On Tuesday, April 8th, and Wednesday, April 9th, the final event of the European H2020 Equal-Life project took place at the Municipal Health Service in Amsterdam. Equal-Life began in 2020 and is a collaboration between the Netherlands' National Institute for Public Health and the Environment (RIVM), which coordinates the project, and 22 partners from 11 European countries. It is part of the European Human Exposome Network (https://www.humanexposome.eu/).
Equal-Life investigates the influence of early exposure to physical and social environmental factors on children's mental health and cognitive development in later life stages. Over the past five years, data from nine cohorts and three school studies, encompassing a total of approximately 250,000 children from seven countries, have been harmonized and analyzed, and several in-depth studies have been conducted. The findings and the methods developed in this project are being made available to the public in the form of a toolbox.
The first day of the closing event was dedicated to sharing results with Equal-Life stakeholders. This day featured presentations on the key results of each work package as well as a demonstration of the developed toolbox. Dr. Sandra Coecke (Joint Research Centre, Italy) shared her vision on how exposome research can support EU policy, while René van der Ent (head of department) discussed the relevance of the project in relation to RIVM's work and goals. Two keynote speakers, Prof. Gary Evans (Cornell University, Ithaca, USA) and Dr. Piotr Toczyski (Maria Grzegorzewska University, Warsaw, Poland), responded in their presentations to Equal-Life's approach and findings from both scientific and preventative perspectives. The day concluded with a four-course dinner and celebration at the Volkshotel.
The second day was an internal meeting for the consortium members taking part. In addition to formal segments focusing on the planning and final reporting of the project, subgroup discussions were held to review the key findings and conclusions of the project as well as related recommendations. These are to come and will be available on this website and the Equal-Life Toolbox.