The PSYchiatric disorders and COmorbidities caused by pollution in the MEDiterranean area (PsyCoMed) project proposes to build a research consortium to apply to a MSCA Staff Exchange program. The objective will be to characterise the role of anthropogenic pollutants in the Mediterranean area as a risk factor of neuropsychiatric disorders and comorbidity, and to determine the role of neuroinflammatory responses in the disease progression. The PsyCoMed consortium comprises 9 beneficiaries (7 academic,2 SMEs), and 4 third country (TC) partners. It puts together complementary expertise in neuroscience (academics) and analytical biology (SMEs). PsyCoMed consortium members already developed studies of pollutant effects and are specialists of the different fields of expertise and technical approaches to be uniquely combined within the framework of PsyCoMed. Part of them have been working together and already contributed to training through common education programs. PsyCoMed will deepen already existing and promote new collaborations to advance the Mediterranean Neuroscience. The MRSEI ANR funding will be crucial to set the final organization of the consortium and finely tune the design of clinical and experimental protocols, and the articulation between the different research groups and the SMEs. Reciprocal visits and a pre-kick-off meeting will be organised between all consortium partners. The innovation will be to propose a holistic vision to determine common overlapping mechanisms and neural circuits underlying pollutant-induced neuropsychiatric disorders and comorbid neurological diseases through a multi-scale (from molecular to clinical science), multi-modal (from mechanistic to behavioural approaches), and inter-sectoral strategy. The project will bind mechanistic and integrative preclinical investigations to clinical assessment of inflammatory processes occurring in psychiatric patients of the Mediterranean area. Lower vertebrate models will serve for high-throughput testing of pollutants on behaviors. In vitro and in vivo rodent models will be used to correlate the effects of pollutants on psychiatric symptoms with alterations of inflammatory pathways in psychiatric patients. PsyCoMed members will investigate neuroinflammatory mechanisms and determine neuronal plasticity and neural circuits at work in the brain areas affected by pollutants. The consortium will verify whether neurological disorders occur in sexually dimorphic and/or age dependent manner. Natural substances with therapeutic potential will finally be tested for their ability to restore healthy mechanisms and alleviate pathological symptoms in animal models. PsyCoMed offers a unique framework to build a network synergy between otherwise disparate and unconnected competencies by bringing together complementary expertise, themes and scientific practice on both sides of the Mediterranean area. The partners will share knowledge and know-how through secondments, conferences and workshops in support of PsyCoMed scientific objectives. This will improve exchanged staff’s skills and employability to the academic and private sectors. By proposing common protocols and experimental design, the participants will foster standardization of clinical and experimental procedures and diffusion of good laboratory practise. At a global level, the consortium will acquire the capacity to tackle complex neurobiological challenges, while building long-lasting collaborations. Finally, PsycoMed is in line with the recent implemented environment action programmes of the Europe Green Deal, e.g. the zero pollution action plan for water, air and soil and the EU4Health, as it will tackle the effects of pollution environment on mental health. It will also provide decision-makers with the ground for public health orientations with societal impact, one key objective of the 8th Environment Action monitoring framework.