Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is a global health challenge with an estimated 67% increase in global deaths attributable to AMR by 2050. The European Partnership One Health AMR (EUP OHAMR) is aiming to reduce the burden of AMR with an integrated One Health (OH) approach, recognising that human, animal and plant health are interdependent and interlinked with the environment. The partnership will boost AMR research and innovation (R&I) addressing the current knowledge gaps with the aim to improve surveillance of resistant pathogens and provide better diagnostics and more effective treatments of drug-resistant infections. It will support implementation research on prevention measures reducing the use of antimicrobials and spread of AMR and launch an ambitious work programme of joint activities to coordinate R&I investments, facilitate the use and re-use of R&I data, strengthen AMR R&I capacities and facilitate both knowledge translation and uptake of research results and innovations by industry, society, and policy makers. The EUP OHAMR builds on the long-standing collaboration of the partners from the Joint Programme Initiative on AMR (JPIAMR) but with a bigger ambition and a broader scope. The partnership consists of 53 partners from 30 countries from the European Union (EU) and beyond. With active engagement of key stakeholders across the AMR landscape, the partnership will strengthen European and global synergies through alignment of research priorities, policies, and investments. Furthermore, EUP OHAMR will support multisectoral and multidisciplinary collaborations to break the existing silos in AMR research. It will result in increased knowledge and solutions and provide an evidence base for uptake into policy and practice to prevent and tackle AMR. Thus, the EUP OHAMR will deliver towards to the priorities set in the European One Health Action plan against AMR, thereby strengthening the European Research and Innovation Area ecosystem and contribute to making the EU a best-practice region on AMR.

FRESHER brings together ten research groups, including leaders in the management of large European Foresight projects and highly experienced health policy modelers, in an interdisciplinary team engaged in FoResight and Modelling for European Health policy and Regulation. The overall project objective is the representation of alternative futures where the detection of emerging health scenarios will be used to test future policies to effectively tackle the burden of non communicable diseases (NCDs). The project will produce quantitative estimates of the future global burden of NCDs in the EU and its impact on health care expenditures and delivery, population well-being, health and socio-economic inequalities, and potential changes in these impacts according to alternative health and non-health policy options. The added value of FRESHER lies in the fact that these estimates: - will not only be based on extrapolation of past health trends but also on foresight techniques (mapping of risk factors, horizon scanning and identification of key drivers for change, scenarios building) giving credit to the interdependencies of structural long-term trends in demography, gender relations, technological, economic, environmental, and societal factors at 2050. - will be produced through the development of an empirically-based micro-simulation model (starting from the Chronic Disease Policy Model of OECD), allowing to quantify the current and future health and economic impacts of NCDs and testing “what if” policy options according to alternative foresight scenarios, as well as potential new policies and policy combinations. FRESHER heavily relies on an interactive process with key stakeholders, at all stages of the project, in elaborating the framework, and giving inputs for the qualitative foresight scenarios and the quantitative micro-simulation model, and in deriving recommendations for future policies affecting population health and well-being.

The focus of European post-pandemic politics is currently on enhancing system capacities for ‘bouncing back’ from crisis to normalcy. These efforts draw on resilience research, which has become the dominant paradigm in crisis management. However, there are broad governance challenges that the resilience approach fails to consider. Centrally, how can European societies harness flexible adaptation and proactive innovation to deliver effective crisis responses in situations, where going back to the way things were is neither possible nor desirable? And how can democratic institutions uphold core values such as democracy, the rule of law, and fundamental rights in the face of crisis-induced turbulence? To address these challenges, the ROBUST project aims to set in motion a paradigm shift from ‘resilience’ (‘bouncing back’) to ‘robustness’ (‘building back better’) as the central principle of future crisis governance. The project breaks new ground by operationalizing the concept of robust crisis governance and investigating such responses empirically. We combine historical and comparative analysis at EU, national and local levels to gather a multi-dimensional data set out of which we identify the configurations of factors that drive (or block) robustness in crisis governance. The project studies responses by EU institutions and eight European countries to three recent crises (the financial, refugee and COVID-19 crises) to understand general patterns in system-level crises response, while we also conduct in-depth studies of localized COVID-19 responses ‘on the streets’ of 16 European localities to understand how EU, national and local crisis responses interact and are experienced by citizens. On this basis, the project delivers the elements of a new mindset along with policy recommendations for enabling the robust crisis governance of the future, all anchored in a learning hub that will serve as the social engine of the paradigm shift envisioned by the project.

The STOP project will bring together a range of key health and food sector actors to generate scientifically sound and policy-relevant evidence on the factors that have contributed to the spread of childhood obesity in European Countries and on the effects of alternative policy options available to address the problem. This evidence will complement, systematise and partly reframe the findings of an established body of prior research by leveraging the latest scientific findings. The STOP project will translate the evidence gathered and generated into: a. A comprehensive set of indicators and a measurement framework for the regular monitoring of relevant dimensions of childhood obesity, its determinants and actions to address it in all European Countries; b. Policy toolkits, providing practical guidance and tools for the design and the implementation of effective and sustainable policies and actions by governments and private sector stakeholders; c. A novel, evidence-based, multi-stakeholder framework, to enable and promote a shared understanding of problems and solutions by key actors, relying on a structured process leveraging cognitive mapping and policy simulations validated by empirical data and empowering individual actors to take action within an agreed accountability and monitoring framework. STOP will generate timely, comprehensive and policy-relevant measures of childhood obesity in all European countries; it will generate new trans-disciplinary evidence of the role of key determinants of childhood obesity, emphasising the role of different environments surrounding children, from analyses of detailed multi-dimensional measurements taken on several established EU children cohorts, including epigenetic and biological mediators of obesity; it will assess the impacts of policies and actions to address childhood obesity based on observations in the same children cohorts and policy simulations of the health, social and economic outcomes of policies.

HDHL Food4Health addresses the intertwined challenges of food and diet-related Non Communicable Diseases (NCDs) and Climate Change by fostering collaboration and aligning research efforts across food, health, and environment areas. Through a participatory approach, HDHL Food4Health widens the HDHL network and organises co-creation workshops to identify common Research & Innovation (R&I) priorities. It aims to overcome siloed approaches by coordinating activities among government, academia, industry, and citizens, enhancing societal impact at national and regional levels. Leveraging its connections with researchers, policymakers, and other relevant stakeholders, HDHL supports its members in contributing to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by aligning food and health systems. The initiative facilitates joint funding calls and implements transdisciplinary research actions to maximise impact and address urgent societal challenges. By promoting collaboration and knowledge exchange, HDHL Food4Health aims to catalyse a shift towards healthier and more sustainable food systems, ultimately contributing to improved public health and environmental sustainability. The main objective of HDHL Food4Health is to align common R&I priorities among funding programmes by identifying research and policy needs, whilst continuing to align both with the Horizon Europe (HE) Partnerships and the needs identified by the European Commission.