EuroDISH: Studying the need for food and health research Infrastructures in Europe

Summary

EuroDISH: Determinants.  Intake.  Status. Health

Europe is suffering an increasing incidence of diet-related public health problems, including obesity, heart disease, stroke, cancer, type 2 diabetes and mental disorders. The European Union (EU) and its member states, therefore, face major challenges in promoting health and reducing this disease burden.

Improving health through lifestyle, food and nutrition can help combat such issues but high quality research to design effective strategies is required. EU-wide research collaborations and innovations are essential to improve the efficiency of the, mainly public, research resources and will provide competitive advantage at the global level. To support this, EuroDISH will assess the current needs for food and health research infrastructures in Europe.

Research infrastructures are facilities, resources or services which support the scientific community to conduct top-level research.

They can be divided into:

  • hard research infrastructures; major buildings, equipment and instruments, knowledge-containing resources (e.g. e-platforms and data banks), and
  • soft research infrastructures; unique data management, interpretation and handling capacities, harmonisation of data and procedures, training staff, professional networks and knowledge transfer.

EuroDISH is a three year project funded under the EU 7th Framework Programme. It will focus on the integration of existing food and health research infrastructures, as well as the development of new ones. It will consider the needs of different stakeholders, such as EU and national policy makers, and researchers from a range of disciplines in both the public sector and industry.

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