Project description
Uncovering the dangers of artificial materials in Europe
Concerns have been growing about the widespread use of artificial materials such as plastics and biotechnological chemicals, as well as their impact on health and the environment. These materials may cause problems either via intended usage (such as food packaging) or throughout their life cycle. Therefore, a systematic approach to investigating consequences is needed. The EU-funded FHERITALE project aims to transform how European research infrastructures address the difficulties posed by synthetic materials. To that end, it will systematically address the development, provision, and integration of services across the European research infrastructures landscape, enabling the scientific community to research the effects of these materials. The project will compile a list of the services available in Europe for scientific research in numerous domains.
Objective
This proposal systematically addresses the development, provision, and integration of services, across the European Research Infrastructures (RIs) landscape, that the scientific community can use to investigate the effects on health and the environment that artificial materials (including plastics, micro-, nano-, and biotechnological materials) can have. Exposure to such materials may occur as a result of their intended use (e.g. food packaging) or at the end of their lifecycle (e.g. plastic wear). These services, which are relevant to several areas of important societal and economic impact, are expected to span multiple scales and disciplines, including high-quality metrology, structural biology, microbiology, and ecotoxicology.
The main output of this proposal will be a thorough overview of extant service offer by European RIs with respect to questions from state-of-the-art of scientific research in the aforementioned domains. FHERITALE will identify common strategies for the coordination and optimization of services at different RIs geared towards increasing the accessibility of relevant technologies. In parallel, it will identifty those service and technology gaps that are hampering high-impact research and preventing a timely assessment of the repercussions of new materials on health and the environment. These gaps constitute high-priority areas for future development. FHERITALE will design a coordination framework for the RIs to drive these key technological developments.
The technological focus of this application includes emerging areas of research for which international interest is rapidly growing. The interdisciplinary nature of the cluster of identified technologies will connect health, food, and environment research, constituting one of the first examples of practical application of the “One Health” approach. This coordination effort will also serve as a fertile ground for further interdisciplinary research among RIs from the H&F and other domains.
Fields of science
Keywords
Programme(s)
Funding Scheme
HORIZON-CSA - HORIZON Coordination and Support ActionsCoordinator
50121 FIRENZE
Italy