March 2026 - zhealth-mgmt - imperial.ac.uk

Re: [EXTERNAL] Fw: About the new HORIZON call “Behavioural interventions as primary prevention for Non-Communicable Diseases (NCDs) among young people”
by Sassi, Franco 03 Apr '26

03 Apr '26

Dear Olga and Oleksandr, Thank you very much for getting back to us about joining the Z-HEALTH project consortium. I am very pleased to hear about your interest in participating in the proposal. In addition to the information I have previously provided to Oleksandr, I am attaching two documents that provide descriptions of the multi-component interventions we are planning in two age groups: 12-18 (Intervention package 1), and 19-25 (intervention package 2). We would be keen for the Public Health Centre to take the lead in implementing either of the two intervention packages in Ukraine as part of the project (presumably the one designed for the age group 12-18 might be more suitable in the current context). May I suggest that we have a call in the next days to discuss your involvement in detail? Would Thursday be convenient for you? I am including colleagues from the proposal management team in this email. Giulia Cali will contact you to request some administrative information that we need to add you to the proposal on the EC portal. I look forward to hearing from you. Franco Franco Sassi PhD Chair in International Health Policy and Economics Director, Centre for Health Economics and Policy Innovation (CHEPI) Imperial Business School London SW7 2AZ United Kingdom Email: f.sassi(a)imperial.ac.uk<mailto:f.sassi@imperial.ac.uk> Tel: +44(0)207 594 9157 From: Ольга Гвоздецька <o.gvozdetska(a)phc.org.ua> Sent: 30 March 2026 16:02 To: Caroline Costongs <c.costongs(a)eurohealthnet.eu> Cc: Ганна Приходько <a.prykhodko(a)phc.org.ua>; Оксана Брижовата <o.bryzhovata(a)phc.org.ua>; Arnfinn Helleve <arnfinn.helleve(a)fhi.no>; Sassi, Franco <f.sassi(a)imperial.ac.uk>; Олександр Юрченко <o.yurchenko(a)phc.org.ua>; Олена Запорожська <o.zaporozhska(a)phc.org.ua>; Ірина Іванчук <i.ivanchuk(a)phc.org.ua> Subject: Re: [EXTERNAL] Fw: About the new HORIZON call “Behavioural interventions as primary prevention for Non-Communicable Diseases (NCDs) among young people” You don't often get email from o.gvozdetska(a)phc.org.ua<mailto:o.gvozdetska@phc.org.ua>. Learn why this is important<https://aka.ms/LearnAboutSenderIdentification> CAUTION: This message came from outside Imperial. Do not click links or open attachments unless you recognise the sender and were expecting this email. Dear Caroline, Thanks very much for reaching out to us. Yes, we are very interested in joining the project! Please guide us on what we should do. Warm regards, Olga 30 бер. 2026 р. о 15:49 Caroline Costongs <c.costongs(a)eurohealthnet.eu<mailto:c.costongs@eurohealthnet.eu>> пише: Dear Olga, I hope you and your colleagues are well, considering the circumstances. EuroHealthNet and some of its members are involved in a research application to Horizon Europe. The call is about "Behavioural interventions as primary prevention for Non-Communicable Diseases (NCDs) among young people". Would the Public Health Centre be interested in becoming part of our application? The deadline is already 16th of April, so we would need to know fairly soon! Looking forward to your response, Warm wishes as ever, Caroline ________________________________ From: Arnfinn Helleve <Arnfinn.Helleve(a)fhi.no<mailto:Arnfinn.Helleve@fhi.no>> Sent: Friday, March 27, 2026 12:48 To: o.yurchenko(a)phc.org.ua<mailto:o.yurchenko@phc.org.ua> <o.yurchenko(a)phc.org.ua<mailto:o.yurchenko@phc.org.ua>> Cc: Sassi, Franco <f.sassi(a)imperial.ac.uk<mailto:f.sassi@imperial.ac.uk>>; zhealth-mgmt <zhealth-mgmt(a)imperial.ac.uk<mailto:zhealth-mgmt@imperial.ac.uk>>; Knut Inge Klepp <Knut-Inge.Klepp(a)fhi.no<mailto:Knut-Inge.Klepp@fhi.no>> Subject: Re: About the new HORIZON