João Canário received 300k€ of funding from the EU HOP ON call 2024 to join the Horizon Europe Project ILLUQ (the Inuvialuktun word for partner), with the proposal “ILLUQ-PT: the process component”.
Permafrost (frozen ground) underlies 22% of the Northern Hemisphere’s exposed land surface and is thawing at an alarming rate. Thawing permafrost releases large quantities of organic matter and contaminants into the environment. In addition, dramatically impacts infrastructure in local communities with wide-ranging consequences for health, economy, and society.
ILLUQ, and ILLUQ-PT, is an answer to these complex issues. By bringing together an interdisciplinary consortium committed to participatory research with local stake- and rightsholders, it will provide the first holistic look at permafrost thaw, pollution and human and environmental well-being in the Arctic and deliver information on the risks from contaminant release, infrastructure failure and ecosystem changes to stakeholders. The project is based on the holistic One Health concept, which aims to sustainably balance the health of people, animals and ecosystems.
The Portuguese team will be responsible for the study of the biogeochemical processes involved in transformations to less or more toxic forms contaminant species once they are released from permafrost and that could strongly impact the Arctic Human Health and wildlife.
ILLUQ-PT was submitted last September, and the decision known last Friday. In the portuguese team, headed by João Canário, there are members of CQE (Rute Cesário, Alexandra Antunes, Margarida Correia dos Santos e Holger Hintelmann), C2TN (Fátima Araújo e Susana Gomes) and iBB (Rodrigo Costa).
