ExposUM 2024 Call for Research Proposals: The Exposome and Major Societal Challenges

[Call for Proposals] - Published on November 9, 2023 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 interfaces related to 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 euros for the period 2022–2030.

Background & Purpose of the Call for Proposals

The exposome refers to the sum of all exposures throughout a person’s lifetime to environmental and social factors whose effects influence human health by causing, promoting, modulating, or preventing diseases, whether communicable or not. In this sense, it is the environmental counterpart of the genome, with which it interacts throughout an individual’s lifetime.

The Research Division Research the ExposUM Institute aims to support and accelerate the generation of foundational knowledge through an interdisciplinary, coordinated, and integrated approach across the fields of exposome research within the four pillars:

1. Strengthen the monitoring of environmental exposures,
2. To deepen our understanding of the ecology of hosts, pathogens, reservoirs, and vectors ( One Health approach),
3. To improve our fundamental understanding of the biological mechanisms that may be modulated by the exposome,
4. Study the consequences for human health.

Data science serves as a bridge connecting these pillars—both in terms of methodology and analysis, as well as in the application of results. A second bridge, consisting of the study and development of new exposure control strategies, completes this framework, which is integrated with the Interfaces and Training pillars.

It is in this context that the ExposUM Institute organizes an annual call for research proposals (AAP-R) co-funded by the ANR and the Occitanie Region. Each AAP-R focuses on a different theme—deliberately broad in scope—relating to contexts, processes, patterns, or methods, and encompassing research falling under the aforementioned pillars and bridges.

In accordance with the objectives set forth in the call ExcellenceS, the ExposUM Institute strongly encourages transdisciplinary research projects focused on the Global South, the initiation of new collaborations, and the promotion of local and regional resources (particularly technology platforms). Projects should, as much as possible, adhere to the open science approach, making the data produced easy to find, accessible, interoperable, and reusable (FAIR)².

Topic

The theme chosen by the ExposUM Institute for the 2024 Call for Proposals is“The Exposome and Major Societal Challenges.”

Some of the challenges of the^21st century are linked to our actual exposome (e.g. , chemicalpollution ) or our potential exposome (e.g., emergingpathogens ). Our exposome is altered directly by the causes of certain challenges (e.g., climate change), or indirectly by the solutions that may be implemented (e.g., feeding and housing 9 billion people by 2040). The spatial, temporal, or inter-individual (health and socioeconomic) heterogeneities of the exposome constitute an important dimension—both fundamental and applied—of numerous societal challenges (populations with limited access to care, the elderly, people with disabilities).

With this in mind, the ExposUM Institute seeks to support original transdisciplinary research projects that bridge the gap between basic research on the exposome and public health—in the broad sense of the One Health framework—as they relate to major societal challenges, whether or not these challenges are mentioned in this text, provided that the choice is explicit and sufficiently justified.

Calendar

• Opening: November 9, 2023
• Deadline: January 31, 2024, 2:00 p.m. UTC+1
• Release of results: the week of June 10
• Project start dates: Beginning in mid-July and no later than October 30, 2024
• Feedback on evaluations: First half of October

Funding Terms

For its 2024 edition, the ExposUM Institute has divided itsResearch three project categories: standard, support, and exploratory. A separate call for proposals will also be issued at a later date for the acquisition of research equipment to be installed at regional research platforms.

As a rough guide, the plan is to fund 3 standard projects, 4 support projects, and 4 exploratory projects under this call for proposals, with a total budget of two million euros.

Standard research projects

This category corresponds to the standard project format leading to the production of original results that can be utilized or published.

• Funding and duration: €200,000 over a maximum of two years
• Eligible expenses: salaries (for researchers, engineers, technicians, and assistants hired for the project); operating costs (business travel, supplies, internships, contracted services, publication costs, etc.); equipment
• Ineligible expenses: doctoral contracts (funded by the ExposUM Nexus program), administrative costs.

Supported research projects

This category corresponds to the standard research project, with the addition of full coverage of the researcher’s salary.

• Specific eligibility criteria: The candidate must have defended theirPhD thesis between 2017 and 2023 and have no more than two years of contract tenure (fixed-term researcher contract, ITA, or BIATSS at the IGR level) at the University of Montpellier as of September 2024. They must be capable of quickly assuming scientific responsibilities and aligning their work with the strategic interests of the ExposUM consortium partners (particularly in an international context). The candidate may be located off-site at the time of application but, in such cases, commits to joining the UMR with which they are proposing the research project, to which the funds will be allocated.

