Convergence Investments

Printable version

1.1.2010

European Centre for the Environment and Human Health (University of Exeter)

The European Centre for Environment and Human Health (ECEHH), an initiative of the Peninsula College of Medicine and Dentistry - a joint venture of the University of Exeter and the University of Plymouth and the NHS in the South West - has received investment from the ERDF (European Regional Development Fund) Convergence Programme to begin its work in earnest.  In the first three years the investment will enable the ECEHH to establish and develop international research to investigate the complex and two-way relationships between the environment and human health.

Baroness Hanham visits ECEHH May 2011

"Why would the ERDF Convergence programme invest in this research centre? Because it is about the economy. The health of our people, the role of our environment in generating sustainable growth, the applied knowledge for our businesses and the creation of new markets. Plus the added value of an international spotlight on Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly as the testbed of new ideas and applications for a global stage. The success of a growing economy is having more new beginnings than endings."Carleen Kelemen, Director of the Convergence Partnership Office for Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly

The research will take place within Cornwall from the expanded Knowledge Spa at Treliske and in laboratory-based facilities co-located with the proposed Environment and Sustainability Institute (of the University of Exeter) at Tremough, with collaborations with other research institutions around the world. The ECEHH concept has been developed as a cornerstone of the third Phase of the Combined Universities in Cornwall initiative, a family of projects, which all seek to boost Cornwall’s economy through serious investment in research and business engagement.

Local businesses will be encouraged to participate in ongoing research, from which commercial opportunities will ultimately flow both during and after the research process – the ECEHH is very much about supporting the health and wealth of Cornwall.

The ECEHH will focus on three key themes within the environment and human health field:

• The effects of chemicals in the environment on human health, including pharmaceuticals and nanomaterials. 
• Climate, oceans and human health. 
• Clinical photo-biology, which is a continuation and expansion of research already taking place in Cornwall. Research in this area investigates the affects of UV on the skin, and how UVA and pollutants (such as radon and arsenic) interact and influence health.

The investment allows for the appointment of professors, senior lecturers, lecturers, post-graduate fellows, PhD students, managers and administrators. Approximately 16 new jobs will be created initially.

"The establishment of this major European research centre with its hub in Cornwall represents a once-in-a-generation opportunity for the county to reap the full benefits of its research-active medical and dental college. There could be no more natural place than Cornwall to study the inter-relationships between the environment and health. Moreover, this niche development can, with others in the Combined Universities in Cornwall and beyond, help to rebuild Cornwall’s economy so that the county can once again make its full and distinctive contribution, nationally and internationally."Professor Anthony Pinching, Associate Dean for Cornwall, Peninsula College of Medicine and Dentistry

Related Links

14.11.11 New research hints at radon link to skin cancer
10.10.11 Reducing drug waste in the environment
07.06.11 Dr Steve Boorman to visit ECEHH
01.03.11 International Professor Joins ECEHH as Director

For Further Information

Exeter University

How ECEHH works with business