Population Medicine and Sustainable Development: European Opportunities in collaborating with China to improving global health.

Project Information

PoPMeD-SuSDeV

Grant agreement ID: 101086139

DOI

10.3030/101086139

EC signature date 17 October 2022

Start date 1 January 2023

End date 31 December 2026

Funded under

• Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA)

Total cost

No data

EU contribution

€ 662 400,00

Coordinated by

INSTITUT QUIMIC DE SARRIA
Spain

Periodic Reporting for period 1 - PoPMeD-SuSDeV (Population Medicine and Sustainable Development: European Opportunities in collaborating with China to improving global health.)

Reporting period: 2023-01-01 to 2024-12-31

Summary of the context and overall objectives of the project

The overarching objective PoPMeD-SuSDeV is to form an international network of organizations from Spain, Germany, Slovenia, China, and Japan, working on a joint research program in the fields of health, development economics, sustainability, and anthropology. Population medicine is a new medical paradigm that aims to improve the aggregate and long-term population health by mobilizing available resources through various care responsibilities. The principles of population medicine are aimed at forcing doctors and physicians to shift from a reactive model that treats ill individuals to a proactive model that focuses on the population's health. PoPMeD-SuSDeV focuses on how economics, as a collection of theories, models, techniques, and values, might enable practitioners in providing better and more efficient treatment to the population they serve. The People’s Republic of China has become a global leader in large-scale preventive screening and the digitalization of healthcare, making essential strides towards a population medicine paradigm. 28 researchers will conduct 144 person-months (PMs) of secondments in Training, Data Collection, and Research Work in the five countries to develop an economic framework for population medicine, estimate the causal impact of renewable energy and digital telecommunications infrastructure on sustainable development outcomes, and conduct a social and cultural analysis of the effects of health and sustainable development policies on European immigrants in China. The results will enable European and international medical training institutions to develop better programs and solutions to target and improve the aggregate health of their respective societies. It will bring together these existing collaborating partnerships into an interdisciplinary consortium that synergizes the intersections of their complementary research lines of health, sustainable development, and cultural integration through the training and staff exchange programs.

Work performed from the beginning of the project to the end of the period covered by the report and main results achieved so far

PoPMeD-SuSDeV has made solid progress across all eight work packages during the first two years, establishing a strong operational and scientific foundation.

WP1 (Project Management) successfully launched the project with a well-attended kickoff meeting, finalized the Consortium Agreement, and submitted key deliverables such as the Personalized Career Development Plans (D1.1) and the first Progress Report (D1.2). Financial and reporting procedures have been implemented to ensure accountability.

WP2 (Training Program) completed its first 4-week training session at UKHD, involving secondees from IQS-URL, ZRC SAZU, and local ESRs as well as the second-year training sessions at UKHD and UTokyo.

WP3 (Ethics, Security, and Data Management) submitted the Data Management Plan (D3.1) finalized the medical panel of 10,000 respondents, and began data collection for both the panel and fieldwork surveys.

WP4 (Population Medicine & Health Economics) is progressing with workshops, data processing, and writing activities, building on the dataset generated in WP3. Most secondments and outputs are expected in 2024–2025.

WP5 (Structural Transformation & Sustainable Development) officially launched in June 2024, with eight IQS-URL researchers beginning their secondments at XJTLU. Preparations for empirical fieldwork are underway.

WP6 (Social & Cultural Analysis) completed a workshop and began fieldwork in March-April 2024, with 5 person-months completed. The team has established a framework for data collection on migrant experiences in China.

WP7 (Communication, Dissemination & Exploitation) is ahead of schedule, with dissemination activities underway and a website redesign planned to enhance outreach and accessibility.

WP8 (Ethics Requirements) completed the appointment of the Independent Ethics Advisor in February 2023. Deliverables have been shared with the advisor in a timely manner to support the ethics oversight process.

Overall, the project is progressing on schedule, with several key deliverables already submitted and important research and training components underway.

Progress beyond the state of the art and expected potential impact (including the socio-economic impact and the wider societal implications of the project so far)

By combining international secondments, original data collection, and mixed methods approaches, the project is addressing pressing global challenges through a unique lens that integrates health, sustainability, and socio-cultural perspectives.

In the field of population medicine, one of the key advancements is the creation of a 10,000-person medical panel across 17 provinces in China. This panel provides an unprecedented dataset for analyzing the financial burden of disease, healthcare access, and the long-term cost-effectiveness of preventive care strategies. The economic framework being developed moves beyond the dominant curative approach in health economics, offering new models for evaluating system-wide impacts of population-level interventions.

In sustainable development and infrastructure, the project is advancing knowledge by analyzing the effects of renewable energy expansion and telecommunications infrastructure on well-being and development outcomes. This research bridges existing gaps between public health and environmental policy by providing empirical evidence from rapidly transitioning economies like China and Japan.

The project’s work on social and cultural impacts also brings new insights. Through narrative interviews with European migrants (specifically Slovenians) who have lived in China, WP6 offers rare qualitative data on how mobile populations experience health and sustainability-related policy environments. These findings contribute to broader debates about inclusion, well-being, and cross-cultural adaptation, which are often overlooked in traditional public health and sustainability research.

PoPMeD-SuSDeV Team