ExposUM 2023 Call for Research Proposals: The Emerging Exposome

[Call for Proposals] - Published on December 9, 2022 under Major Programs, Flagship Projects

ExposUM is an initiative of the University of Montpellier and its partners¹ aimed at establishing a leading, cross-disciplinary, off-campus institute for the study, training, and science-society interaction regarding the environmental determinants of human health. A winner of the ExcellenceS (PIA4) call for proposals and supported by the Occitanie Region, ExposUM is funded to the tune of €46.4 million over the 2022–2030 period.

Background & Objective

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.

Research ExposUM Research Division aims to accelerate the acquisition of foundational knowledge through an interdisciplinary, coordinated, and integrated approach across the fields of exposome research, focusing on the following four pillars:

1. Strengthen the monitoring of environmental exposures,
2. To deepen our understanding of the ecology of hosts, pathogens, reservoirs, and vectors using a“One Health” approach,
3. To improve our fundamental understanding of biological mechanisms,
4. Study the consequences for human health.

Across the board, the “data science” dimension (in the broad sense) can be present in all pillars, both from a methodological perspective (new methods) and in terms of the use and application of results.

To this end, the ExposUM Institute will issue an annual call for research proposals, funded by the ANR and the Occitanie Region, through 2030. Each call for proposals will focus on a different theme—deliberately broad or multifaceted—relating to contexts, processes, patterns, or methods, and will include research falling under the four pillars mentioned above. However, projects are not expected to address all four pillars.

In line with the objectives set forth in the ExcellenceS call for proposals, the ExposUM Institute will strongly encourage transdisciplinary, South-oriented research projects, the initiation of new collaborations, and the promotion of local and regional resources (particularly technology platforms), although these aspects do not constitute eligibility criteria (see below). Finally, projects should, as much as possible, adhere to the open science approach by making the data generated easy to find, accessible, interoperable, and reusable (FAIR).

AAP 2023

The title of the ExposUM Institute’s 2023 Call for Proposals, proposed by its Research Steering and Evaluation Committee Research COER) and approved by its Scientific and Strategic Steering Committee (COSS), is“The Emerging Exposome.”

A component of the exposome (exposure(s) and any associated biological responses) is considered emerging if it exhibits, or is likely to exhibit in the future, at least one of the following properties:

• a previously unknown environmental issue (one that has come to light in recent years, e.g., microplastics),
• a recently updated spatial model (new contexts/areas of occurrence, sources, e.g., arboviruses),
• a recently altered temporal pattern (increased duration/frequency of exposure, or rate of propagation, e.g., blue light).

Submission Guidelines

The proposal should preferably be written in English using the template available online, following the instructions provided therein (note: no attachments will be accepted), and then submitted to exposum.sciencesconf.org (requires a Sciences Conf. account) (and sent as a backup via email, specifying [AAPR] in the subject line and copying the unit director) by the principal investigator (1 submission per project), as a PDF file named UMRName_PrincipalInvestigatorName.pdf, by April 7, 2023 (2:00 PM, Paris time).

Limiting the number of projects per unit

In the event that a large number of projects are submitted, unit directors are asked to limit the number of applications submitted according to the following tiers:

Expenses and total amount

Funding must be explicitly justified by the project and must be limited to between €100,000 and €300,000 for a maximum duration of three years. Eligible expenses include salaries (for early-career researchers, research engineers, but not doctoral contracts, which will be funded through ExposUM via a different mechanism), operating costs (note: laboratory “management fees” are not eligible) or equipment (with a limit of €10,000 for equipment). As these are ANR funds, they may only finance project-based staff (postdoctoral researchers, ITAs) within the consortium’s research units.

Non-consortium partners will only be eligible for funding through invoicing for services rendered (with the funds remaining under the management of the lead partner’s research unit).

Calendar

• Official opening: December 9, 2022
• Submission portal opens: February¹
• Deadline for project proposals: April 7, 2023, 2:00 p.m.
• Release of results: first half of July 2023
• Project start date: September 2023

Eligibility

Only applications that meet the following three criteria will be considered:

• The project must be led by a member affiliated with a research institution that is part of the consortium² of the experimental public institution. Research Support Units Research UARs) may not apply as principal investigators under this call for proposals, but may participate as project partners;
• The project must aim to generate knowledge related to the exposome —i.e., any environmental determinant of human health —and fall within the thematic scope of the current call for proposals. This alignment must be evident from the project summary;
• compliance with the funding rules for PIA4 projects as defined by the ANR (see https://anr.fr/fr/rf/) and those set forth in this call for proposals (see above).

Selection Criteria

Projects are evaluated in a single stage based solely on the submitted application (there is no round of responses to reports or interviews). The evaluation consists of a scientific component, which accounts for two-thirds of the total score, and a non-scientific component, which relates to the Institute’s and the site’s strategy.

The scientific evaluation will be conducted independently by two anonymous external reviewers, who may be selected from among the candidates suggested in the application, and who will assess the following aspects of the submitted project:

• its scientific merit and originality,
• its methodological strengths,
• its potential for impact (both fundamental and applied),
• its feasibility (in terms of the partners, timeline, and budget presented).

The peer review will be conducted jointly by two members of the COER and will focus on evaluating the following qualities:

• interdisciplinary collaboration, the establishment of new partnerships,
• the One Health approach, global health,
• partnerships in the Global South,
• the potential for use in healthcare,
• the application of the results to education and science-society engagement,
• capitalizing on local and regional resources, as well as other projects—whether submitted or currently underway—within the ExposUM scope.

Responsibilities of the Carrier

• comply, in the design and implementation of the project submitted in response to this Call for Proposals, the values and principles of scientific integrity intended to ensure the honesty and scientific rigor of all research work, as referred to in Article L.211-2 of the Research Code and set forth in the National Code of Ethics for Research Professions and the University of Montpellier’s Charter on Scientific Integrity,
• comply with the Nagoya Protocol, where applicable,
• include the logos of the University of Montpellier, France 2030, and the ExposUM Institute in all documents related to the implementation of the project,
• submit tothe Institute a midterm report and another report no later than two months after the project’s completion (financial statement and summary report), which may be used in the University’s communications materials in accordance with the template provided in the notification letter,
• apply the current UM publication guidelines to all scientific outputs; comply with the provisions related to open science and the Law for a Digital Republic (open access publication). The directors of UM-affiliated laboratories shall deposit the full text of publications in the HAL-UM open access repository,
• take the necessary steps to obtain the required research authorizations and approvals in regulated sectors (genetically modified organisms, the use of animals for scientific purposes, health data, the use of genetic resources and the sharing of resulting benefits, bioethics, etc.).

Results

Background of the Call

The ExposUM Institute’s first call for research proposals (CfR) was open for submissions from December 9, 2022, to April 7, 2023. The theme of this call for proposals, proposed by the ExposUM Institute’s Research Steering and Evaluation Committee Research COER) and approved by its Scientific and Strategic Steering Committee (COSS), was the emerging exposome.

In response to this call for proposals, the ExposUM Institute received a total of 38 research proposals, but funding was available for only 7 projects.

Selected projects

1. CIRAD, CNRS, Ifremer, INRAe, Inria, Inserm, IRD, ENSCM, Institut Agro, Montpellier University Hospital, ICM, Occitanie Region. ↩︎
2. See the list of eligible UMRs and platforms on the last page ↩︎

Keywords: call for proposals, I-SITE, Research