Periodic Reporting for period 1 - EIRENE PPP (Environmental Exposure Assessment Research Infrastructure Preparatory Phase Project)
Reporting period: 2022-10-01 to 2023-09-30
EIRENE RI (Research Infrastructure for EnvIRonmental Exposure assessmeNt in Europe), prioritised in the 2021 Update of the ESFRI Roadmap fills the gap in the European infrastructural landscape and pioneers the first EU infrastructure on human exposome (environmental determinants of health). EIRENE PPP aims to prepare the implementation of EIRENE RI as a consolidated European research infrastructure enabling the development of advanced technologies and complementary services on the characterization of complex environmental exposures and their impact on the European population. This will promote European excellence in Environmental & Health research by providing European researchers with transnational and/or virtual access to harmonised capacities, unique services, and comprehensive data addressing the current and future needs of public authorities.
Overall Objectives:
- Develop the scientific concept of EIRENE RI and identify the key pillars of the EIRENE RI architecture, national hubs, and central facilities.
- Describe EIRENE RI technical design, key services, user communities, access procedures and tools.
- Define EIRENE RI data infrastructure and models, develop data management plan and ethical guidelines.
- Develop governance structure, legal framework, and a robust funding model for EIRENE RI.
- Develop human resources and identify training needs.
- Enhance socioeconomic impacts of EIRENE RI, engage stakeholders and users, strengthen knowledge transfers and links to regional Smart Specialisation Strategies.
Overall Objectives:
- Develop the scientific concept of EIRENE RI and identify the key pillars of the EIRENE RI architecture, national hubs, and central facilities.
- Describe EIRENE RI technical design, key services, user communities, access procedures and tools.
- Define EIRENE RI data infrastructure and models, develop data management plan and ethical guidelines.
- Develop governance structure, legal framework, and a robust funding model for EIRENE RI.
- Develop human resources and identify training needs.
- Enhance socioeconomic impacts of EIRENE RI, engage stakeholders and users, strengthen knowledge transfers and links to regional Smart Specialisation Strategies.
The first year of the EIRENE PPP project has recently ended. During this year, many activities were initiated, such as the development of the scientific vision and strategy of the EIRENE RI, initial design of the governance structure, development of a survey that will determine the services and human resources needs of the EIRENE RI, as well as many other activities.
The potential impacts of the results of the project cover several areas and include:
IMPACT AREA 1: Scientific excellence
The project will set the strategic vision and research and innovation agenda of the EIRENE RI based on the analysis of scientific and societal challenges and needs of multiple stakeholders, as well as the technical design
of EIRENE RI based on the assessment of current technical and human capacities, user needs, gaps, resources, opportunities, and risks. This will set out the infrastructural background for rapid development of innovative areas of research linking chemical safety, environmental exposures and population health necessary for addressing current European priorities (SRIA, Green Deal). Filling the gaps between existing environmental (ACTRIS, ICOS), social (SHARE), life sciences and food projects (ELIXIR, BBMRI, ECRIN, METROFOOD) and data infrastructures will promote collaboration and enable interdisciplinary research.
IMPACT AREA 2: Problem-solving capacities
Strategic vision, Technical design, and Comprehensive roadmap for the EIRENE project implementation will enhance engagement of multiple stakeholders contributing to the project implementation including mobilisation of resources for sustainable funding, strategic investments, and development of human capacities. The resulting infrastructure will drive the strategic research, development, and innovation agenda to address the scientific challenges and societal needs, speeding up the application of research results in the regulation and innovation contexts. Development of harmonised laboratory capacities for high-throughput screening of biomarkers of exposure and effect, well-designed population cohort networks, computational tools, and knowledge hubs needed for interpreting multidimensional data on the effects of environmental exposures will help fill gaps and promote scientific excellence in the Environment & Health domain of the European landscape of sustainable RIs. This will enhance problem-solving capacities to address challenges in science, industry, and society as the expected midterm outcome of the project.
IMPACT AREA 3: Ground for informed decision making
Technical design, Legal and financial model, and Comprehensive roadmap will serve as a base for the preparation of a robust EIRENE RI business plan providing national authorities and funding bodies with data and context on the future development of the infrastructural landscape. Both national and European stakeholders will be consulted throughout the preparatory process, and major decisions (e.g. regarding a legal structure or financial model) will be discussed/approved by the relevant national authorities to ensure their long-term commitment and support. The Czech Republic coordinating the EIRENE RI project has already offered political support and financial commitment from multiple ministries but the majority of other participating countries provided the political support only and some have not reached even that milestone yet.
