Objectives

The main goals of this WP are to (i) provide a preliminary estimate of the socioeconomic impact of EIRENE RI on national and international levels as a model for future evaluations, (ii) establish the procedure and Key Performance Indicators for evaluating the performance of EIRENE RI, and (iii) enhance stakeholders’ engagement in the EIRENE RI concept development, implementation, and operation. This includes the European and national authorities and funding agencies, potential EIRENE RI members and collaborators, users, and the public.

Tasks

T8.1 Socioeconomic impact (MU, all partners, M1-36)
of EIRENE RI will be assessed on the regular basis during the EIRENE RI implementation and operation using the “Research Infrastructures’ Impact Assessment Toolkit”. The socioeconomic benefits will be compared to EIRENE RI costs (specified in WP7) and the robust analysis will assess the net socioeconomic impact in the pilot assessment. We will combine quantitative approaches (e.g., macroeconomics modelling, cost-benefit analysis) and qualitative approaches such as narratives and case studies to address all relevant aspects and answer the key questions.

T8.2 Stakeholder engagement (VITO, all partners, M1-36)
The main EIRENE RI stakeholders' target groups include (i) direct RI users (horizontal cooperation), e.g. scientific community, exposome networks and projects, ESFRI RIs, HBM cohorts, PARC, chemical, biomedical and IT companies, and (ii) indirect users (vertical cooperation) making use of state-of-the-art policy-tools, e.g. EU/national environment and health administrations and organisations (EEA, ECDC, EFSA, ECHA, WHO Europe as well as relevant national bodies), policy-makers and NGOs, and (iii) strategic partners such as the national and EU authorities and funding agencies. They
will all be involved in the EIRENE RI Stakeholder forum and we will consider establishing also a Stakeholder Forum in each of the EIRENE RI national hubs. Annual meetings will update stakeholders on the EIRENE RI implementation on the European and national levels and provide an opportunity to discuss strategic developments. The potential EIRENE RI users will be specifically contacted in surveys on user needs during the preparatory and implementation phases. National stakeholders and authorities will be approached when major decisions shall be taken.

T8.3 EIRENE global engagement (ORU, all partners, M1-36)
Aside from the European stakeholders and research partners, we wish to broaden cooperation towards world-class research infrastructures in the exposome field to enhance the European leadership and response to emerging socioeconomic, scientific, and technological challenges at a global level. EIRENE RI will have an open policy towards global engagement and will periodically reach out to the international community through webinars, conference presentations, and other communication tools identified in chapter 2. The goal is to establish strong global exposome
research and infrastructural partnerships such as with pioneering institutions in North America (e.g. Columbia University, NIEHS) or Japan (NIES and the JECS cohort). We will also engage with international and inter-governmental organisations, such as the WHO and UN.

T8.4 Evaluation model of EIRENE RI (VITO, all partners, M1-36)