The candidate isactively seeking a tenured position within a unit of the ExposUM consortium.

The Human Resources Department at the University of Montpellier will review the application materials of the candidate.

• Funding and duration: €200,000 plus the project leader’s salary, for a maximum of two years
• Eligible expenses: salaries (for researchers, engineers, technicians, and assistants hired for the project); operating costs (business travel, supplies, internships, contracted services, publication costs, etc.); equipment
• Ineligible expenses: doctoral contracts (funded by the ExposUM Nexus program), salaries for tenured staff, administrative costs.

Exploratory research projects

These projects are designed to kickstart exploratory and innovative research, test hypotheses and approaches, and generate preliminary results that will inform future responses to larger-scale calls for proposals.

• Specific eligibility criterion: the exploratory and original nature of the project.
• Funding and duration: €50,000 over a maximum of two years.
• Eligible expenses: operating costs (business trips, supplies, internships, services, publication costs, etc.); equipment.
• Ineligible expenses: salaries, doctoral contracts (funded by the ExposUM Nexus program), administrative costs.

Eligibility criteria applicable to all three categories

Research projects must meet the following criteria:

The project must be led by a permanent or contract staff member affiliated with a research institution within the^consortium³ and employed by one of the consortium’s partners.  He or she must already be an official member of the organization in question—or become one by October 2024 at the latest—and, for contract staff, their contract with that organization must remain in effect until the project’s scheduled completion. The project may have one or more partner organizations. However, only organizations included in the list of eligible organizations for this call may receive funding under the project.

The project must aim to generate knowledge related to the exposome —i.e., any environmental (including social) 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.

Careers

• Funded staff may only be recruited from within the consortium’s research units
• Contract researchers will be hired by the UM

Submission Deadline and Submission Guidelines

Given the Institute’s evaluation capacity, the number of applications accepted is limited for research units as follows (maximum number of projects submitted as the lead institution, submitted per unit/University Hospital Federation (FHU)*, and per unit/FHU as the principal investigator ):

*Applications for FHU status are limited to members who are not affiliated with a research unit within the consortium. FHUs will therefore be considered units with fewer than 60 tenured faculty members. Generally speaking, a faculty member may apply only under their primary affiliation.

Professors researchers (EC/C), including hospital practitioners (PH) and permanent university hospital staff (MCU-PH, PU-PH).

The project proposal should preferably be written in English, based on the template and the proposed budget, and in accordance with the guidelines provided in those documents, depending on the selected project category.

Submissions must be made exclusively by emailing the project proposal in PDF format and the proposed budget in Excel format by January 31, 2024 (2:00 p.m. UTC+1)

• Name the PDF and Excel files as follows: Last Name First Name Researcher_Research Institution_Project Research.pdf,
• Please include the following in the email subject line: [AAP-R 2024] – Last Name First Name (Principal Investigator)_Name of Host Research, and CC the administration of the host research institution.

Evaluation & Selection

All projects will be evaluated based solely on the submitted file⁴.

The scientific quality of research projects will be assessed by the Research Steering and Evaluation Committee Research COER), which will also appoint an anonymous external reviewer (from France outside the Occitanie region or from abroad) for each project, based on the following criteria:

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

The scientific merit of the proposal will be evaluated by the Executive Committee (CoDir), in the strategic interest of the Institute, the site, and the partners, based on the following criteria:

• interdisciplinary approaches, the establishment of new partnerships,
• the One Health and global health dimensions⁵,
• south-facing,
• the potential for health translation,
• interaction with the training and science-society interfaces⁶,
• leveraging local (Montpellier) and regional (Occitanie) resources, as well as other projects⁷ within the ExposUM scope, whether funded or submitted,
• adherence to the open science approach implemented by the University of Montpellier.

For each category of research project, a ranking will be established by combining the two scores, weighted two-thirds for scientific quality and one-third for non-scientific quality.

The independent rankings for the three categories will then be submitted to the Scientific and Strategic Steering Committee (COSS) for project selection, within the Institute’s budgetary limits set for its 2024 calls.

In the event that the number of submitted projects exceeds the Institute’s standard review capacity, the Research Guidance and Evaluation Council Research COER) and the ExposUM Executive Committee (CoDir) reserve the right to conduct a preliminary screening based on the alignment of the abstract with the scope of the call.

Obligations of the carrier

• To adhere, 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, the ExposUM Institute, and the Occitanie Region in all documents related to the project’s implementation (publications, promotional materials, etc.).