call “Behavioural interventions as primary prevention for Non-Communicable Diseases (NCDs) among young people” Dear Oleksandr Thanks for reaching out with your interest in the upcoming Horizon call. I am involved in a proposal lead by Prof. Franco Sassi at the Imperial College in the UK. We are very much interested in involving you in the consortium. If possible, we could try to set up a Teams meeting early next week to explore the possibilites. Looking forward to hearing from you shortly Best regards Arnfinn Arnfinn Helleve Head of Centre Researcher, PhD Centre for Evaluation of Public Health Measures Norwegian Institute of Public Health Postal address: PO Box 4404, Nydalen, N-0403 Oslo, Norway Tel: (+47) 21 07 88 16 Mob: (+47) 93 04 66 59 www.fhi.no<http://www.fhi.no/> [cid:image001.png@01DCC107.D23235B0] [cid:image002.png@01DCC107.D23235B0] From: Олександр Юрченко <o.yurchenko(a)phc.org.ua<mailto:o.yurchenko@phc.org.ua>> Sent: fredag 20. mars 2026 11:21 To: petra.kamaradova(a)szu.cz<mailto:petra.kamaradova@szu.cz>; sandra.van.dijk(a)rivm.nl<mailto:sandra.van.dijk@rivm.nl>; ana.molina(a)fisabio.es<mailto:ana.molina@fisabio.es>; lluis.pascual(a)fisabio.es<mailto:lluis.pascual@fisabio.es>; Marc.VanDenBulcke(a)sciensano.be<mailto:Marc.VanDenBulcke@sciensano.be>; hanna.tolonen(a)thl.fi<mailto:hanna.tolonen@thl.fi>; raffaella.bucciardini(a)iss.it<mailto:raffaella.bucciardini@iss.it>; Knut Inge Klepp <Knut-Inge.Klepp(a)fhi.no<mailto:Knut-Inge.Klepp@fhi.no>>; linda.granlund(a)helsedir.no<mailto:linda.granlund@helsedir.no>; halla.b.thorhallsdottir(a)landlaeknir.is<mailto:halla.b.thorhallsdottir@landlaeknir.is> Subject: About the new HORIZON call “Behavioural interventions as primary prevention for Non-Communicable Diseases (NCDs) among young people” You don't often get email from o.yurchenko(a)phc.org.ua<mailto:o.yurchenko@phc.org.ua>. Learn why this is important<https://aka.ms/LearnAboutSenderIdentification> Dear colleagues, Allow me to introduce myself. My name is Oleksandr Yurchenko, Deputy Director General of the Public Health Center of Ukraine. I recently came across information about the new HORIZON call “Behavioural interventions as primary prevention for Non-Communicable Diseases (NCDs) among young people”, which is currently open and will run until 16 April. May I kindly ask whether your organisation is planning to apply for this call? We are very interested in participating in HORIZON projects. However, the Public Health Center of Ukraine is not eligible to coordinate a consortium or act as a project coordinator. We can participate as a beneficiary. Therefore, if you are considering applying for this or similar calls focused on NCD prevention or the reduction of NCD risk factors, we would be very grateful to explore possible collaboration and would sincerely appreciate an invitation to join the consortium. For your information, the Public Health Center of Ukraine is the leading national expert institution in the field of public health. We have substantial experience in research and implementation projects, as well as in policy development and large-scale public health interventions. We would be pleased to discuss this opportunity further at your convenience. З повагою Best regards Олександр Юрченко Oleksandr Yurchenko Заступник Генерального директора Deputy Director General Центр громадського здоров'я МОЗ України Public Health Center of the MOH of Ukraine e-mail: o.yurchenko(a)phc.org.ua<mailto:o.yurchenko@phc.org.ua> e-mail: o.yurchenko(a)phc.org.ua<mailto:o.yurchenko@phc.org.ua> телефон: +38(050)382-00-90 phone: +38(050)382-00-90 phc.org.ua<https://phc.org.ua/> phc.org.ua<https://phc.org.ua/> [cid:image003.png@01DCC107.D23235B0] [cid:image004.png@01DCC107.D23235B0]

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Z-HEALTH, Intervention packages and responsibilities
by Sassi, Franco 02 Apr '26

