On 2 and 3 September, the ELOQUENCE consortium met in Nicosia, Cyprus, for its latest plenary meeting, hosted by project partner GrantXpert at European University Cyprus.
The timing gave the meeting a particular energy. ELOQUENCE is now entering its final months, and the conversations in Nicosia reflected that. Much of the groundwork has already been laid. Research results are taking shape, methodologies have been developed and tested, and attention is increasingly turning to how these results connect, how they can be communicated clearly, and where they can create value after the project ends.
Over two days, partners moved between scientific progress and the wider questions that have followed ELOQUENCE throughout the project. Trustworthy and explainable AI, multilingualism, cultural bias, ethics and societal assessment all featured in the discussions, alongside communication, exploitation and the business potential of project results.
At this point in the project, those topics are closely connected. Building conversational AI for real-world use means thinking about technical performance together with the people, languages and situations in which a system will operate. It also means asking what happens to research once the project itself is over: who can use it, how it can be demonstrated, and how the knowledge created within ELOQUENCE can continue to travel.
These questions gave the plenary its direction. The meeting created time to compare perspectives across the consortium, identify remaining priorities and prepare for the work that will define ELOQUENCE’s final stretch.
Nicosia provided an interesting setting for those conversations.
After the meeting sessions, the consortium stepped outside for a guided heritage walk through the historic centre. The tour opened up some of the layers behind the city we had been moving through during our stay. Nicosia, or Lefkosia, is known as the world’s last divided capital, while its old town is still enclosed by the Venetian fortifications that have shaped its urban form for centuries. Cyprus itself carries around 10,000 years of history, with different periods and cultures leaving their traces across the island.
Hearing those stories while walking through the city gave the plenary a different rhythm. The conversations continued later over dinner, this time surrounded by a traditional atmosphere and Greek music. With no presentation slides or agenda slots to follow, there was more space for the kind of informal exchange that often makes meeting in person especially worthwhile.
There is something fitting about bringing ELOQUENCE to a place shaped by so many languages, histories and cultural influences. The project has spent the past years exploring how conversational AI can respond more reliably to different people and contexts, and many of the discussions in Nicosia returned to that same complexity.
The coming months will be busy. Final deliverables are approaching and partners are preparing to bring ELOQUENCE results to wider audiences.
The Cyprus plenary gave the consortium time to see the project from a little more distance before that final push – to understand where the different strands now meet, what still needs attention, and what we want ELOQUENCE to leave behind once the project reaches its conclusion.
