This collaborative network, co-ordinated jointly by Newcastle and Hiroshima Universities and involving research groups from Germany, France and China, provides a dynamic Europe-Japan collaboration for new research into polyoxometalate (POM)-based advanced functional materials for energy applications. It includes, and will promote the emergence of, a new generation of researchers and will stimulate the interdisciplinary uptake of POM chemistry for the wider benefit of the materials community. Collaborative projects will address fundamental electron transfer, charge separation and reactivity at interfaces in POM-based materials, providing the understanding required for better synthesis and design leading to improved material performance and new disruptive technologies.