Project description
Improving indoor air quality for a healthier home and Europe
Enabling homes to realise zero pollution holds multiple health benefits for all Europeans – especially our children. This is the goal of the EU-funded INQUIRE project. It will provide the knowledge, tools and measures needed to significantly enhance indoor air quality. Research on hazardous determinants and their sources, risk factors and effects will focus in particular on infants and young children up to 5 years old. The work will include non-invasive sampling and monitoring of over 200 homes in eight countries over the course of 1 month. Results will inform evidence-based recommendations and support beneficial exploitation by industry and policymakers.
Objective
INQUIRE aims to protect citizen health by providing knowledge, tools, and measures to substantially improve indoor air quality (IAQ). We will conduct research and evaluate innovative actions to reduce hazardous chemical and biological determinants in homes, positively impacting the health of residents. INQUIRE will focus particularly on infants and young children (<5 years old) as highly sensitive groups that spend a substantial time in the home environment. INQUIRE will comprehensively advance our understanding of the determinants of IAQ in homes by implementing innovative, low-cost, non-invasive sampling strategies (sensors, indoor/outdoor passive sampling, urine biomonitoring) to characterize determinants of household IAQ and their importance to human exposure. To capture the breath of IAQ determinants across Europe, the study will monitor for one month over 200 homes distributed across 8 countries, covering a gradient of conditions in each country. Tiered high-resolution chemical and biological screening techniques and wide-scope holistic characterisation of hazards will provide a comprehensive assessment of the determinants of IAQ. Multifaceted data analysis techniques (including machine learning, exposure modelling, geospatial analysis), will link chemical, biological and toxicity profiles with drivers of IAQ to identify sources and prioritize pollutants. Source identification will feed directly into the testing of both novel technologies and readily deployable strategies to improve IAQ, resulting in evidence-based recommendations and a draft of policy strategy for developing IAQ standards. INQUIREs Open Science approach and generated FAIR data on hazardous determinants, their effects, risk factors and sources will endorse continuous exploitation of results. Open dissemination of generated knowledge will raise citizen awareness while exploitation by industry and policy makers will endorse a transition towards homes with zero pollution. The project INQUIRE is part of the European cluster on indoor air quality and health (name and acronym to be decided)
Fields of science
- natural sciencescomputer and information sciencesdata science
- engineering and technologyenvironmental engineeringair pollution engineering
- engineering and technologyelectrical engineering, electronic engineering, information engineeringelectronic engineeringsensors
- natural sciencesearth and related environmental sciencesenvironmental sciencespollution
- natural sciencescomputer and information sciencesartificial intelligencemachine learning
Programme(s)
Funding Scheme
HORIZON-RIA - HORIZON Research and Innovation ActionsCoordinator
2027 Kjeller
Norway
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Participants (14)
2000 Antwerpen
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901 87 Umea
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4200-465 Porto
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17177 Stockholm
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00161 Roma
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10617 Tallinn
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00014 Helsingin Yliopisto
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10691 Stockholm
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1000 Ljubljana
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51005 Tartu
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651 88 Karlstad
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1081 HV Amsterdam
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2400 Mol
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601 77 Brno
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Partners (6)
Partner organisations contribute to the implementation of the action, but do not sign the Grant Agreement.
Participation ended
6330 Cham
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Partner organisations contribute to the implementation of the action, but do not sign the Grant Agreement.
4072 Brisbane
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Partner organisations contribute to the implementation of the action, but do not sign the Grant Agreement.
4001 Brisbane
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Partner organisations contribute to the implementation of the action, but do not sign the Grant Agreement.
CB2 1TN Cambridge
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Partner organisations contribute to the implementation of the action, but do not sign the Grant Agreement.
B15 2TT Birmingham
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Partner organisations contribute to the implementation of the action, but do not sign the Grant Agreement.
71636 Ludwigsburg
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