Equal-Life will develop and test combined exposure data and their impact on children’s mental health and development using a novel approach to multi-modal exposures.
A combination of birth cohort data and data from school studies with new sources of exposure data will provide insight into aspects of physical and social exposures not yet investigated. Different levels of exposures and timeframes will be investigated while accounting for the differences in the distribution of exposures in social groups based on gender, ethnicity and social vulnerability.
The work in Equal-Life will be done in twelve work packages (WPs). An overview of the interconnection between these WPs is shown in the overview below. Also, details on each WPs can be found by clicking on pictures below.
Overview of work packages within Equal-Life
WP1 Mechanisms
The main objective of WP1 is to develop conceptual models of the mechanisms of how the physical and social environment impact the mental health and cognitive development in children and young adults aged 0 to 21 years.
WP2 Internal exposome
The main objective of WP2 is to discover novel internal biomarkers in relation to children’s mental health. The specific focus lies in the discovery of proteomic, metabolomic and DNA-based biomarkers in bodily fluids.
WP3 Physical exposome
The main objective of WP3 is to construct an enriched description of the external exposome by developing detailed data and new, open-source models for the built- and natural- environments, air pollution, and noise. The specific focus lies in the discovery of proteomic, metabolomic and DNA-based biomarkers in bodily fluids.
WP4 Social exposome
The main objective of WP4 is to develop a conceptual framework to help us understand how social characteristics and disadvantages affect inequalities in environmental exposures and differential environmental exposure effects on mental health among children and young people.
WP5 Multimodal data collection and enrichment
The main objective of WP5 is to develop novel methods for exposome data collection and enrichment, based on new and complementary data sources thereby offering new insight into aspects of the built and natural environment that are not covered by conventional datasets.
WP6 Integrative data analysis and modelling
The main objective of WP6 is to develop and apply machine learning and other statistical methods to model the relation between exposome and mental health and cognitive development in children including moderation and mediating effects.
WP7 Health data match and health effect analysis
The main objective of WP7 is to study the mental health impacts of the integrated exposures using a range of cohort data. This will be accomplished by means of untargeted and targeted evaluation of the role of multiple exposures.
WP8 Stakeholder involvement and preparation of interventions
The main objective of WP8 is to involve stakeholders (e.g. cities, knowledge institutes and NGO’s) and international experts during the lifetime of the project to develop evidence-based health policies and data-driven interventions for mental health and to give the context for co-design that leads to the Equal-Life Tool that will be implemented in WP9.
WP9 Tools, training and implementation
The main objective of WP9 to develop the Equal-Life Toolkit, a “living” software and documental toolkit including innovative approaches, technologies and methods to exploit exposome implementations during the project and to enable generalization and repeatability of the approach in future implementations.
WP10 Management and dissemination
The main objective of WP10 is to facilitate swift and effective progress of the work including data management and dissemination of results.
WP11 Cluster activities
The main objective of WP11 is to facilitate cluster activities among Equal-Life and the other 8 projects within the European Human Exposome Network.
WP12 Ethics requirements
The main objective of WP12 is to set out the 'ethics requirements' that the project must comply with.