Objective
Environmental heating is a growing challenge for our community and problems are already experienced by millions of Europeans during the summertime and aggravated during heat waves or occupational settings. In addition to the well-known health risks related to severe heat stress, a number of studies have confirmed significant loss of productivity due to hyperthermia. Even if countries adopt the EU proposal for limiting global CO2 emissions, climate change and its associated threat to public health will continue for many decades. Thus, it is crucial to develop strategies to mitigate the detrimental health and societal effects of these environmental changes.
Stakeholders such as policy makers and the private sector usually lack the technical capabilities or facilities to conduct R&D activities at the level of excellence required for such development. European research institutes have the capacity to conduct the R&D necessary to develop solutions. However, they often lack the capacity to transform these solutions into policies and assess their health, economic and social benefits. The HEAT-SHIELD project will create a sustainable inter-sector framework that will promote health as well as productivity for European citizens in the context of global warming. The project will produce a series of state-of-the-art innovative outcomes including: (i) appropriate technical and biophysical research-based solutions to be implemented when the ambient temperature poses a health threat or impairs productivity (ii) a weather-based warning system with online open access service that anticipates the events that may pose a threat to workers’ health; (iii) scenario-specific policies and solutions aimed at health promotion and preventing loss of productivity (iv) implementation of the formulated policies and evaluation of their health, economic and social benefits. Consequently, the HEAT-SHIELD project provides a multi-sector approach to address the serious environmental challenge.
Fields of science
- medical and health scienceshealth sciencespublic health
- engineering and technologymechanical engineeringthermodynamic engineeringheat engineering
- social scienceseconomics and businesseconomicsproduction economicsproductivity
- agricultural sciencesagriculture, forestry, and fisheriesagriculture
- natural sciencesearth and related environmental sciencesatmospheric sciencesclimatologyclimatic changes
Programme(s)
Funding Scheme
RIA - Research and Innovation action
Coordinator
1165 Kobenhavn
Denmark
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Participants (19)
1000 Ljubljana
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38221 Volos
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WV1 1LY Wolverhampton
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50121 Florence
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8600 Dubendorf
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2595 DA Den Haag
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22100 Lund
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3003 Bern
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LE11 3TU Loughborough
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1000 Ljubljana
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50122 Firenze
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N1 9UZ London
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4099-002 Porto
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6802 EJ Arnhem
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1700 Nicosia
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3312 Prebold
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1077 Nicosia
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The organization defined itself as SME (small and medium-sized enterprise) at the time the Grant Agreement was signed.
28108 Alcobendas
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