Planetary Health Cluster Launch in Brussels

Planetary Health Cluster Launch in Brussels

BluePoint in Brussels was the venue of the two-day final event for H2020 project GoGreen Routes and the launch of Planetary Health Cluster which includes GoGreen Next, Planet4Health, Tulip, SPRINGS and MOSAIC. 

The opening address by chair of the GoGreen Next Advisory Board, Professor Craig Mahoney who provided an overview of the health and environment research context. Alex Mulet Indrayanti, a policy officer at DG Research and Innovation presented an overview of the EU planetary health research context with a look into the planetary health crisis and how other project clusters worked in the past.

Next, Suzanna Blesic described the Planet4Health multisectoral approach to adaptation and mitigation of adverse effects of vector borne diseases, environmental pollution and climate change on planetary health.

Finally, Uliana Kachnova presented on their ambitions of TULIP in developing evidence based scientific solutions and recommendations to cope with climate change and anthropogenic challenges. The overview of the sister projects  was brought to a close by Stéphane Hogan (Head of Unit HaDEA.A3 Health Research), brought the day to a close as he drove home the importance of clusters in the EU research context.

The European Commission was well represented by Paul Webb (Head Of Department for “Green Europe” research, REA) and Paula Lepori (Policy Officer for Nature-based Solutions at the European Commission, DGRI) with invited VIP’s including Paul O’Brien from the Permanent Representation of Ireland to the EU and Mayor, Marek Hattas, representing Nitra, a Slovakian city in the Varcities project.