Call for Expressions of Interest: ExposUM “Science-Society Interactions”
Call for Expressions of Interest and Call for Regional Project Incubation: ExposUM.
Support for the visibility, communication, and dissemination of science-society initiatives by the I-SITE research community and its partners
To promote interdisciplinary projects1 with a territorial impact and networking among research and civil society actors, the ExposUM Institute is offering a new support program for research teams within the I-Site community and their partner organizations, to highlight their research on topics related tothe exposome, environmental health, or global health as they relate to territorial issues at the Science-Society interface. This support is intended for initiatives in the design phase (funding of exploratory actions to enable a future action-research project), in progress (funding for internships, surveys, or dissemination events to finalize a research project), or completed (promotion of the initiative through media, communication, and/or scientific dissemination).
Events must include at least one communication activity (conference, event, screening of a film or documentary) to highlight the initiative at the Science-Society interface and facilitate the sharing of transdisciplinary experiences across the I-SITE.
For further information, please feel free to contact Aurélie Binot, head of the Science-Society Interfaces research area, or Mariline Poupaud, the scientific support officer for the area.
Support Options
This call for expressions of interest, launched in April 2024 by the ExposUM Institute, will remain open until March 2025. Funding awarded for each project may be up to €8,000 (excluding tax).
Proposals may be submitted on an ongoing basis until December 23, 2025. An evaluation process will be conducted every three months by an ad hoc selection committee.
Background and Objectives
The ExposUM Institute2 is an initiative of the University of Montpellier and its partners3 centered on the concept of the exposome4 aiming to establish a leading, cross-disciplinary, off-campus institute for the study, training, and science-society interaction regarding the environmental determinants of human health. The Institute aims to provide an innovative conceptual framework for studying multiple environmental risks and their combined effects on human health through three areas of focus: generating knowledge, applying knowledge, and disseminating knowledge. Within the context of applying knowledge, a research focus on “Science-Society” interfaces supports and strengthens collaborations between researchers within the I-SITE network and other civil society actors ( local governments, associations and cooperatives, citizen groups, government agencies such as the Regional Health Agency, etc.) on research issues related to multiple environmental risks.
Eligibility Criteria
This call for proposals is open to any event—including the formation of research networks, seminars, study days, workshops, symposia, conferences, exhibitions, field surveys, and scientific events—focused on topics related to the exposome5, based on transdisciplinary approaches and involving scientific research in collaboration with civil society (public institutions, associations, private actors, etc.).
The event should aim to apply knowledge related to the exposome (any environmental determinant of human health in the broadest sense), that is, to define comprehensive mitigation strategies tailored to the local context and to encourage innovation by creating a “Science-Society” interface to promote the results. Events at the Science/Policy interface will be particularly appreciated.
Events must include at least one promotional activity (such as a conference, event, or screening of a film or documentary) to highlight the initiative.
Funding awarded by the ExposUM Institute will be paid directly to the winning research unit, or potentially to a non-profit organization through a service agreement (to be determined on a case-by-case basis—please feel free to contact us by email with any questions).
The scientific event must be led by a researcher who is a member of a research unit within the I-Site, with the approval of the director of the research unit.
Funding Disbursement Procedures and Eligible Expenses
Funding awarded by the ExposUM Institute will be paid directly to the winning research units or non-profit organizations (through service contracts). Co-funding from partner organizations, while not mandatory, is encouraged. Fees for participation in the outreach initiative (if applicable) must be affordable to a broad audience, including students.
Eligibility of expenses:
- Eligible expenses: operating expenses directly related to the conduct of the survey (small equipment, operating costs, travel expenses), internship stipends, services rendered, and the organization of an event (excluding high-profile events such as gala dinners and promotional items)
- Ineligible expenses: capital expenditures, management fees, indirect costs, salaries
Selection Criteria and Procedure
The selection will be made by a dedicated committee composed of the executive committee and the president of ExposUM’s COSS6 and three members of the I-Site with experience in transdisciplinary research. The committee will meet at least once every three months, at the end of each quarter. The following criteria will be considered:
- Proposal that must involve a research team from the I-Site and civil society actors focusing on the concept of the exposome.
- Relevance to the strategic priorities of the ExposUM Institute: establishing new partnerships, regional issues, the One Health approach, Global Health and Southern Health, and promoting the involvement of the humanities and social sciences.
- Ability to engage both experienced researchers and early-career researchers
- Efforts toward gender-balanced representation
- Credibility, amount, and relevance of the funding request
Submission Guidelines and Schedule
- Proposals may be submitted on an ongoing basis until December 23, 2025, to this email address, with the subject line [AMI Axis 2 ExposUM].
- Proposals must be written in French or English using the proposal form, in accordance with the instructions provided therein.
- Proposals will be evaluated once a quarter by the selection committee. Decisions will be communicated to applicants at the start of each new quarter (July 2024, October 2024, January 2025, April 2025).
- The initiative must take place within 6 months of notification of the award.
Responsibilities of the holder
Project leaders agree to:
- Include the logos of the University of Montpellier, France 2030, the ExposUM Institute, and the Occitanie Region in all documents and materials related to the initiative
- Submit a qualitative and quantitative report no later than 3 months after the initiative ends
- Provide the ExposUM Institute with access to the initiative’s deliverables (e.g., meeting minutes, video recordings, internship reports, survey results)
- For events, please provide the ExposUM Institute with a brief description (half a page) at least one month in advance, which may be used in the University of Montpellier’s promotional materials
Call for Proposals for Regional Projects (AIP) ExposUM “Science-Society Interactions”
This call for proposals closed in June 2024.
This funding was intended to support the development of a transdisciplinary action-research proposal, meaning one involving the academic sector and civil society actors—including associations, local governments, cooperatives, citizen groups, and government agencies such as the ARS, etc. Among the projects that received support through this call in 2024, two will be selected to receive more substantial funding in 2025 (a budget of €20,000 to €50,000 per project). For example, in 2024, two projects are being supported by ExposUM: one focuses on characterizing and raising awareness of the risks of tick-borne diseases in Occitanie, and the other on eco-citizen institutes for monitoring and understanding pollution, as well as the establishment of an institute in the Aude department.
- A transdisciplinary approach is based on conducting research and generating knowledge with society rather than for society, by engaging stakeholders in shared challenges (Seidl et al. 2013, Utrecht University Transdisciplinary Field Guide) ↩︎
- Winner of the ExcellenceS call for proposals (PIA4) and supported by the Occitanie Region ↩︎
- CIRAD, CNRS, Ifremer, INRAE, INRIA, Inserm, IRD, ENSCM, Institut Agro, Montpellier University Hospital, ICM, Occitanie Region ↩︎
- The exposome refers to the sum of an individual’s lifetime exposures to environmental and social factors, whose specific effects—combined with the individual’s intrinsic characteristics—underpin health as well as the onset, progression, and severity of infectious and noncommunicable diseases in humans. In this sense, it is the environmental counterpart to the genome, with which it interacts throughout an individual’s lifetime. ↩︎
- For example, environmental pollution, the link between water and health, vector-borne infectious diseases, air quality, preventive care, vaccination, public awareness… ↩︎
- https://www.umontpellier.fr/universite/projets-emblematiques/exposum ↩︎