Working Package 19: Dissemination of results and knowledge transfer

An active collaborative website with public and non-public parts will be set up early in the project as first point of access  for all interested scientific and business parties in order to enlarge  awareness of the HEALS resultson the broadest  possible  international scale (public parts), and as the integral HEALS knowledge base for the consortium members. The HEALS website  will serve as a major communication and dissemination tool throughout the entire project running time, and target at both lay and professional people. The public part will present  general  project information and key results of the project. A sophisticated search engine and a FAQs section  will foster knowledge transfer (see also WP18). A “Dissemination and Exploitation Forum” (DE Forum) will serve as virtual place to outreach  and meet stakeholders and end-users, to exchange and discuss experiences, methodologies and results. The project website will offer feedback  features via e.g. user surveys and e-mail to the webmaster. It will announce upcoming events, alert on new results, present the newsletter, provide download material and contain features  for online registration/invitation for project meetings  and workshops and for the presentation of e-learning materials (see WP18). Mutual links shall be set to/on the websites  of the project participants.

The HEALS website will be also used to organise a public worldwide consultation on the policy-relevant results given in the final project report.

The work will start with an initial assessment of users needs and with promoting awareness of the project – and encouraging  participation – amongst as wide as to possible  users, stakeholders and the general population in collaboration  with WP18 and WP2. This will result  in a mailing list of stakeholders in policy and science. Close and active  consultation  will be maintained  with them throughout the study.

The results of HEALs  will consist of methodologies, technological tools and data. The steering committee of HEALs  will create a Knowledge Transfer Secretariat  for the coordination of technology transfer (AUTH, UPMC, CSIC). This Secretariat  will elaborate  a knowledge  distribution program  for stakeholders, namely associations of patients, hospitals, medical associations,  EU official health agencies and international institutions.

WP19 will perform  an analysis of the status quo in external communication strategies from others accessible scientific projects in this field as basis for a) a thorough assessment of existing deficits and knowledge gaps in communication of scientific results and b) recommendation  for appropriate dissemination  strategies  towards policy makers, the wider public and the scientific world in EU and West Balkan countries. The dissemination strategy  will include a recommendation  how to inform EXHES study participants about their personal  results. The dissemination  strategy will ensure that the scientific  results  will be communicated in an appropriate and understandable way to stakeholders  and the general public, taking care not to infringe privacy  legislation and ethical standards.

The Knowledge Transfer Secretariat  will identify a list of public agencies and stakeholders within Europe that will be kept aware of the progress  of HEALs  and the knowledge accumulated  within this project. This list will remain open and will be updated throughout HEALs  development. The network established  in WP2 together  with the potential stakeholders  and end-users identified herein will represent  the target audience  of the user workshops organized and executed  within this task.

EU authorities and officers and stakeholders included in the list will receive periodic information on the relevant results  obtained from the development of the project. A feedback  mechanism  will be established. Eventual recommendations  from the EU officers and stakeholders  for focusing on specific problems  will be considered and incorporated  into the HEALs  goals. EU and stakeholders  will also have access  to the raw data produced within HEALs.

Task 19.3 will also cover the organisation  of workshops targeted at the scientific community and authorities at key stages of the project in close collaboration  with WP18 and WP2. This will include  in particular 5 regional or national workshops and a final HEALS conference. Moreover, user workshops  will offer the opportunity to collect feedback  about the on-going development of the HEALS approach and take them into account  in the design,  implementation and refinement of the final EWAS  methodology of the project (the HEALS paradigm and guidelines) (WP12 and WP13). It should  be noted that these workshops are not training events  – nevertheless, based on the development  of the project time plan they maybe  organised  back-to-back  with training events  so as to attract a larger audience and increase their cost-effectiveness.

The final HEALS Conference will be organized  under the title: “Linking Exposome to Human  Health”. It will be held at the end of the project and used as a platform for summarizing  and highlighting the achievements of HEALS. All papers presented at the conference  will be collected in a proceedings book and selected papers, after peer-review,  will be published in two special issues of the scientific journals with high impact factor (such as “Environment International” and “Human and Ecological Risk Assessment”, as the SL is Associate Editor and co-Editor-in-chief of these journals respectively).

This task will cover the coordination and planning of publications and participation in conferences and other regular/or and well-attended European events. This will start with the selection  of leading international, peer-reviewed journals based on the list attached  in section 3.5 and of appropriate scientific conferences  (i.e. ISEE, ISES, SETAC, MESAEP, ESRA Enviro-Info, Healthy Buildings etc.) to be used as a more traditional dissemination route, and with the elaboration  of a publication and meeting plan including a fair allocation of authorships and presentations. Based on this plan coordination and support  will be provided during the drafting of publications and preparation of symposia and presentations via information of all potentially concerned partners, and supervision of commenting and review procedures and time management.  Articles  will be drafted by the partners involved. Finally this task comprises provision of support in the drafting of conference material such as poster roll-ups, or other equipment for conference  stands. A common HEALS layout will be elaborated in close collaboration with the website design  and management team and with the steering  committee  with support and advice from all project partners in an initial version  and lay-out at the beginning of the project running time and will be up-dated and adapted  to the specific needs on demand.

This task covers information material such as leaflets, fact sheets, a technical newsletter and other condensed information material for communication  of results  to policy makers and the general public. These tools will be drafted in close collaboration  with WP18, the steering committee and stream leaders. A technical newsletter will be published every 6 months. Task 19.5 will develop  layout and structure, and will coordinate  content  with all other stream leaders and the steering committee. The newsletter  will be distributed in general electronically via the project Website  (see 19.1) but may be provided in hard copy to targeted  individuals. One  outcome of the development  of HEALs  will be the identification of issues and habits involving higher health risks. This information  will be communicated  to the public opinion, e.g. open audiences, associations of patients, hospitals and medical associations and others, in the form of technical recommendations for health lifestyle. A specific section in the web page of HEALs  will contain  this information. In addition to this, the Knowledge Transfer Secretariat  will implement a strategy  for specific dissemination of this information to specific collectives and associations as those mentioned above. This activity  will be performed in collaboration with the stakeholders.

The development of an environmental health survey at the European level is one ultimate goal of HEALs. This will be achieved as consequence of the work program of the HEALs  partners and the feedback  between HEALs  participants and the. In this respect,  methodology for standardization and harmonization of exposure assessment methods  will be developed and implemented. They will be applied to the already  existing data and to the new databases that will be collected  within HEALs.  Harmonization of existing databases will be more difficult than newly acquired  data under HEALs  protocols.

The technology developed  during the elaboration of the bioinformatics package for combination  of the human exposure measurements, omics studies and health outcomes  will be of commercial  interest to health organizations and companies. Software packages will be elaborated for commercialization  of these products. The archive of pollutant exposures, omics results and health outcomes  will generate  a library database  and a model for assessment of human  sensitivity to specific pollutants and possible health outcomes according to individual genome and epigenome. This model  will be useful  for assessment of risk of individuals  to specific pollutants. Individuals may therefore be interested in knowing whether they have specific risk to one or a group of pollutants, e.g. on occasion of a job offer, and may be interested in assessment. Services determining the genome and epigenome of individuals may be interested in having access  to this model  to complement  they offer to the public.  The Knowledge Transfer Secretariat  will elaborate  a market analysis and a business plan for the distribution of these marketable technologies and knowledge.