Third ETAIN General Assembly: Comprehensive Updates and Advances in RF-EMF Research and Applications

During the first week of June we had the third General Assembly of the ETAIN project at the Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute in Basel. For three days, all of the partners got together to discuss developments across all project work areas.

The first day session started with introductions of the new PhD candidates who have joined the project over the past year. This was followed by an overview of the Clue-H Cluster, in which ETAIN is part along with NextGEM, GOLIAT, and SEAWave projects. 

After these initial presentations, the focus shifted to the updates from all Work Packages, starting by 1 (WP1). The session included presentations on the current state of the RF-EMF exposure app and portal along with a demonstration of the EMF Monitor app by Games for Health, who encouraged the consortium to use the app for RF-EMF measurements in Basel during the assembly. The partners in charge of WP1 also shared relevant information about calibration functions, dose calculator updates and enhancements in exposure mapping. The session concluded with a workshop hosted by Swiss TPH aimed at gathering insights to refine the exposure portal, app, and dose model before public release.

The second day featured presentations from the other work packages. WP2, represented by Ghent University, Universiteit Utrecht, Swiss TPH, and Eindhoven University of Technology, shared their latest findings on RF-EMF exposure and the development of an integrated dose model for real-life population-based scenarios. This model aims to enable exposure reductions and predict future exposure patterns, and a beta version is already available at the project’s website.

WP3, led by the University of Ghent and Eindhoven University of Technology, is focused on innovative exposure reduction techniques, sharing data from indoor and outdoor RF-EMF measurements to inform exposure-aware network design and its impact on network performance. During the assembly, the latest findings on the impact of user height and vegetation on exposure were shared, derived from an RF-EMF experimental measurement setup.

WP4 presentations involved multiple partners including the University of Ghent, Agricultural University of Athens, Hellenic Agricultural Organization Dimistra, Cyprus University of Technology, Universiteit Utrecht, and Fields at Work. They shared updates on their tasks aimed at quantifying the effects of RF-EMF on insect pollinators through 3D electromagnetic models and assessing the impact on biodiversity, development, and insect fitness. These studies are also being conducted on live insects through bee hive exposure measurements set up in Greece. The goal of these studies is to determine the effects of RF-EMF on bee behavior, with the aim of providing information to policymakers about the effects that 5G antenna setups have.

WP5 focused on the latest findings on the impact RF-EMF has on other insects, such as fruit flies. Fields at work, along with CNRS, showed the different equipment that is being used for the experiments that they are doing.

WP6, led by Universiteit Utrecht, highlighted updates on planetary health, exploring the interconnections between environmental, insect, and human RF-EMF exposure and assessing how technological advances influence exposure patterns over time. The work package leaders experts introduced the methodology they will be implementing to develop an RF-EMF framework that will be helpful in providing answers about planetary health.

WP7, managed by Ideas for Change, presented a new internal communication strategy and introduced a new social media channel for the project on Instagram. They also shared updates on the ETAIN APP teaser, the latest newsletter, and recent blog posts. An upcoming video piece focused on the app, exposure mapping, and the dose calculator was announced and a specific AV team did several interviews and field recordings to the involved experts, in order to advance the production of the new chapter. The day concluded with an engaging open science workshop led by Universiteit Utrecht.

The last day of the general assembly began with a workshop on scaling the app led by Ideas for Change. The session was divided into two activities. It started with stakeholder mapping where each partner identified key stakeholders to enhance the app’s launch campaign. This was followed by brainstorming sessions on multiplier activities to identify communities, events, and groups that could be receptive to adopting the app.

The General Assembly concluded with feedback from representatives of the International Advisory Board who attended the event and a joint lunch.

The next project meeting is scheduled for June next year in Thessaloniki, Greece. See you all there!