02 Apr '26

Dear All, Thank you to all those who have been able to participate in the two consortium meetings last week. Both have been extremely helpful in getting to the next step of development of the proposal. Based on the inputs received last week, I have developed two "intervention packages". You may find descriptions of those packages attached to this message, and in the shared Box folder (sub-folder "Interventions"). In order to help you follow the logic of those intervention packages, please, note the following points: 1. Based on comments received (no age group should be left out within the range provided by the call), I have collapsed the three originally envisaged transitions into two. The first will cover the age range from 12 to 18 and will be labelled transition from early to late adolescence. Intervention package 1 is designed to help this transition by preventing the formation of unhealthy habits, creating and consolidating healthy habits. Intervention package 2 will do the same in the later age group (19-25) supporting the transition to tertiary education/work/independent living. 2. Different domains in each intervention package reflect the structure I proposed on Friday, with several adaptations and specifications. 3. I am circulating these intervention descriptions as proposals (albeit an advanced one, that I would not expect to change to any large extent at this stage). The design of intervention package 1 is ultimately the responsibility of WP4 (led by NIPH) and its partners, and the design of intervention package 2 is the responsibility of WP5 (leadership yet to be assigned - any volunteers or proposals for additional partners who could do it, please, do come forward). 4. The attached intervention descriptions are key tools to be used when approaching country partners whom we expect to implement interventions. WHAT WILL WE THE ASK NEW PARTNERS IN POTENTIALLY IMPLEMENTING COUNTRIES? * What I see as the "ideal" approach here (and I would like to emphasise this is the ideal, but reality may require compromise) is that we include 6 countries implementing interventions in Z-HEALTH, three focusing on the age group 12-18, and three on the age group 19-25. The attached document describing Intervention package 1 currently lists Norway, Slovenia, and possibly Spain (Basque country - TBC) as the three implementing countries. We still need to determine what implementing countries will work on the later age group. * It is not expected that a single organisation (e.g. the Public Health Institute) takes care of implementing the entire package. They can work with other partners (locally or from other countries) on components they need support with. We could even envisage that implementing countries may be given the option of dropping one domain from the intervention package, if they really feel it would be difficult to implement in their countries, but this would not be ideal, because the different domains are meant to address different stages of the habit formation process, as set out in the project's conceptual framework. * The value of implementing and evaluation a whole package of interventions is that this will enable us to assess synergies between components and across NCD areas. There would be easier options, potentially, involving countries picking and choosing from a menu of singe-domain/single-transition intervention options, but I think this would be inferior to the plan I have described before, and would reduce the value of the project. Apologies that this message is getting long, but I would like to address the issue of responsibilities for individual dimensions in the final part of this email, because we need those responsible to start shaping up the relevant tasks. The dimensions of each intervention package are listed below, along with the individual actions they involve. I have added the names of those I would expect to take responsibility for each of them. Please, look for your names in the list below and assess whether you agree with the proposed allocation and whether you are prepared to work on designing the relevant actions over the coming week (so that we can review those in the next Consortium meeting on 30th March). Intervention package 1 Domain 1. Health and digital literacy. 1. TUTCH health literacy programme. [The CHOICE Foundation (Sweden) are interested in joining the proposal and can work with the European Medical Students' Association [suggested by Katja, we can follow up with a direct contact and include them too] 2. Digital literacy programme. [Marisa Miraldo (Imperial) on mis-information management; volunteers sought in support (Daniel, University of Cologne ? Damon, NYU? Others?)] Domain 2. Self-management of digital media use. [I would see the design of all three components here to be led by NYU, but others are welcome to support if interested] Domain 3. Healthy school environments and nudges. [WHO and EuroHealthNet can oversee this domain, specific contributions may be envisaged from Marisa and Daniel, especially on (a) and (b); others?] Domain 4. Resources and services. [Matey's team NIJZ, supported by other countries implementing this intervention] Intervention package 2 Domain 1. Health and digital literacy. 1. Health literacy programme. [Possibly Ane, Irati, Biosistemak] 2. Advanced digital literacy programme. [Marisa, NYU team?] Domain 2. Device-assisted behavioural monitoring and feedback. [we need volunteers here] 1. Physical activity 2. Sleep [this could be covered by Matej's team, but also potentially by NIPH?] 3. Eating patterns and diet [This would have to be Imperial] 4. Probably not suitable Domain 3. Healthy environments and nudges. 1. Food and physical activity environments [Marisa may work on this, but I realise her name is down too many times in this list] 2. Addictive product environments [maybe Daniel, again?] 3. Mental health environment, possibly resurrecting the idea of using the ABC framework. [would EuroHealthNet be interested in covering this?] I look forward to hearing from you. Franco