• Please send to the Institute (), an annual report, and a final 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 a provided template. A project guide detailing management procedures and reporting requirements will be sent to the selected project leaders.
• Apply the current UM Publication Guidelines to all scientific outputs; comply with the provisions regarding open science and the Digital Republic Act ( open access publication). The directors of laboratories under UM supervision shall deposit the full text of publications in the open repository (https://hal.umontpellier.fr)
• 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.).

List of research institutions eligible for this call

ABSYS, AGAP, AIDA, AMAP, ANALYSES, ART-Dev, ASTRE, BC2M, BCM, BioWooEB, BRM, CBGP, CBS, CDE, CEE-M, CEFE, CEMIPAI, CEPEL, CERCOP, ChimEco, CRBM, CREAM, DEFE, DGIMI, DIADE, DiaScope, DMEM, ECO&SOLS, ECOTRON, EDPFM, EDSM, ESPACE-DEV, EuroMov, DHM, FHU Evocan 2, FHU Neurexpo, FHU Regenhab 2, FHU TIE, Forêts et Sociétés, G-EAU, GECO, Génopolys, GM, HortSys, HSM, IATE, IBMM, ICGM, ICSM, IDEDH, IDESP, IEM, IES, IGF, IGH, IGMM, IHD, IHPE, IMAG, IMAGINE, INM, INNOVATION, INTERTRYP, IPSiM, IRCM, IRIM, IRMB, ISDM, ISEM, ITAP, L2C, LBE, LBN, LDP, LEPSE, LICeM, LIRDEF, LIRMM, LISAH, LMGC, LPHI, LSTM, LUPM, Market Gardening, MARBEC, MISTEA, MIVEGEC, MMDN, MoISA, MRE, MRM, MSH, Sud, OREME, PCCEI, Pech Rouge, PHIM, PhyMedExp, QualiSud, Recycling and Risk, SantESiH, SELMET, SENS, SPO, Sys2Diag, TETIS, TransVIHMI, Vassal, VBIC

Governance of the ExposUM Institute

Executive Committee (CoDir): Éric Delaporte (Chair), Aurélie Binot (Interfaces), Charlotte Boullé (Training), Mircea Sofonea (Research).

Operations Team: Morgane Cottin, Camille Couralet, Noémie Moret, Elodie Suttling.

Scientific andStrategic Advisory Board(COSS): Jacques Mercier (Chair),Amaria Baghdadli, Bernadette Bensaude-Vincent, Pascal Demoly, Delphine Destoumieux-Garzon, Hélène Fenet, Didier Fontenille, Sylvain Gandon, Julie Pannequin, Denis Pesche, Coumba Toure Kane, Muriel Vayssier-Tarissat, Laurent Visier.

Research Guidance and Evaluation Committee Research COER): Manouk Abkarian, Anne-Muriel Arigon, Charlotte Boullé, Anca-Mirela Chiriac, Constance Delaby, Gauthier Dobigny, Elena Gomez, Christelle Gramaglia, Antoine Gross, Alexandre Hobeika, Nadine Laguette, Georges Lutfalla, Antonio Maraver, Anatja Samouelian, Mircea Sofonea (Chair), Jérôme Thireau, Annelise Tran.

Results

Background of the Call

The ExposUM Institute’s 2024 Call for Research Proposals (AAP-R), on the theme of “Exposome & Major Societal Challenges,” was open from November 9, 2023, to January 31, 2024. Approved by the COER and the COSS, this call aims to support transdisciplinary projects related to public health and major societal challenges.

Selected projects

1. CIRAD, CNRS, Ifremer, INRAe, Inria, Inserm, IRD, ENSCM, Institut Agro, Montpellier University Hospital, ICM, Occitanie Region. ↩︎
2. The list of commitments made by the sponsors is provided at the end of this document. ↩︎
3. See the list of eligible organizations on the last page. ↩︎
4. The procedure for this call for proposals does not include feedback to applicants or interviews. ↩︎
5. To qualify for this bonus, simply mentioning the One Health approach is not enough: the simultaneous examination of human, animal, and environmental health must be explicitly justified and central to the project. ↩︎
6. Simply involving students on internships or working on theses in the project, or engaging in routine scientific dissemination, is not sufficient to qualify for this bonus, which is intended for projects that align with the specific activities of the Institute’s other two research areas. ↩︎
7. This point is particularly important if the related project does not involve the same members and structures. ↩︎

Keywords: ExposUM, Research