UU seeks citizen science researchers for healthy living research

We already know a lot from previous research, for example that air pollution and too much noise are not good for health, but exercise and a green environment are," says Anke Huss, researcher at Utrecht University's Faculty of Veterinary Medicine (Institute for Risk Assessment Sciences) and coordinator of the Dutch part of the study. "What we know much less about is the complexity. If you take all environmental factors together, what are the most important elements for health? To what extent does the environment determine our behaviour and in which social context do you have which exposures? To map this out, we are now doing this long-term research."

How it works

Citizen scientists will collect data in two ways. Through an app, they will fill in short questionnaires for a year. Using a number of measurement tools, they will then take two weeks of measurements. We call these the measurement weeks. It is important for the study that some measurements are repeated in the following two years. With the participants' contribution, the research team will further map the living environment and help policymakers, architects and engineers to design healthy living environments.

Who can participate?

In total, around four thousand people can participate, eight hundred per country. In the Netherlands, hundreds of citizen scientists have already started last year. The research team is now looking for another 300 people living in the Netherlands (18 years or older) who want to start soon. As participants complete short questionnaires via an app, it is important that they have an Android phone with Android 12 or higher or an iPhone with iOS version 15.0 or higher and that they have access to the internet.

How can I register?

Interested in participating in the study? You can find more information on the Exposome Panel Study website and register via the registration form. If you meet the criteria and have read all the information about the study carefully, the research team will ask you to sign the permission form and complete a baseline questionnaire. Once you have done that, you are officially a participant! You can then immediately start activities in the app.

Within three months, you will receive an invitation to participate in the measurement weeks. For your participation in the measurement weeks, you will receive a gift card worth 25 euros. Read more.

What is the exposoom?

All environmental factors that influence our health during our lifetime are summarised by researchers under the name exposome. This is a combination of the word expose, meaning to expose, and 'some', a suffix referring to the totality of something. An individual's biological response to these factors is also part of the exposome. There is no universal method to measure the exposome. Researchers are combining new developments from multiple research fields, such as sensors, satellites, spatial models and biomonitoring, to study the influence of the entire exposome on a cell, tissue or organ.

Source: Utrecht University