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Z-HEALTH, Poland
by Sassi, Franco 01 Apr '26

01 Apr '26

Dear Caroline and Mojca, After an initial promising conversation, BIOG have declined to participate in the proposal. I remember you said you would be seeing potential Polish partners tomorrow. At this point I would be inclined to try to involve them, even if it is getting very late in the process. May I ask you to mention this to your contacts, and I will be happy to follow up with a call if they express interest? Thank you so much for your help. Franco

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Z-HEALTH_Administrative Form (Part A)
by Giulia Calì 01 Apr '26

01 Apr '26

CAUTION: This message came from outside Imperial. Do not click links or open attachments unless you recognise the sender and were expecting this email. Dear Olga and Oleksandr, I am Giulia Calì from ISINNOVA and I will be supporting ICL with the administrative aspects of this proposal. To proceed with the formalisation of your participation in the proposal, we kindly ask you to complete the attached form. The initial section is required in order to register your organisation in the EU Funding & Tenders Portal and to begin structuring the budget. From page 2 onwards, you will be asked to provide additional information about your organisation, which we will subsequently upload to the relevant section of the Portal (Part A). We would appreciate if you could return the completed form as soon as possible, and preferably no later than Friday, 3 April, as the time remaining before submission is becoming limited. Please do not hesitate to contact me should you have any questions. Thank you for your cooperation. Kind regards, Giulia Giulia Calì Administrative Assistant [cid:f45a2bbb-28f7-4196-be02-1300039ce14d]<https://www.isinnova.org/> T: +39 06 295973 gcali(a)isinnova.org<mailto:dzaini@isinnova.org> www.isinnova.org<http://www.isinnova.org/> Via Sistina 42 00187, Rome [LinkedIn icon]<https://www.linkedin.com/company/isinnova---institute-of-studies-for-the-in…> [Twitter icon] <https://twitter.com/ISINNOVA>

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Re: Invitation to join Horizon Europe bid on behavioural interventions in young people
by Sassi, Franco 01 Apr '26

