Freshwater restoration is increasingly expected to deliver resilience at the scale of watersheds and the communities that depend on them. The EU Horizon 2020 project MERLIN (Mainstreaming Ecological Restoration of freshwater-related ecosystems in a Landscape context: INnovation, upscaling and transformation) offers a rare opportunity to reflect on how such ambitions can be operationalised across diverse socio-ecological contexts. MERLIN worked with 18 large-scale restoration case studies across Europe, spanning small streams and their basins, large rivers and their floodplains, and peatlands and other wetlands. This presentation synthesises MERLIN’s core outcome themes, structured around five interlinked domains that proved critical for building resilient freshwater landscapes. First, place-based learning highlighted how restoration trajectories are shaped by local histories, turning points, and adaptations beyond initial project designs. Second, upscaling and landscape planning showed the importance of embedding site-level measures within long-term watershed visions and regional coordination frameworks. Third, mainstreaming across sectors revealed both opportunities and limits for integrating freshwater restoration into agriculture, climate adaptation, and spatial planning. Fourth, resource management and financing underscored the need to move beyond short-term project funding toward diversified and blended finance models supported by institutional capacity. Finally, capacity building and knowledge transfer, including practitioner learning and training, emerged as a prerequisite for sustaining restoration outcomes over time. By integrating these outcome themes, the talk positions MERLIN not as a collection of cases, but as a structured learning space for understanding how freshwater restoration can contribute to resilient watersheds and communities. The synthesis is intended to stimulate dialogue with North American experiences and support cross-continental learning on the governance and practice of large-scale freshwater restoration.