Funding programme

Horizon Europe is the EU’s key funding programme for research and innovation. Read more about the Horizon Europe programme here.

‍

Call overview

This call aims to support activities that contribute to National and EU authorities applying user-friendly tools to produce and use generated data on the impact of pollutants on health.

‍

Call detail

This topic aims at supporting activities that are enabling or contributing to one or several expected impacts of destination 2 ‘Living and working in a health-promoting environment’. To that end, proposals under this topic should aim for delivering results that are tailored towards and contributing to all of the following expected outcomes:

• National and EU authorities apply user-friendly tools to produce and use generated dataon the impact of pollutants on health;
• National and EU authorities benefit from access to robust and transparent indicators for health impact assessment to monitor efficacy of pollution-mitigating actions and policies;
• Policymakers and other stakeholders, e.g. public authorities such as urban planners ,health professionals, employers, civil society organisations and citizens, use developed guidelines to take action to prevent pollution-related illnesses and impairments, and choose healthier lifestyles and behaviours;
• EU, national and regional authorities receive guidance and recommendations for updates of (1) scientific evidence about health risks caused by environmental pollutants (2)advice on management and mitigation of these health risks and (3) guidance and recommendations for updates of limit values for different classes of pollutants in the environment; these recommendations should take into account vulnerable population groups and people with increased vulnerability because of pre-existing medical conditions;
• The implementation of the Zero-Pollution Action Plan, the Chemical Strategy for Sustainability and the EU legislation on air quality, noise and waste continue to be supported by a strong evidence-base;
• Relevant actors in our daily lives, e.g. medical personnel, building engineers, teachers, urban planners etc., have access to information such as training courses on pollution and health impacts.

‍

Activities to be funded

• Research activities to strengthen the evidence base for pollution-disease associations and underlying causality mechanisms and biological pathways, taking into account combined exposures and mechanisms of increased sensitivity in susceptible groups;
• Delivery of FAIR data95 on causal associations between environmental risk factors andhealth outcomes, in particular for air pollutants of emerging concern, specificallyultrafine particles, black carbon, and others, taking into account vulnerable populationgroups and specific exposure situations in a life-course approach including vulnerableearly-stages of life and transgenerational risks;
• Development of user-friendly tools for systematic mining and assessment of theknowledge generated and translation into best practices and to improve the assessment ofindividual life-exposure to pollutants;
• Proposals for environmental limit values for the studied pollutants and generation of health impact indicators, where relevant and taking into account existing standards and evidence;
• Development of guidelines and socio-economic and decision support tools for different actors including policymakers, health professionals and citizens to take action to prevent pollution-related illnesses and impairments, and to enable the choice of healthier lifestyles and behaviours;
• Identification of cross-sectoral interventions (case studies) with the potential for remediating pollution and risk of exposure and improving human health and well-being in the short/medium term;
• Development of training courses on pollution and health impacts to inform professionals impacting our daily lives e.g. medical personnel, engineers, teachers, urban planners;
• Design of best-practice evidence-based communication actions for fact-based risk and benefit communication and improving citizen awareness of pollution and preventive actions, offsetting dissemination of misinformation;
• Undertaking case studies to demonstrate the added societal value of tools, methodologiesand guidelines developed and the implementation of resulting actions to decrease healthimpacts of exposures.

‍

Eligibility

To be eligible for funding, applicants must be established in one of the following countries:

• the Member States of the European Union, including their outermost regions;
• the Overseas Countries and Territories (OCTs) linked to the Member States;
• countries associated to Horizon Europe;
• low- and middle-income countries

The following exceptions apply:

In recognition of the opening of the US National Institutes of Health’s programmes to European researchers, any legal entity established in the United States of America is eligible to receive Union funding.

The Joint Research Centre (JRC) may participate as member of the consortium selected for funding.

If projects use satellite-based earth observation, positioning, navigation and/or related timing data and services, beneficiaries must make use of Copernicus and/or Galileo/EGNOS (other data and services may additionally be used).

See the full list in the General Annexes.

‍

Consortium composition

Unless otherwise provided for in the specific call conditions, only legal entities forming a consortium are eligible to participate in actions provided that the consortium includes, as beneficiaries, three legal entities independent from each other and each established in a different country as follows:

• at least one independent legal entity established in a Member State; and
• at least two other independent legal entities, each established in different Member States or Associated Countries.

‍

Budget

The total indicative budget for the topic is EUR 60.00 million.

The Commission estimates that an EU contribution of between EUR 7.00 and 8.00 million would allow these outcomes to be addressed appropriately.

‍