01 Apr '26

Dear Yvette, Thank you very much for your positive reply, and also for being transparent on your Institute’s possible participation in a competing bid. I would like to share two brief documents (attached) containing descriptions of our two intervention packages aimed, respectively, at the age groups 12-18 and 19-25, in case they have not been shared with you before. It would be great if your Institute were willing to take the lead on implementing one pf the two packages (preferably the one for 19-25 year olds) in a sample of young people in Germany. Perhaps we can schedule a call later this week to discuss the feasibility of this. Sincerely, Franco Franco Sassi PhD Chair in International Health Policy and Economics Director, Centre for Health Economics and Policy Innovation (CHEPI) Imperial Business School London SW7 2AZ United Kingdom Email: f.sassi(a)imperial.ac.uk<mailto:f.sassi@imperial.ac.uk> Tel: +44(0)207 594 9157 From: Yvette Shajanian Zarneh <Yvette.Shajanian-Zarneh(a)bioeg.de> Sent: 24 March 2026 07:48 To: Katja Cic <Katja.Cic(a)nijz.si>; Sassi, Franco <f.sassi(a)imperial.ac.uk>; Monika Robnik <Monika.Robnik(a)nijz.si> Cc: Nathalie Bélorgey <Nathalie.Belorgey(a)bioeg.de>; Christina Plantz <Christina.Plantz(a)bioeg.de> Subject: AW: Invitation to join Horizon Europe bid on behavioural interventions in young people You don't often get email from yvette.shajanian-zarneh(a)bioeg.de<mailto:yvette.shajanian-zarneh@bioeg.de>. Learn why this is important<https://aka.ms/LearnAboutSenderIdentification> CAUTION: This message came from outside Imperial. Do not click links or open attachments unless you recognise the sender and were expecting this email. Dear Katja, Thank you very much for your patience! We would be very happy to participate. The tasks briefly outlined below fit very well with our profile and services. We look forward to receiving more information. Just to be transparent: a colleague from another unit informed me that they have also been approached for this project and are assessing participation. Looking forward to your reply. Kind regards, Yvette Im Auftrag Yvette Shajanian Zarneh ---------------------------------------- Referatsleiterin / Head of Unit Referat Q1 - Aufgabenplanung, Grundsatzfragen, Transfer, Internationale Beziehungen Unit Q1 - Task Planning, Strategy, Knowledge Transfer, International Relations Bundesinstitut für Öffentliche Gesundheit / Federal Institute of Public Health Maarweg 149-161 50825 Köln Tel: 0221/8992-374 Email: yvette.shajanian-zarneh(a)bioeg.de<mailto:yvette.shajanian-zarneh@bioeg.de> www.bioeg.de<http://www.bioeg.de/> Das Bundesinstitut für Öffentliche Gesundheit ist eine Fachbehörde im Geschäftsbereich des Bundesministeriums für Gesundheit / The Federal Institute of Public Health is a specialist authority within the portfolio of the Federal Ministry of Health Von: Yvette Shajanian Zarneh Gesendet: Freitag, 20. März 2026 12:15 An: 'Katja Cic' <Katja.Cic(a)nijz.si<mailto:Katja.Cic@nijz.si>>; f.sassi(a)imperial.ac.uk<mailto:f.sassi@imperial.ac.uk>; Monika Robnik <Monika.Robnik(a)nijz.si<mailto:Monika.Robnik@nijz.si>> Cc: Ursula von Rüden <ursula.von-rueden(a)bioeg.de<mailto:ursula.von-rueden@bioeg.de>>; Nathalie Bélorgey <nathalie.belorgey(a)bioeg.de<mailto:nathalie.belorgey@bioeg.de>>; Christina Plantz <christina.plantz(a)bioeg.de<mailto:christina.plantz@bioeg.de>>; Verena Grau <verena.grau(a)bioeg.de<mailto:verena.grau@bioeg.de>> Betreff: AW: Invitation to join Horizon Europe bid on behavioural interventions in young people Dear Katja and colleagues, Many thanks for the invitation sent. The project sounds very interesting and relevant. We will come back to you beginning of next week as we need to assess both our involvement and the possible input with other colleagues at BIÖG indeed. Kind regards, Yvette Im Auftrag Yvette Shajanian Zarneh ---------------------------------------- Referatsleiterin / Head of Unit Referat Q1 - Aufgabenplanung, Grundsatzfragen, Transfer, Internationale Beziehungen Unit Q1 - Task Planning, Strategy, Knowledge Transfer, International Relations Bundesinstitut für Öffentliche Gesundheit / Federal Institute of Public Health Maarweg 149-161 50825 Köln Tel: 0221/8992-374 Email: yvette.shajanian-zarneh(a)bioeg.de<mailto:yvette.shajanian-zarneh@bioeg.de> www.bioeg.de<http://www.bioeg.de/> Das Bundesinstitut für Öffentliche Gesundheit ist eine Fachbehörde im Geschäftsbereich des Bundesministeriums für Gesundheit / The Federal Institute of Public Health is a specialist authority within the portfolio of the Federal Ministry of Health Von: Katja Cic <Katja.Cic(a)nijz.si<mailto:Katja.Cic@nijz.si>> Gesendet: Donnerstag, 19. März 2026 13:13 An: Christina Plantz <Christina.Plantz(a)bioeg.de<mailto:Christina.Plantz@bioeg.de>>; Verena Grau <Verena.Grau(a)bioeg.de<mailto:Verena.Grau@bioeg.de>>; Yvette Shajanian Zarneh <Yvette.Shajanian-Zarneh(a)bioeg.de<mailto:Yvette.Shajanian-Zarneh@bioeg.de>>; f.sassi(a)imperial.ac.uk<mailto:f.sassi@imperial.ac.uk>; Monika Robnik <Monika.Robnik(a)nijz.si<mailto:Monika.Robnik@nijz.si>> Betreff: Invitation to join Horizon Europe bid on behavioural interventions in young people Dear Yvette, Christina and Verena, I am reaching out to you on behalf of a partner consortium led by Imperial College London (cc-ed Franco Sassi) for a bid on the Horizon Europe call concerning behavioural interventions in young people. The call I am referring to can be found here: HORIZON-HLTH-2026-01-STAYHLTH-02 https://ec.europa.eu/info/funding-tenders/opportunities/portal/screen/oppor… It has a deadline of the 16th of April 2026. We were wondering if BIÖG would be interested in joining our proposal, titled "Z-Health - Health in the digital generation", as a leading institution from Germany that could become one of the partner countries to implement interventions and co-create with young people (age groups 12-18 and 19-25). We were very excited to learn about the launch of your Jugendbeirat (Youth Advisory Board) and thought your institution would be a great fit for our consortium. Currently, the Norwegian Institute of Public Health, the National Institute of Public Health Slovenia, Issinova, and a few others have already joined the partner consortium. Please let us know if you would be interested in joining the bid and learning more about the project proposal itself, and we would also appreciate an answer if you are already a part of a different bid for this specific call. We remain available in case of any questions. Wishing you a lovely rest of the day! Kind regards, Katja Katja Čič Služba za NVO Trubarjeva cesta 2, SI - 1000 Ljubljana M +386 40 303 773 E katja.cic(a)nijz.si<mailto:katja.cic@nijz.si> www.nijz.si<http://www.nijz.si> [Image]<https://www.nijz.si/>

