Our current biosciences projects
EASAC is the voice of independent science advice, mobilising Europe’s leading scientists to guide EU policy for the benefit of Society.
Meat Alternatives
The project (chair, Bert Rima) will examine nutritional, health and environmental impacts and the accompanying technological, regulatory and societal challenges of recent progress in developing meat alternatives. There will be particular focus on the applications: cultured meat; plant-based substitutes; insects for food and feed; and fermentation products. Applications will be assessed in the context of objectives for greater resilience of food systems, and project outputs will focus on using the scientific evidence to inform policy options.
The Working Group has been constituted and contacts initiated with policy makers and other stakeholders. A project report is anticipated in 2024.
Artificial Intelligence and Health
The joint project with FEAM (EASAC co-chair, Andre Knottnerus) will base its discussion on case studies to explore how the added benefits of AI-incorporated health products and services can be evaluated for adoption into health care use. Outputs will assess where new guidance or regulation is desirable, taking into account existing legislation and regulatory frameworks in development. Key issues to be addressed include: data quality and uncertainty; interoperability and federation of datasets; validation of algorithms; ethical issues and responsibilities, including privacy and security.
A scoping paper has been finalised (January 2023) and will be discussed with other stakeholders and policy makers during 2023, preparatory to the constitution of the joint Working Group, anticipated to report in 2024.
Continuing follow-up to previous projects (January 2023 - )
Including:
- Climate change and health.
- Sustainable food and nutrition security and agriculture.
- International sharing of personal data for health research in the public sector.
- Genome editing applications.
- Infectious diseases, e.g. COVID-19; antimicrobial resistance.
- Regulation of health interventions, particularly with regard to adequacy of evidence base.
- Other issues for biosciences research and innovation, e.g. Gain of Function studies; use of animals in biomedical research.
Member Academies
