Spring 2022
Join us at our 2nd ISEE South Eastern & Eastern Europe Networking Event To foster environmental health research in these regions the ISEE Europe Chapter is hosting the 2nd Networking event on June 10 from 3.00 - 4.30 PM CEST. We would like to invite participants to propose short presentations on current projects or project ideas in the regions. The network will provide opportunities to find partners and to discuss issues related to environmental health in your country. We look forward to have a broad range of representatives from South-Eastern and Eastern Europe as well as participants from other regions of Europe who are interested in collaborating with researchers from the region. You can register for the event here. More details will be provided on our website. Give-away: The ISEE Europe chapter will sponsor three registrations for the ISEE 2022 annual conference in Athens including conference dinner (travelling costs and accommodation are not included) and one-year memberships. Winners will be randomly selected among participants who are eligible. 3rd Successful Webinar on Climate Change and Health The global scale, complexity and urgency of climate change is changing the way we live and inevitably, the way we do research. From the types of data we collect, to the methods we use and the way we communicate them to the world. This is why the ISEE Europe Chapter has put together a series of 3 webinars that will address each of these aspects and provide resources to better equip researchers to continue fighting climate change. In the third webinar "New data sources and applications” were explored. If you missed the webinar, but want to learn more about it, check out the recording on ISEE's YouTube channel here. 
ISEE 2022 Early Morning Session accepted: "Air Pollution and Health: The Case of Central and Southeast Europe" TMost of the population of Central and Southeast Europe lives in areas where air quality is poor, and in many countries, the annual EU Air Quality Limit Values as well as the World Health Organization guidelines for PM2.5 are exceeded. However, the discourse related to air pollution remains focused on issues most pertinent to countries in Western Europe, and there has been insufficient attention to the research and policy needs of the Eastern and Southeast Europe region. As air quality data have become more accessible, public attention on the issue has increased in the region. At the same time, there are very few studies on the effects of long-term exposure to air pollution, and the field of environmental epidemiology remains nascent. The early morning session aims to examine the current epidemiological evidence on the health effects of air pollution in the region, present main challenges and barriers for air pollution epidemiology, and main gaps in knowledge, as well as identify opportunities for research and collaboration. ISEE European chapter activities at ISEE 2022 The ISEE Europe chapter is planning activities at the ISEE 2022 conference. Please keep an eye on the meeting agenda for the specific activities and times. We look forward to meeting many of you in Athens! 
RESPIRAMi international seminar "Recent Advances on Air Pollution and Health" on June 17-18, 2022 On June 17-18 the 4th RESPIRAMI international seminar on "Recent Advances on Air Pollution and Health" will take place in Milan, Italy. This meeting gathers the most distinguished global experts and prompts them to present their recent and mostly unpublished data on the progress of science towards tackling the global issue of outdoor and indoor air pollution. The event is free and can be attended in person or via streaming, but registration is required. For more information and registration, click here. ISEE Engagement in the Health Impact Assessment for the Revision of the EU Ambient Air Quality Directive Health impact assessment (HIA) and cost-benefit analyses play a major role in the ongoing revision of the EU Ambient Air Quality Directive, providing important estimates of disease burden of air pollution in Europe and its cost. Currently, the European Commission is using the linear relative risk estimates from the new 2021 WHO Air Quality Guideline systematic reviews for estimating the health impact. These relative risk estimates are based on studies from all areas of the world, including high exposure areas, and include studies up to and including 2018, missing out on the latest evidence. During a stakeholder workshop organized by the European Commission on April 4, 2022, members of the ISEE Europe Chapter, the ISEE Policy Committee, and the European Respiratory Society (ERS) Environment and Health Committee pointed out the rationale and importance of using the latest and most relevant information on the relationships between air pollutants and various mortality and morbidity outcomes from studies conducted at European levels of exposure. This expert opinion was reinforced in a letter sent to the European Commission in early April. In a follow-up letter, ISEE and ERS have presented specific sensitivity analyses based on meta-analyses of PM2.5 and NO2 estimates from the ELAPSE study. These analyses find substantially stronger associations of with all-cause mortality than those reported in the WHO meta-analyses, in line with other most recent European studies published since 2018. Furthermore, ISEE and ERS have offered to meet and discuss the rationale behind the presented strategy for sensitivity analyses with the Commission, hoping to ensure that the HIA, that will serve as basis for ongoing revision of Ambient Air Quality Directive, is based on the most updated and most relevant evidence for European context. 
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