Moulay Ismail University of Meknes has the mission to provide to its students a diversified training offer that would build their capacities to be ready to integrate the world of work. Also, the university promotes scientific research in several disciplinary domains, and has a remarkable experience in the field of environmental health, namely by the conduction of numerous research studies on exposure assessment to different environmental pollutants (i.e. pesticides, flame retardants, heavy metals, cytostatic drugs, air pollutants and particulate matters). One of the emblematic research projects conducted within the university on such field is the “Offspring Epigenome (PAPOE)” study that assesses the influence of parental pesticide intake during pregnancy on offspring DNA methylation status.

Contribution of UMI to BioNet

Within BioNet, Moulay Ismail University is the lead of the WP 2 on the State of the Art. Within this WP, UMI ensures the follow-up for the mapping of experiences in terms of research and education on environmental health and human biomonitoring in African universities and for revealing the needs and priorities of the African populations vis-à-vis the exposure to environmental health hazards. In this project, and as per its expertise in environmental health research, UMI supports and assists the African partners in the establishment of the training for capacity building in environmental and human biomonitoring (WP3) and in the effective implementation of the sentinel surveillance system in Africa (WP4).

Contacts

• Professor Samir El Jaafari [email protected]

Contacts

• Professor Salim Bounou [email protected]
• Professor Abdelghafour Marfak [email protected]

JU is a member of several national and international networks and a number of staff and students exchange and mobility programs. It has numerous international research projects and is working with a number of national and international organizations and universities.

Contacts

• Professor Kassahun Ebba Tadesse [email protected]
• Professor Gudina Terefe Tuscho [email protected]

As one of the 8 Research Universities in Ethiopia, HU is committed to advancing multidisciplinary teaching and learning, conducting problem-solving research, and delivering research-informed services to the community. The university has a proven track record of contributing to the country's development, with 63 collaborative projects (53 international and 10 local) involving 101 global and 91 local partners.

Contribution of HU to BioNet

The BioNet project is a valuable collaboration for HU, particularly for the Department of Environmental Health, which conducts research and teaches undergraduate and graduate students in areas such as toxicology, biomonitoring, air, water, and soil pollution, occupational health and safety, exposure assessment, and epidemiology. As one of the partners of the BioNet project, HU will play an active role in implementing online training for teachers and physicians on assessing environmental exposure in the population, as well as establishing a research team (WP3). The university will also implement a sentinel surveillance system for human biomonitoring in the country and work towards its sustainability by linking it to the national system (WP4). Additionally, HU will contribute to the dissemination of the project's findings and be part of establishing a Euro-African biomonitoring research team by the end of the project (WP5).

Contacts

• Professor Embialle Mengistie Beyene [email protected]
• Professor Beekam Kebede Olkeba [email protected]

These entities train students for Bachelor's and Master's degrees in the classical faculties and schools, Doctorates in the Faculty of Medicine and PhD in the doctoral schools. Student dissertations and theses are often the results of research work carried out by students under the supervision of lecturers. For the 2021-2022 academic year, 23,413 students are enrolled at UP. The total number of degrees awarded annually was estimated at 3,857 in 2019. As of March 2022, UP's staff includes 156 administrative staff, 247 teacher-researchers and 3 researchers.

UP also has 15 research laboratories. For the most part, these laboratories operate based on their founding decrees and/or internal regulations. Their research work is in line with the themes defined by UP's strategic research plan. Their scientific work also integrates the end-of-training research carried out by bachelor's, master's and PhD students in the Training and Research Units (UFR) and Doctoral Schools. Through its laboratories, UP has carried out a number of research and development projects funded by the European Union, the African Union, the Bill Gates Foundation, the International Foundation for Science, Belgium's Académie de Recherche de l'Enseignement Supérieur (ARES), the Fondation Wallonie-Bruxelles, the International Development Research Centre of Canada (IDRC), etc. UP is a beneficiary of the project "Euro-African Biomonitoring Network for the assessment of environmental exposure in population through universities and occupational health services" - BIONET financed by the Erasmus+ program ERASMUS-EDU-2022-CBHE.

Contribution of UP to BioNet

In this BioNet project, UP is contributing to:

• The assessment of the state of knowledge on biomonitoring for the evaluation of environmental exposure of the population through universities and occupational health services;
• the participation in various workshops and project activities;
• the capacity-building for its staff, political decision-makers and local players, as well as university academics;
• the collection and analysis of data to assess the environmental exposure of the population;
• the production of project deliverables and the capitalization of best practices.

Contacts

• Professor Janvier Egah [email protected]
• Professor Mohamed Nasser Baco

The UAC is home to the Institut Régional de Santé Publique, a training, research and service establishment dedicated to the health development of the countries in the region. The institute conducts research in public health, health development and health and the environment.