IMPACT AREA 4: Transformative changes
Technical design of EIRENE RI must be combined with a very detailed inventory of available capacities, financial, technical, and human resources for its future development, and regional innovation strategies to create a development strategy and investment plan focused on filling existing gaps (Comprehensive roadmap). This strategic vision will be shared and elaborated with the national and European stakeholders, participating institutions and relevant ministries to align the national and European investments, make use of existing resources and prevent duplicities. The short-term investments will help upgrade or complete already existing national RIs. However, the strategic documents resulting from the EIRENE PPP project implementation will empower the stakeholders to set out the long-term investment and development plans including plans for the development of human resources. Funding for the education and training of research infrastructure specialists, users, and early-stage researchers will be an inherent part of the investment plan. This will provide all stakeholders with the long-term perspective for RI investments as one of the expected mid-term outcomes.
IMPACT AREA 5: Global Leadership
Strategic vision and research and innovation agenda of the EIRENE RI will be developed based on the analysis of scientific and societal challenges and needs of multiple stakeholders (R1) but also on analysis of existing resources and capacities including those available in the ESFRI landscape. However, to monitor the progress of the implementation and maximise impact, we also need to develop a set of Key Performance Indicators enabling long-term monitoring of the socio-economic impacts of the EIRENE RI.
IMPACT AREA 1: Scientific excellence
The project will set the strategic vision and research and innovation agenda of the EIRENE RI based on the analysis of scientific and societal challenges and needs of multiple stakeholders, as well as the technical design
of EIRENE RI based on the assessment of current technical and human capacities, user needs, gaps, resources, opportunities, and risks. This will set out the infrastructural background for rapid development of innovative areas of research linking chemical safety, environmental exposures and population health necessary for addressing current European priorities (SRIA, Green Deal). Filling the gaps between existing environmental (ACTRIS, ICOS), social (SHARE), life sciences and food projects (ELIXIR, BBMRI, ECRIN, METROFOOD) and data infrastructures will promote collaboration and enable interdisciplinary research.
IMPACT AREA 2: Problem-solving capacities
Strategic vision, Technical design, and Comprehensive roadmap for the EIRENE project implementation will enhance engagement of multiple stakeholders contributing to the project implementation including mobilisation of resources for sustainable funding, strategic investments, and development of human capacities. The resulting infrastructure will drive the strategic research, development, and innovation agenda to address the scientific challenges and societal needs, speeding up the application of research results in the regulation and innovation contexts. Development of harmonised laboratory capacities for high-throughput screening of biomarkers of exposure and effect, well-designed population cohort networks, computational tools, and knowledge hubs needed for interpreting multidimensional data on the effects of environmental exposures will help fill gaps and promote scientific excellence in the Environment & Health domain of the European landscape of sustainable RIs. This will enhance problem-solving capacities to address challenges in science, industry, and society as the expected midterm outcome of the project.
IMPACT AREA 3: Ground for informed decision making
Technical design, Legal and financial model, and Comprehensive roadmap will serve as a base for the preparation of a robust EIRENE RI business plan providing national authorities and funding bodies with data and context on the future development of the infrastructural landscape. Both national and European stakeholders will be consulted throughout the preparatory process, and major decisions (e.g. regarding a legal structure or financial model) will be discussed/approved by the relevant national authorities to ensure their long-term commitment and support. The Czech Republic coordinating the EIRENE RI project has already offered political support and financial commitment from multiple ministries but the majority of other participating countries provided the political support only and some have not reached even that milestone yet.
IMPACT AREA 4: Transformative changes
Technical design of EIRENE RI must be combined with a very detailed inventory of available capacities, financial, technical, and human resources for its future development, and regional innovation strategies to create a development strategy and investment plan focused on filling existing gaps (Comprehensive roadmap). This strategic vision will be shared and elaborated with the national and European stakeholders, participating institutions and relevant ministries to align the national and European investments, make use of existing resources and prevent duplicities. The short-term investments will help upgrade or complete already existing national RIs. However, the strategic documents resulting from the EIRENE PPP project implementation will empower the stakeholders to set out the long-term investment and development plans including plans for the development of human resources. Funding for the education and training of research infrastructure specialists, users, and early-stage researchers will be an inherent part of the investment plan. This will provide all stakeholders with the long-term perspective for RI investments as one of the expected mid-term outcomes.
IMPACT AREA 5: Global Leadership
Strategic vision and research and innovation agenda of the EIRENE RI will be developed based on the analysis of scientific and societal challenges and needs of multiple stakeholders (R1) but also on analysis of existing resources and capacities including those available in the ESFRI landscape. However, to monitor the progress of the implementation and maximise impact, we also need to develop a set of Key Performance Indicators enabling long-term monitoring of the socio-economic impacts of the EIRENE RI.