HDHL Food4Health's first Milestone

The main objective of the CSA HDHL Food4Health is to align common Research and Innovation (R&I) priorities among (national and regional) funding programmes by identifying research and policy needs, while continuing to align both with the Horizon Europe Partnerships and the needs identified by the European Commission. This includes identifying and addressing research gaps through joint research funding, and to stimulate the impact of research in practice and policy, contributing to the Sustainable Development Goals.

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Overall collaboration across different R&I initiatives and sectors is a key pillar of the CSA’s approach. By facilitating synergies between ongoing projects, partnerships, and other initiatives, HDHL Food4Health aims to break down silos within the European research and policy landscape. Whether through fostering coordination between HE Partnerships like ERA4Health, FutureFoodS, and AgroEcology, or aligning efforts across public and private sectors, the CSA maximises the impact of R&I activities. 

At the heart of HDHL Food4Health is the identification and prioritisation of R&I areas that address pressing challenges in the domains of nutrition, health, and the environment. By engaging a wide range of stakeholders, the project ensures that the research conducted is responsive to real-world needs. This collaborative mapping of priorities guarantees that R&I efforts are not only aligned with current challenges but also future-proofed to tackle emerging issues.

The R&I priorities will be enacted through at least one joint transnational research call. This call will be supported by the funding agencies of HDHL Member States and beyond. However, to best anticipate the research and policy needs, innovative funding mechanisms will be explored.

While most of the European and national initiatives are top-down, HDHL Food4Health will explore and connect to bottom-up governance approaches namely (national and European) citizens food policy councils. The objective here is to share best practices and recommendations with policymakers, and to channel the latest scientific insights and knowledge to citizen-driven initiatives in nutrition, health, and environment. In addition, HDHL Food4Health will stimulate societal uptake of results and tackle societal challenges related to healthy and sustainable food. The inclusion of the European and national food policy council concept aligns with this objective, offering a structured and impactful avenue for enhancing citizen inclusion and participation while also democratising R&I and knowledge development.

A central aspect of HDHL Food4Health is bridging the gap between scientific research and public policy. By fostering direct connections between research outputs and the policymaking process, HDHL Food4Health aims to create a feedback loop that ensures policies are informed by the latest scientific findings. Workshops and consultations with key policymakers and researchers facilitate this dialogue, helping to shape science-based policies that can address complex societal challenges. This alignment between R&I and policy ensures that the outcomes of scientific work have a real-world impact, from influencing regulatory frameworks to guiding public health strategies.

Besides stimulating the uptake of science in practice and policy, HDHL Food4Health will develop and utilise an impact framework. The R&I priorities will be identified through a co-creation approach by reflecting the OneHealth and Planetary Health approaches and the SDG2 'Zero hunger', SDG3 'Good health and wellbeing' and SDG12 'Sustainable consumption an production' and engaging diverse stakeholders’ perspectives, including those from HE Partnerships under Clusters 1 and 6.