Our planet is changing rapidly. To understand and forecast how ecosystems are affected by global change, ecology should become a predictive science. We will build a unique virtual research environment that will facilitate this transformation, capitalizing on recent advances in Big Data science. This will enable ecologists to link scattered long-term data on plants, animals, and the environment; share methods for data analysis, modelling, and simulation; and build digital replicas of entire ecosystems (“Digital Twins”). This will transform our ability to understand and predict how ecosystems will respond under different scenarios and mitigation measures, fostering scientific breakthroughs and societal impact.

Safe-and-Sustainable-by-Design (SSbD) is a promising approach to develop new chemicals. However, well-elaborated tools to guide selection of SSbD alternatives that fullfill the desired and essential function in a given application are missing. In this proposal, we will focus on Persistent, Mobile and Toxic chemicals, as they pose a risk to the watercycle and human and ecological health. This TOSS project will develop integrated tools to select and produce SSbD alternatives for PMTs, will gain experience with putting SSbD in practice including active contributions of different stakeholders, and will formulate lessons for industry, academic research and policy.

The healthcare sector is one of the most carbon-intensive sectors. In response, the Dutch government has called for more environmentally sustainable healthcare. The project ESCH-R addresses this challenge with its mission to accelerate the adoption of circular interventions in hospitals and thereby lower the ecological footprint of the healthcare sector. Our research question is: How can hospitals move away from single use medical consumables and make the transition towards circularity? Together with societal partners, our interdisciplinary team will develop circular, safe and scalable strategies for circularity. In the long-run, the ESCH-R project contributes to a sustainable and resilient health system.

The granted three projects of this NWA-call span the continuum from chemicals, materials and products and their safety, sustainability and circularity during their entire life cycle from design to waste. Here, we will synthesize the knowledge and tools developed, and in this way facilitate interaction between the domains of chemicals, materials or products. This Phase II BenignSynthesis project will as far as possible further generalize, integrate and simplify methods developed in the three Phase I projects, aiming for an overarching Safe,Sustainable&Circular-by-Design approach for the Chemicals-Materials-Product continuum in which the life cycle of design, production, consumption and waste is accounted for.

The DARTBAC project will prepare the Netherlands for the time when antibiotics are much less effective in the prevention and eradication of infection due to AntiMicrobial Resistance (AMR). DARTBAC will, from a material perspective, develop new antimicrobial technologies that are not based on antibiotics to target infection prevention and eradication on implant surfaces, in hard tissues and in soft tissues and assess their safety and efficacy in in vitro and in vivo models. In this way, we are unique yet synergistic with most other initiatives that focus on an antibiotics approach. Collectively, we are bridging the entire knowledge-chain regarding development of new material technologies to combat AMR. DARTBAC will develop a new workflow based on AOPs of predictive in vitro and in vivo models to test safety and efficacy of newly developed antimicrobial technology in order to shorten the time to market. DARTBAC will enhance the therapeutic efficacy of current antibiotics by combination therapy and we will develop and validate these technologies so that they can be brought to the market within the project timeframe. Finally, we will maintain awareness of the emerging AMR problem in the Netherlands by informing the general public and HealthCare Practitioners (HCPs). This increased AMR awareness by HCPs, the general public, and healthcare policy makers can speed up acceptance and market introduction of these technologies both nationally and internationally. Moreover, such acceptance will ensure that insurance providers and advisory bodies adopt and reimburse new treatment approaches quicker, thereby accelerating clinical implementation. A successful DARTBAC project with the combination of these goals and objectives can prevent a rise in infection percentage due to AMR, minimize the effect of AMR in the Netherlands, and work towards a Dutch society that is less dependent on antibiotic therapy for infection, prevention, and treatment.