Evidence-based interventions for promotion of mental and physical health in changing working environments (post-pandemic workplaces)
Programme Category
Programme Name
Programme Description
Horizon Europe is the European Union (EU) funding programme for the period 2021 – 2027, which targets the sectors of research and innovation. The programme’s budget is around € 95.5 billion, of which € 5.4 billion is from NextGenerationEU to stimulate recovery and strengthen the EU’s resilience in the future, and € 4.5 billion is additional aid.
Identifier Code
Call
Summary
Mental health and ergonomic-related problems affect a significant number of EU workers. Musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs) are one of the most common work-related health problems in the EU and workers and managers commonly identify stress, depression and anxiety as serious psychosocial outcomes of workplace exposures. Changes in the organisation of work can bring flexibility that allows more people to enter the labour force, but may also lead to psychosocial problems.
Some workplaces have either become exclusively virtual or they have evolved into a ‘hybrid’ model (e.g. multilocational working, home office), some work tasks and processes performed virtually and others requiring physical presence. A significant number of jobs are performed at clients’ premises or require workers to commute long distances and/or cross borders regularly. Data on how these affect their mental/physical health and well-being is scarce.
Detailed Call Description
Research actions under this topic should include several of the following activities:
- Provide adequate and robust data on the impact (positive and negative) that the ongoing changes in the workplace are having on the mental and physical health of different categories of workers and working sectors (e.g. teleworkers, cross-border commuters, gig economy workers, and vulnerable groups such as women, migrants and young and older workers with increased demonstrated risk for MSDs), including gender and intersectional analyses, where appropriate;
- Generate evidence (including data) not only on mental health, but also on mental well-being at the workplace and how changing work organisation due to the twin transitions and the pandemic affects workers’ work-life balance and work ability;
- Generate evidence (including data) on the importance of risk factors (such as stress caused by new working environments, static postures and physical inactivity, physically strenuous and highly repetitive work arising from the workplace design) in the development of chronic and acute diseases;
- Increase the understanding of the links between different health-promoting factors in the working-built environment and physical and mental health outcomes, and how these may be mutually reinforcing;
- Explore the health impacts of changing working times, including excessive and atypical working hours and work in different time zones that blur work from leisure time, limiting recovery. Effects should consider a wide range of diseases;
- Provide recommendations for effective interventions to prevent occupational risks and support the mental and physical health and well-being at individual (worker), organisation (employer) and policy (government) levels for different sectors/types of work, including an analysis on their cost-effectiveness, sustainability and barriers to implementation at national and/or EU level;
- Advance the development of a scientific framework addressing Occupational safety and health (OSH) across policies and sectors and support new and sustainable (future-proof) tools, guidelines and policies concerning the evaluation and design of physical and psychosocial work environment;
- Provide tools and approaches to anticipate new OSH risks, also taking account of lessons learnt from the COVID-19 pandemic, for instance in relation to digital technologies and associated new ways of working.
Call Total Budget
Financing percentage by EU or other bodies / Level of Subsidy or Loan
100%
Contribution per project: between €5,00 and €6,00 million
Thematic Categories
- Employment
- Health
- Research, Technological Development and Innovation
- Social Affairs & Human Rights
- Trade and Commerce
- Youth
Eligibility for Participation
- Associations
- Central Government
- Disabled Persons
- Economically Inactive Women
- Employees
- Employers
- Local Authorities
- NGOs
- Non Profit Organisations
- Other Beneficiaries
- Private Bodies
- Researchers/Research Centers/Institutions
- Semi-governmental organisations
- State-owned Enterprises
- Trade Unions
- Youth
Eligibility For Participation Notes
In recognition of the opening of the US National Institutes of Health’s programmes to European researchers, any legal entity established in the United States of America is eligible to receive Union funding.
- Public authorities and regulators
- Employers
- Organisations and social partners (e.g. trade unions and employer organisations)
- Workers – living with a chronic disease and/or recovering from a mental of physical health problem.
Call Opening Date
Call Closing Date
National Contact Point(s)
Research and Innovation Foundation
29a Andrea Michalakopoulou, 1075 Nicosia
P.O.Box 23422, 1683 Nicosia
Telephone: +357 22205000
Email Address: support@research.org.cy
Website: https://www.research.org.cy/en/
Contact Persons:
George Christou
Scientific Officer
Email: gchristou@research.org.cy
Ioannis Theodorou
Scientific Officer
Telephone: +357 22 205 038
Contact Email: itheodorou@research.org.cy
(Publish Date: 08/02/2023-for internal use only)
EU Contact Point
European Commission, Directorate-General for Research and Innovation
https://ec.europa.eu/info/departments/research-and-innovation_en#contact