europe
A scientist’s opinion: interview with Dr Gabi Lombardo on the importance of social sciences and humanities
“Social sciences and humanities unveil weaknesses of our societies and allow us to address them” Dr Gabi Lombardo is the Director of the European Alliance for Social Sciences and Humanities (EASSH), an advocacy and science policy organisation for social sciences and humanities (SSH) in Europe. She is an expert in both higher education and global ...
Dr Vanessa Harris on planetary health research: exploring the links between the health of humans and the health of ecosystems
Dr Vanessa Harris is an infectious diseases physician and Assistant Professor at the Department of Global Health, Amsterdam UMC, University of Amsterdam (UvA). Her research focuses on diarrheal diseases in children under the age of five, investigating environmental impacts on disease risk, prevention and vaccine performance in high-risk settings, and indirect effects of having diarrheal ...
The future of water availability and use in the EU: A STOA foresight study
Water is essential for life, food production, energy supply, and economic activity. Yet Europe increasingly faces a water crisis, with droughts and floods compromising both water quality and quantity across the continent. Climate change is already affecting water availability, and the situation is expected to worsen. Many EU regions face a growing mismatch between water ...
A multilingual news platform for better-informed EU citizens
Wouldn't it be great to be able to access foreign news in your own language? A recent STOA study explores the idea of a news streaming platform that could transform how EU citizens access information across linguistic boundaries. The ESMH spoke with the two main authors of the study from the Centre for Media Pluralism ...
Transparent and accessible global data critical for European researchers: Interview with Professor Thomas Hartung
The landscape of scientific research is shaped by global digital infrastructures, with critical databases in health, medicine, climate, and the social sciences. The dominance of foreign and commercial databases poses strategic vulnerabilities for academic freedom, innovation, and research continuity in Europe. What are the risks associated with this concentrated 'power' of some databases? And how ...
Long Covid: The ‘invisible illness’ people must learn to see
In Europe, Long Covid has impacted around 36 million people over the first three years of the pandemic. However, the disease’s complexity, novelty, and often invisible symptoms, combined with a lack of public understanding, have led to many patients being dismissed or doubted by doctors, policymakers, colleagues, and even their loved ones. As a result, ...
Interview with Frederico Guanais on Long Covid: ‘awareness and understanding are essential’
Frederico Guanais is Deputy Head of the OECD Health Division, where since 2019 he has led work on patient-reported indicators, health statistics, people-centred care, climate and health, support to health reforms, and regional initiatives in Latin America. The ESMH spoke with him ahead of the STOA workshop “Long Covid: Current Realities, Future Directions” where he ...
Interview with Gez Medinger: ‘We should discuss why Long Covid is such a significant issue – for healthcare but also for the economy’
Gez Medinger is an investigative science journalist and patient advocate for Long Covid. He became ill with Covid in the early days of the pandemic. When he didn't recover, Gez put his efforts into researching the novel condition of Long Covid and turning his YouTube channel into a huge resource for patients. The ESMH spoke ...