’s not forget that it is humans behind AI after all…
See you next week! Thank you for being a part of this community, which keeps on growing. No wonder, we are useful.