Impact of Pollution on the Development and Progression of Brain Diseases and Disorders Programme

Scope

• Life-long exposure to pollutants in the living and occupational environment is an important risk factor for non-communicable diseases, leading to a variety of serious physical and mental health impacts and causing preventable disease burden with associated elevated economic costs. Pollution disproportionately impacts certain vulnerable groups (e.g. children and older adults) or groups who are more sensitive or more exposed (workers, populations living in polluted areas) to this type of environmental stressor. At present, over 10% of annual premature deaths in the 27 EU Member States are related to environmental pollution.
• Age is a major risk factor for neurodegenerative diseases, but environmental exposure and lifestyle are important candidates for understanding their aetiology. Accumulating evidence suggests that the “exposome”, described as the totality of human environmental exposures from pre-conception onwards, represents a major modifiable risk factor for most neurodegenerative diseases and dementia. Additionally, emerging evidence suggests that pollution, may contribute to the development of neurodegenerative disease, with increasing incidence in an ageing population.
• The environment is known to be a significant determinant of child health, with increasing evidence that some industrial chemicals are toxic to the development of the human brain. The health impact of many potentially neurotoxic chemicals remains unstudied in human populations, including in children. The developing brain is particularly vulnerable to toxic chemical exposures and this sensitivity is likely greatest in utero and throughout early childhood.
• Chronic and repeated exposure to pollutants, in working environments but also for consumers, has also been associated with increased risk of cognitive impairment and neurodegeneration.

Funding Information

• Budget (EUR) – Year 2025: 40 000 000
• Contributions: 6000000 to 7000000

Eligible Activities

• The following activities are generally eligible for grants under Horizon Europe:
  • Research and innovation actions (RIA): Activities that aim primarily to establish new knowledge or to explore the feasibility of a new or improved technology, product, process, service or solution. This may include basic and applied research, technology development and integration, testing, demonstration and validation of a small-scale prototype in a laboratory or simulated environment.
  • Innovation actions (IA): Activities that aim directly to produce plans and arrangements or designs for new, altered or improved products, processes or services. These activities may include prototyping, testing, demonstrating, piloting, large-scale product validation and market replication.
  • Coordination and support actions (CSA): Activities that contribute to the objectives of Horizon Europe. This excludes research and innovation (R&I) activities, except those carried out under the ‘Widening participation and spreading excellence’ component of the programme (part of ‘Widening participation and strengthening the European Research Area’).
  • Programme co-fund actions (CoFund): A programme of activities established or implemented by legal entities managing or funding R&I programmes, other than EU funding bodies.

Expected Outcomes

• This topic aims at supporting activities that are enabling or contributing to one or several expected impacts of destination “Living and working in a health-promoting environment”. To that end, proposals under this topic should aim to deliver results that are directed, tailored and contributing to most of the following expected outcomes:
  • Global and EU policies preventing and reducing the health impacts of pollution are supported with up-to-date scientific evidence, tools and methodologies;
  • Citizens are more protected by having a better insight into exposure to pollution and its impacts on brain health and adopting health enhancing behaviours;
  • Public authorities, health stakeholders, the scientific community and the society at large have access to FAIR data on the link between pollution and brain health, particular windows of susceptibility to exposure and the impacts of pollution on the general population and vulnerable groups;
  • Public authorities develop adequate evidence-based measures and guidelines to prevent and reduce the negative impacts of pollution in the development of brain disease.

Eligibility Criteria

• Any legal entity, regardless of its place of establishment, including legal entities from non-associated third countries or international organisations (including international European research organisations) is eligible to participate (whether it is eligible for funding or not), provided that the conditions laid down in the Horizon Europe Regulation have been met, along with any other conditions laid down in the specific call/topic.
• A ‘legal entity’ means any natural or legal person created and recognised as such under national law, EU law or international law, which has legal personality and which may, acting in its own name, exercise rights and be subject to obligations, or an entity without legal personality.
• Specific cases:
  • Affiliated entities: Affiliated entities (i.e. entities with a legal or capital link to a beneficiary which participate in the action with similar rights and obligations to the beneficiaries, but which do not sign the grant agreement and therefore do not become beneficiaries themselves) are allowed, if they are eligible for participation and funding.
  • Associated partners: Associated partners (i.e. entities which participate in the action without signing the grant agreement, and without the right to charge costs or claim contributions) are allowed, subject to any specific call/topic conditions. Entities without legal personality
  • Entities which do not have legal personality under their national law may exceptionally participate, provided that their representatives have the capacity to undertake legal obligations on their behalf, and offer guarantees to protect the EU’s financial interests equivalent to those offered by legal persons.
  • EU bodies: Legal entities created under EU law including decentralised agencies may be part of the consortium, unless provided for otherwise in their basic act.
• To be eligible for funding, applicants must be established in one of the following countries:
  • the Member States of the European Union, including their outermost regions:
    • Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czechia, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden.
  • the Overseas Countries and Territories (OCTs) linked to the Member States:
    • Aruba (NL), Bonaire (NL), Curação (NL), French Polynesia (FR), French Southern and Antarctic Territories (FR), Greenland (DK), New Caledonia (FR), Saba (NL), Saint Barthélemy (FR), Sint Eustatius (NL), Sint Maarten (NL), St. Pierre and Miquelon (FR), Wallis and Futuna Islands (FR).
  • countries associated to Horizon Europe:
    • Albania, Armenia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Canada, Faroe Islands, Georgia, Iceland, Israel, Kosovo, Moldova, Montenegro, New Zealand, North Macedonia, Norway, Serbia, Tunisia, Türkiye, Ukraine, United Kingdom.

For more information, visit EC.