RE-MEND will be presented at the upcoming Brain Innovation Days, set to take place in Brussels on 13-14 November 2024 and organised by European Brain Council (EBC) in collaboration with HaDEA, European Health and Digital Executive Agency. Prof. Joëlle Rüegg, Coordinator of RE-MEND will give an overview of the project and its main achievements so far.
Under the overarching theme "Navigating the Brain Across a Lifetime", the programme will include a wide array of sessions, including plenary sessions, inspiring Brain Talks, Poster and Innovation Showcase, matchmaking and networking activities, Pitch Competition, breakout sessions, panels, and other inspiring sessions formats.
For more information about the event, please visit the event’s website here.
September 2024 emerges as the perfect time to start disseminating the first results of the RE-MEND project, with events taking place in Brussels and Vienna.
Prof. Joëlle Rüegg, Coordinator of RE-MEND, from Uppsala University will present the RE-MEND project at the “From Lipidomics to Mind” event organized by the EpiLipidNET COST Action 12 September 2024 in Brussels. The event will also include engagement in discussions with Members of the European Parliament as well as dialogue with various stakeholders.
Angelika Augustine from Bielefeld University will present RE-MEND’s work on communication research in the DGP conference 17 September 2024 in Vienna. The German-speaking conference is targeted to psychologists and her presentation title is: “Nature and Nurture: The effect of gene-environment frames on stigmatization of depression.”
For more information about the conference, see here.
The RE-MEND Hop-on project with the integration of the Widening partner, University of Aveiro, aims to bring into the RE-MEND project new “Omics” layer, (Epi)Lipidomics, allowing a larger coverage of the different molecular levels and metabolic pathways that play a role in the individual resilience to mental health.
The Hop-on partner’s expertise in (Epi)Lipidomics and the addition of state-of-the-art technologies will lead to a deeper understanding on the entire biochemical processes and biological mechanisms that underly the disease process of mental illness and will increase the opportunity to identify a panel of clinically relevant biomarkers.
The Lipidomics Lab at University of Aveiro pioneered the (Epi)Lipidomics analysis in Portugal is one of the few research centres that perform (Epi)Lipidomics in Europe. As the Widening partner into RE-MEND, University of Aveiro will contribute to looking in detail to the lipid disorders in anxiety and depression and by enhancing the multiple layers of biological information, this will contribute to resolving the complexity of mental illness.
The Hop-on facility allows research institutions from Widening countries to join already ongoing R&I actions under Horizon Europe after a successful evaluation of the proposal. As RE-MEND already has a widening partner, the project is unable to consider further hop-on applications.
The RE-MEND project organised its first Annual Meeting in Italy, Pozzuoli, 25-26 January 2024. The meeting gave an overview of the project progress and advancement of the various tasks. In addition, a poster exhibition provided a great opportunity to showcase first results and engage in discussions with early-career researchers. Also updates and plans on management and dissemination activities were presented and discussed. The breakout sessions drilled into the challenges, future plans and details of the work which were shared and further discussed in the plenary on the last day of the meeting.
The first results generated within the project have demonstrated the validity of project’s integrated approach and high level of ambition, as these were highlighted also in the comments of the advisory board. It was summarised that overall, the project is progressing well and is largely on track in terms of its tasks and timeline.
The next annual meeting will be held in Sweden in 2025.
To mark World Mental Health Day on 10 October 2023, the European Commission held a high-level conference in Brussels, hosted by Stella Kyriakides, European Commissioner for Health and Food Safety. The event brought together hundreds of representatives from the EU institutions, national governments, international organisations and other participants to raise awareness of the new approach, hear from experts and those with lived experience, and to exchange on good practices on the following topics:
RE-MEND welcomes the Communication from the Commission on a comprehensive approach to mental health. The mental health strategy adds a pillar to the European Health Union and aims to ensure a new cross-sectoral approach to mental health issues. The EU action on mental health will focus on three guiding principles: 1) adequate and effective prevention, 2) access to high quality and affordable mental healthcare and treatment, and 3) reintegration into society after recovery.
RE-MEND appreciates that the Communication emphasises mental health as an integral part of health and recognises the multifaceted risk factors of mental-ill health. The planned actions will cover a broad range of policies and include efforts, e.g., in the areas of promoting good mental health through prevention and early detection, investing in capacity building, protecting children and the young and addressing vulnerable groups.
Read more about the EU action on mental health here.
The Project kick-off meeting was held 25-26 January 2023 in beautiful Sigtuna, Sweden. The meeting brought together all the Consortium members, 16 participating organisations, and paved a way for common understanding and interlinkages between the different work packages around which the project is organised. The work focused on the information and workflows between the different tasks as well as management aspects to facilitate coordination. The meeting was a success for planning of the work and kick-staring the in-depth discussions. It also provided a great opportunity to get to know all the members of the interdisciplinary and international consortium.
The RE-MEND flyer is now available, summarising the integrated approach that RE-MEND takes on mental health.