Contribution of UAC to BioNet

The beneficiary UAC of the BioNet project will participate in the preparation of a synthesis document ("State of the Art"), presenting the training and research projects already available and the studies on health and environmental biomonitoring and/or occupational biomonitoring carried out by the partner universities, based on the documentation provided by each university (WP2). In addition, the UAC will contribute to the development of materials and programs for teachers and trainers (WP3).

Contacts

• Professor Nonvignon Marius Kêdoté  [email protected]
• Professor Ghislain Emmanuel Sopoh [email protected]

Research and education of the highest international quality are at the core of AUs mission, and strong partnerships with our society are at the heart of the university’s activities. Thanks to its size and reputation as a leading research-intensive university, Aarhus University has strong impact and influence across the entire academic spectrum - locally, nationally and globally.

The Department of Public Health works to promote public health. We conduct research into the health challenges facing society – to promote health and to prevent, treat and alleviate disease.  The Public health department includes a vast network of experts in public health exposures and health who collaborate and share knowledge with citizens, decision-makers, business and industry, practitioners and other researchers – in municipalities, regions and both nationally and internationally.

Contribution of AU to BioNet

The role of AU within BioNet is to help connect European and African academics and health professionals specialized in environmental health to share and multiply their national and internal experience and expertise. Our work in BioNet is concentrated around workpackage 3 (Training) providing expertise in data collection and exposure assessment and in workpackage 5 (communication and dissemination) focusing mainly on development of dissemination tools, planning and executing the first study visit and training in Denmark in November 2023, to organize the first Euro-African Academic conference on sentinel surveillance and environmental health in Morocco at study end and to develop awareness campaigns to the public in the three participating African countries (Benin, Ethiopia, and Morocco).

Contacts

• Professor Vivi Schlünssen [email protected]
• PhD Anupa Rijal  [email protected]

The purpose of the LNS is to develop analytical and scientific expertise related to the prevention, diagnosis and monitoring of human diseases and to ensure the role of a national control or reference laboratory as well as to carry out forensic tasks. The institution also contributes to the development, harmonization and promotion of technical laboratory methods in close collaboration with local and foreign analytical laboratories. Within the scope of its responsibilities, the LNS also develops research and teaching activities in collaboration with ad hoc partners in Luxembourg and abroad. The Unit ‘Environmental Hygiene and Human Biological Monitoring’, as part of the Health Protection department, has strong expertise in indoor pollution, occupational hygiene and human biomonitoring.

Contribution of LNS to BioNet

The LNS is involved in the WP1 and WP3. The institution will work on standardized templates for the summary reports. Moreover, an online e-learning platform will be developed in collaboration with the University of Luxembourg, and the LNS will help develop 5 online training modules in FR and EN that will lead to certification.

Contacts

• Professor Ann Van Nieuwenhuyse [email protected]
• Dr. Radu-Corneliu Duca [email protected]

At the Faculty of Science, Technology and Medicine (FSTM), the Department of Life Sciences and Medicine (DLSM) is committed to reach excellence in research and education in Life Sciences. An important mission of the DLSM is to train the next generation of scientists and healthcare professionals by offering state-of-the-art teaching programs in Biology, Medicine and Nursing. DLSM research activities combine basic and translational, wet lab and computational research to address critical questions in human health and disease, with a focus on tumor biology.

Contribution to the BioNet project

Researchers and lecturers at the DLSM coordinate and are involved in teaching activities across all the study programs related to Biology and Medicine; teaching experience ranges from Bachelor to Master level in – among others - Molecular Medicine, Immunology, and Biochemistry. Institutions and lecturers have profound expertise in online training, the UL will therefore be responsible for developing an e-learning platform to host online training program for occupational health providers about human biomonitoring and occupational and environmental exposure.

Contacts

• Dr. Elisabeth Letellier [email protected]
• Dr. Martina Biehler [email protected]

The Knowledge, lnformation and Research (KlR) department of IDEWE consists of more than 20 researchers and consultants from a variety of research fields. Performing applied, practice-based research is part of the mission of IDEWE. The researchers specialize in the development, implementation and valorization of evidence-based and practice-oriented tools and services, inspired by the Human Design Thinking approach. ln addition, they provide data-driven insights to employers and employees in the various areas of well-being at work.

Contribution of IDEWE to BioNet

IDEWE is an associate partner of BioNet project and collaborates with KU Leuven to create the Human Sentinel Platform (HSSP). This platform is designed to investigate, develop, and implement international sentinel surveillance methods in support of human biomonitoring surveys. It provides an infrastructure for conducting surveillance, network establishment, and training the health professionals involved. BioNet is one of the active networks linked to this platform.

Contacts

• Professor Dr. Lode Godderis [email protected]
• Dr. Sofie Vandenbroeck [email protected]