The PLANET4HEALTH consortium gathered in Belgrade, Serbia on March 10-11 for an in-person meeting, held over a year after our initial kick-off meeting. The meeting was hosted by our partners Suzana Blesic and James May from the Institute for Medical Research (IMR), who ensured we felt at home in Belgrade. A big thank you to Suzana Blesic (IMR) and Stefano Campostrini (UNIVE) for their excellent leadership throughout the meeting. As project co-coordinators, they guided us through the meeting with a clear vision, ensuring that all discussions were productive and that every participant had a chance to contribute.
Special thanks to our external advisory board members, Barbara Gallani from European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) and Karl Hamilton from European Environment Agency, for their participation. It was incredibly valuable to hear their insights and perspectives on all the key issues.
The meeting provided an important opportunity to review progress across the four case studies:
We discussed the current challenges, breakthroughs, and next steps for each case study. Additionally, the ongoing development of digital tools was addressed, focusing on how these tools can be effectively integrated with the case studies, ensuring alignment between technology and research objectives to maximise the impact of the findings.
Stakeholder engagement strategies were also reviewed, with a focus on how to better involve local communities, health authorities, environmental organisations, and other identified stakeholders in the project’s outcomes.
The main goal of PLANET4HEALTH is to translate scientific research into effective policy, ensuring that the insights gained are not only academically valuable but also actionable in real-world policy decisions. This ongoing collaboration is crucial for enhancing the relevance of the research and driving its adoption by policymakers to create impactful changes.
Lastly, the status of the participation in Planetary Health Cluster was revisited. As part of the HORIZON-HLTH-2023-ENVHLTH-02-01 call, PLANET4HEALTH contributes to a broader effort to understand and address the links between environmental degradation and health impacts, alongside four other funded projects: TULIP, SPINGS, MOSAIC, GO GREEN NEXT. The status of the cluster’s working groups, achieved and upcoming deliverables, as well as the goals and necessary efforts moving forward, were reviewed to ensure the continued success of the cluster.
In-person meetings like this are invaluable for reinforcing collaboration, addressing challenges, and ensuring alignment across consortium. We’re excited about the progress we’ve made and look forward to continuing to advance our shared objectives of advancing planetary health and adapting to the adverse effects of vector-borne diseases, environmental pollution, and climate change.
