Project description
Monitoring the threat of contaminants to our oceans
Marine ecosystems face an escalating threat from contaminants of emerging concern (CECs), which include pharmaceuticals, pesticides and industrial chemicals. Conventional monitoring falls short in comprehensively assessing their impacts. In this context, the EU-funded CONTRAST project aims to measure the effects of CECs on the marine ecosystem by pioneering an integrated assessment and effect-based monitoring framework. This approach combines chemical measurements and optimised biological effects endpoints, assisting in the identification of CECs posing the greatest threat. Through meticulous chemical prioritisation and cutting-edge biological effects assessments, CONTRAST will provide crucial insights into how CECs interact with marine life. European-wide case studies and rigorous testing will inform guidance documents, shaping future policies for effectively managing CECs and their interactions with climate change drivers.
Objective
CONTRAST will develop an integrated assessment and effect-based monitoring framework (IAF) to measure the impacts of CECs on the marine environment to provide a measure of Good Environmental Status for application in EU policy (i.e. MSFD/WFD). The IAF will involve chemical measurements together with biological effects endpoints that will be optimised to detect the presence and degree of effect of CECs in the marine environment. CONTRAST will identify the CECs that pose the greatest threat to marine life by using chemical prioritisation schemes to inform which of the CECs should be measured in the environment. Additionally, which CECs should be used in the laboratory-controlled experiments, where the effects on biological systems and marine biodiversity will be performed. A combination of in silico, in vitro and in vivo bioassays together with omics will be used to determine the principal mechanisms of toxicity of CECs selected from the chemical prioritisation schemes. This will provide important information on how CECs may interact with marine organisms at environmentally relevant concentrations and inform which biological effects tools should be used in the IAF to cover the range of toxicity mechanisms that CECs produce. CONTRAST will address this by optimising existing and developing new biomarkers, so that the IAF includes biomarker tools to cover many of the mechanism of toxicity produced by CECs. A series of European wide case studies will be used to test the suitability of the IAF to measure the effects of chemicals including CECs on indicator species and biodiversity. The knowledge gained from field testing and laboratory studies will form the basis for guidance documents and policy briefs on the best practices for performing an IAF on CECs in the marine environment. Furthermore, the interactions of climate change drivers on CECs will be evaluated including effects on CECs distribution, circulation, fate, bioavailability, and toxicity to marine life.
Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
You need to log in or register to use this function
We are sorry... an unexpected error occurred during execution.
You need to be authenticated. Your session might have expired.
Thank you for your feedback. You will soon receive an email to confirm the submission. If you have selected to be notified about the reporting status, you will also be contacted when the reporting status will change.
Programme(s)
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
-
HORIZON.2.6 - Food, Bioeconomy Natural Resources, Agriculture and Environment
MAIN PROGRAMME
See all projects funded under this programme
Topic(s)
Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
Funding Scheme
Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
HORIZON-RIA - HORIZON Research and Innovation Actions
See all projects funded under this funding scheme
Call for proposal
Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
(opens in new window) HORIZON-CL6-2023-ZEROPOLLUTION-01
See all projects funded under this callCoordinator
Net EU financial contribution. The sum of money that the participant receives, deducted by the EU contribution to its linked third party. It considers the distribution of the EU financial contribution between direct beneficiaries of the project and other types of participants, like third-party participants.
0579 Oslo
Norway
The total costs incurred by this organisation to participate in the project, including direct and indirect costs. This amount is a subset of the overall project budget.