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Re: Z-HEALTH WHO
by Olney, Jack J 31 Mar '26

31 Mar '26

Thanks, Franco. Okay - I agree that the information in the spreadsheet should be okay to find, but signatures will require corresponding with each partner. ISINNOVA, how would you like to handle this - could we split the tasks? Jack ________________________________ From: Sassi, Franco <f.sassi(a)imperial.ac.uk> Sent: 31 March 2026 13:06 To: Olney, Jack J <jack.olney(a)imperial.ac.uk> Subject: RE: Z-HEALTH WHO This should be submitted next Tuesday with the rest of the documents, ideally. From: Olney, Jack J <jack.olney(a)imperial.ac.uk> Sent: 31 March 2026 14:00 To: Sassi, Franco <f.sassi(a)imperial.ac.uk> Subject: Re: Z-HEALTH WHO Thank you, Franco. I vaguely recall having to do this for STOP. Do WHO require this all to be completed before they will agree to be a partner or can we complete this ahead of the submission date? Jack ________________________________ From: Sassi, Franco <f.sassi(a)imperial.ac.uk<mailto:f.sassi@imperial.ac.uk>> Sent: 31 March 2026 11:55 To: zhealth-mgmt <zhealth-mgmt(a)imperial.ac.uk<mailto:zhealth-mgmt@imperial.ac.uk>> Subject: [Z-health-Mgmt] Z-HEALTH WHO I have had a call with WHO this morning to discuss their possible involvement in the proposal. They do not actually require a full proposal today, but they have asked for it by next Tuesday. Hopefully we’ll have a more advanced draft and a preliminary budget by then. The most annoying requirement is the due diligence that WHO needs to do on all partners that are not public agencies. This means that we need to collect some information on each of the partners, and we need to get them to sign a “Tobacco and arms disclosure form” (please, see attached email from Julianne). One of the WHO people on the call, who is used to doing this due diligence process, says that much of the information in the spreadsheet can be retrieved through ChatGPT queries. Please, let me know what you think. In terms of monthly rate, they have proposed 9566 Euros, which is a mix of 50% of a P3 official and a full time consultant. This does not buy many person months if we allocate 200k to them, but their contribution would be limited anyway. Franco

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Horizon Europe call on youth NCD prevention
by Olney, Jack J 31 Mar '26

31 Mar '26

________________________________________________________________________________ Microsoft Teams meeting Join: https://teams.microsoft.com/meet/371407945585612?p=AAb51RpHQvDKN2rso3 Meeting ID: 371 407 945 585 612 Passcode: SH3NK327 ________________________________ Need help?<https://aka.ms/JoinTeamsMeeting?omkt=en-GB> | System reference<https://teams.microsoft.com/l/meetup-join/19%3ameeting_ZGU3NjE1MTQtNDU1NC00…> Dial in by phone +44 20 7660 8164,,202835430#<tel:+442076608164,,202835430#> United Kingdom, City of London Find a local number<https://dialin.teams.microsoft.com/f9f35326-5b0f-4124-8774-bbda5b88462e?id=…> Phone conference ID: 202 835 430# For organisers: Meeting options<https://teams.microsoft.com/meetingOptions/?organizerId=31ffeb20-74ce-4f00-…> | Reset dial-in PIN<https://dialin.teams.microsoft.com/usp/pstnconferencing> [https://www.imperial.ac.uk/ict/assets/IMPERIAL_Wordmark_RGB_Blue_safe_area_…] Privacy and security<https://www.imperial.ac.uk/media/imperial-college/administration-and-suppor…> ________________________________________________________________________________

