Living labs to monitor and mitigate carcinogenic substances in and originating from soils: Evaluating their effects on human cancer risks

¿De qué trata esta convocatoria?

The topic funds multi-actor living labs that remediate soils contaminated by carcinogenic substances and investigate links between soil pollution and cancer in humans. Each project sets up four to five living labs in at least three countries.

¿Qué financia esta convocatoria?

Scope

This joint topic of the Soil Mission and the Cancer Mission funds four to five research-centred living labs that work across land uses to remediate soils contaminated by carcinogenic substances, such as PFAS, heavy metals and pesticides, and to study how these substances reach people through air, water and the food chain and affect cancer incidence, mortality and prevalence.

Activities

• Co-implement locally adapted solutions to isolate, immobilise, reduce or eliminate carcinogenic substances in soils, and monitor their pathways in the soil-water-air system and the food chain.
• Set a soil baseline for each living lab, based on the indicators in the proposed Soil Monitoring and Resilience Directive.
• Analyse bioavailability and bioaccumulation in crops, identify critical exposure pathways and examine correlations with cancer data using human biomonitoring, modelling and cancer registries.
• Demonstrate technical, social, economic and environmental viability and scalability, identify sites that could become lighthouses and plan long-term financial sustainability of the living labs.

Financial support to third parties

Projects may provide financial support to small actors such as land managers, landowners, SMEs or civil society, for example for site management, monitoring, data collection, capacity building, equipment or compensation for loss of production.

Expected outcomes

Stronger participatory research capacity to co-create soil health solutions for contaminated soils and better understanding of the links between soil carcinogens and human cancer. Data should be FAIR and shareable through the EU Soil Observatory, the Cancer Data Space and the Common Data Platform for Chemicals.

¿Qué se espera de las propuestas?

• Projects should plan dedicated tasks and resources to collaborate with SOILL and the EU Soil Observatory.

¿Cuándo termina el plazo?

21 de septiembre de 2027 (319 días)

21 September 2027