2nd CLUE-H meeting in Heraklion
On October 12, 2023, the 2nd CLUE-H meeting was held in Heraklion, Crete, Greece, at the premises of the Foundation for Research and Technology – Hellas (FORTH).
The primary objective of the event was to provide a comprehensive overview of the progress made by CLUE-H to date. A delegation from ETAIN, one of the four research consortium projects in the cluster, was present at the meeting to share the project's developments with everyone.
The session began with presentations from representatives of the EC DG SANTE & DG RTD. Rita Araujo, Policy Officer at the EC Directorate-General for Research and Innovation, presented the EU framework programs for research and innovation in Environment & Health. Alexander Gabilondo, Policy Assistant at the EC Directorate-General for Health and Food Safety, provided an update on the policy regarding electromagnetic fields and the Council Recommendation. Theodoros Samaras, a professor at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki (AUTH) and part of the SEAWave project, concluded the presentations by sharing his views on SHEER and presenting the CLUE-H Cluster highlights.
Throughout the day, representatives from each project within the CLUE-H cluster gave overviews of their developments:
NextGEM, presented by Nikolaos Petroulakis.
GOLIAT, discussed by Mònica Guxens.
ETAIN, overviewed by Anke Huss.
SEAWave, highlighted by Theodoros Samaras.
The event included five working group sessions focusing on key topics for the cluster:
WG1 – Science Translation for Policy and Practice, led by SEAWave.
WG2 – Data Management and Exchange, led by NextGEM.
WG3 – Communication and Dissemination, led by ETAIN.
WG4 – Experimental Studies, led by NextGEM.
WG5 – Exposure Assessment, jointly led by GOLIAT and SEAWave.
In the latter part of the session, several research scientists presented their findings. Gemma Castaño from GOLIAT shared insights from a multicountry survey on the use of communication devices among young people. Brahim Selmaoui, also from GOLIAT, discussed the impact of 3.5 GHz 5G signals on electrical brain activity in healthy volunteers through a controlled randomized study.
Mariateresa Allocca from NextGEM characterized a 5G in vitro exposure system based in a reverberation chamber from a biological perspective. Erdal Korkmaz, working along NextGEM too, presented instruments for emulating environments for 5G RF-EMF.
Pieterjan De Boose from ETAIN focused on the numerical quantification of RF-EMF exposure to insects. Nekane Sandoval Diez, part of ETAIN too, discussed the development of an open-access smartphone application for RF-EMF exposure assessment, including an app description and pilot results.
Finally, Serge Bories and Taghrid Mazloum from SEAWave introduced the DEVIN device, and Christoph Böhmert from SEAWave presented studies on 5G perception.
The meeting served as an essential platform for knowledge exchange and collaboration among experts and researchers in the field of electromagnetic fields and human health, contributing significantly to the ongoing progress of the CLUE-H initiative.
Next steps:
From April 7 to 12, 2024, at the Ettore Majorana Foundation (Erice, Sicily, Italy), the CLUE-H European Cluster EMF and Health, along with BioEM, will organize the 10th course of “Electromagnetic fields and health - epidemiological approaches”.
