PIANOFORTE: The European Partnership for Radiation Protection Research

Background

As a European partnership, PIANOFORTE coordinates the research activities in radiation protection within the participating member states, aiming to promote scientific excellence and innovations in radiation protection. The partnership builds on its predecessor program, the European Joint Programme CONCERT for Radiation Protection Research (EJP CONCERT) which was coordinated by the BfS and aligns with various thematic aspects of radiation protection and especially with the implementation of Directive 2013/59/EURATOM. In accordance with this European directive, PIANOFORTE supports enhanced protection of both humans and the environment from ionising radiation and develops recommendations and best practices in radiation protection.

Aims of the partnership

The aim of the PIANOFORTE Partnership is to consolidate an EU-wide research and innovation community in the field of radiation protection to support EU and national authorities and to ensure progress with new knowledge, innovative methods and technologies to address current knowledge gaps, societal concerns and emerging issues in radiation protection.

PIANOFORTE specific objectives:

1. To innovate in ionising radiation based medical applications combating cancer and other diseases by new and optimised diagnostic and therapeutic approaches improving patient health and safety and supporting transfer of the R&I outcome to practice.
2. To improve scientific understanding of the variability in individual radiation response and health risk of exposure.
3. To support regulations and implementation of the BSS and improve practices in the domain of low dose exposures of humans and the environment by better understanding and reducing uncertainties in risk estimates.
4. To provide the scientific basis to recommendations, procedures and tools for assuring better preparedness to response and recovery from a potential radiological event or nuclear accident and to improve the know-how to manage legacy sites.
5. To maintain a sustainable expertise capability on radiation protection issues across the EU by fostering the availability, the use, and the sharing of existing state-of-the-art infrastructures at European level and beyond, and conducting education and training activities.
6. To involve all the relevant stakeholders at the different stages of the implementation of research projects and assure efficient dissemination, knowledge management and uptake of results

Implementation

The partnership supports multidisciplinary research projects by three open calls for proposals, funds training and education activities, facilitates the shared use of research infrastructures in Europe and connects relevant stakeholders. The activities of the partnership thus contribute to the implementation of European policies and ensure the exchange of knowledge and ideas between research, policy, industry and society.

Working programme

PIANOFORTE is built around 9 work packages (WP) which facilitate to improve radiation protection in accordance with the European Basic Safety Standards Directive (BSS). The individual work packages are targeted to specific activities like the organisation of the open calls for research proposals, education and training or dissemination and stakeholder-oriented activities.

The BfS leads the work package for stakeholder engagement (WP3) which in particular aims to involve the project-external stakeholders.

Work packages

• WP1 Management and coordination: Ensure proper coordination across tasks and partners in order to achieve the overall project objectives (IRSN)
• WP2 Research and innovation projects: Definition of research priorities for radiation protection research based on the specific objectives defined and according to the research agenda (STUDIECENTRUM VOOR KERNENERGIE (SCK-CEN, Belgium)
• WP3 Stakeholder engagement: Connect the diverse set of relevant stakeholders within and outside the radiation protection community (BfS)
• WP4 Education and Training: Maintain existing and develop new competences in radiation protection (STOCKHOLMS UNIVERSITET (SU), Sweden)
• WP5 Infrastructures and data management for radiation protection research: promote access, joint use and harmonised quality standards for research infrastructures (DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH (DH), Great Britain)
• WP6 Knowledge management, communication, dissemination and impact creation: Assure effective communication between the consortium partners, the research community, key stakeholders and the public (STÁTNÍ ÚSTAV RADIAČNÍ OCHRANY v.v.i. (SURO), Czech Republic)
• WP7 Organisation and management of Open Calls: Launch and Manage three international open research calls based on the given research priorities (NARODOWE CENTRUM BADAN I ROZWOJU (NCBR), Poland)
• WP8 Ethics requirements: Set out the 'ethics requirements' that the project must comply with (IRSN)
• WP9: Implementation of the research projects funded by the PIANOFORTE Open Calls

Funding

PIANOFORTE has a duration of 5 years. The partnerships’ total budget amounts to estimated € 45 million which is financed by the Euratom research and training programme by 65 % and by member states and associated countries by 35 %. PIANOFORTE is funded in the frame of the HORIZON-EURATOM-2021-NRT-01 call and currently unites almost 100 project partners from 22 European countries.