Navigating the Urban Exposome for Policy Solutions

We will be hosting our sixth online policy forum “Navigating the Urban Exposome for Policy Solutions” on Thursday 28th September, 09.30-11.00am BST.

In an increasingly urbanised world, where an anticipated 80% of Europe’s population is expected to reside in complex urban environments by 2030, understanding the interplay of urban environments, social dynamics, and health factors becomes paramount. The LongITools project is at the forefront of studying these interactions to further understand the risks of non-communicable diseases such as cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, and obesity, employing an ‘exposome’ approach to study the impact of many exposures simultaneously.

This forum, facilitated by Beta Technology, will include brief presentations covering a range of engaging topics and ongoing research efforts. These presentations will explore topics crucial to urban health, exposome research, and the essential interplay between urban planning, health, policy, and quality of life.

Speakers include:

• Professor Sylvain Sebert, LongITools Project Coordinator, University of Oulu, Finland
• Dr Miriam Weber, Senior Policy Advisor and Healthy City Coordinator for Utrecht, The Netherlands
• Johannes Helama, Project Manager, Oulu Business Center, Finland
• Dr Wen Lun Yuan, Researcher in the LongITools project, Inserm, France
• Dr Jules Kerckhoffs, Researcher in the LongITools and EXPANSE projects, Institute for Risk Assessment Sciences, Utrecht University, The Netherlands

Following these presentations, the plenary session will foster collaborative discussions and the exchange of insights, bridging research and actionable policy, which is critical to building more resilient and equitable environments and health systems and reducing the burden of non-communicable diseases.

The forum is for local government health and environment policymakers, European and national policy research organisations, academic institutions, intermediaries, and citizens. It will provide the opportunity to network and engage with peers and to share knowledge and best practices.

We look forward to your participation in this dynamic exchange of insights, where we endeavour to bridge research and policy for healthier urban environments.

The Project

LongITools is studying the interactions between environmental, psychosocial, lifestyle, and biological factors to determine the risk of developing chronic cardiovascular and metabolic non-communicable diseases.

With a focus on air pollution, noise pollution, and the built environment, the project will study and measure how longitudinal exposure to these factors contribute to the risk of developing diseases such as obesity, type 2 diabetes, heart diseases and atherosclerosis across the life-course.

The research links individual and societal health to the environment to define disease trajectories using an exposome approach, also referred to as complex systems theory in policymaking. This will ultimately inform policymakers about the barriers and opportunities to build more resilient environment and health systems.

LongITools is a member of the European Human Exposome Network, the world’s largest cluster of innovative projects studying the impact of environmental exposures on human health. This network will play a critical role in delivering impactful exposome research and supporting infrastructure which will contribute to European competitiveness.