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Re: Possible involvement in EU grant proposal
by Robert Åkesson 31 Mar '26

31 Mar '26

CAUTION: This message came from outside Imperial. Do not click links or open attachments unless you recognise the sender and were expecting this email. Dear Franco, Thank you for your message, and for sharing the intervention packages – this is a very strong and well thought-through proposal. We are pleased to see that TUTCH is included as a best practice within the health literacy component. From our side, we would be very interested in participating in the project. Based on the materials, we understand our role primarily as contributing to the design of the health literacy component and training the medical students (or other facilitators) who will deliver the sessions in each country. Our experience is that maintaining quality and impact requires a structured approach to training, certification, and follow-up, especially when the model is implemented across different contexts. We would therefore be keen to contribute with a more comprehensive implementation framework, including training, certification of facilitators, and elements of quality assurance, while working closely with local partners on adaptation. Before proceeding with the administrative steps, it would be helpful for us to clarify a few points to ensure a realistic scope and level of involvement: • the expected scale of training activities across countries, • the level of involvement in co-creation and adaptation processes, • and whether our role is primarily focused on training and methodology, rather than direct delivery to student groups. We would be happy to discuss this further in a short call. Looking forward to hearing from you. Best regards, Robert - Vänliga hälsningar Robert Åkesson CEO Insamlingsstiftelsen Choice Tfn: +46 (0)70 795 71 98 robert(a)stiftelsenchoice.se<mailto:robert@stiftelsenchoice.se> www.stiftelsenchoice.se<http://www.stiftelsenchoice.se> [cid:C4995F53-B406-4C21-A75A-ACC341D6699A] 27 mars 2026, 14:51 centraleuropeisk normaltid, skrev Sassi, Franco <f.sassi(a)imperial.ac.uk>: Dear Robert, I apologise for the delay in getting back to you on the EU proposal. We have been very busy developing aspects of the proposal, and I have been delayed in relaying more information to you. You will find two documents attached to this message, which describe the components of the two intervention packages we are planning to implement as part of the project, aimed at the age groups 12-18, and 19-25, respectively. Our plan is to implement each package in three countries, so with 6 implementing countries in total. At the moment, it looks like the countries will be Norway, Spain, Slovenia, Germany, North Macedonia, Ukraine, and possibly UK. The first component of each intervention package, as you will see, is a “Health and digital literacy” education programme. The exact content of these programmes will be the result of co-creation with youth organisations and local stakeholders, but we would like to structure the health literacy component around your intervention model. We would ask you to help us design those health literacy programmes and to train the medical students who will be delivering the programmes. I assume this will require a certain degree of language and cultural adaptation, relative to the model you are applying in the Swedish context, but you will be working closely with country partners in this adaptation work, so you will be well supported. At the end of the project, you will have a fully exportable model that can be adapted for implementation in more countries. If you are happy to proceed on this basis, I suggest we go ahead with the administrative formalities involved in joining the EU grant proposal. I am including the proposal management team in this email, so that they can follow up with you on what’s needed from the CHOICE Foundation at this stage to make you a partner in the proposal. We will need to quantify the time commitment of the CHOICE Foundation’s staff, so that we can assign a budget to your organisation in the project. I look forward to hearing further from you. Franco From: Robert Åkesson <robert(a)stiftelsenchoice.se> Sent: 17 March 2026 13:27 To: Sassi, Franco <f.sassi(a)imperial.ac.uk> Cc: Olney, Jack J <jack.olney(a)imperial.ac.uk> Subject: Re: RE: Possible involvement in EU grant proposal CAUTION: This message came from outside Imperial. Do not click links or open attachments unless you recognise the sender and were expecting this email. Add sender to Safe Senders List<https://support.microsoft.com/en-gb/office/add-recipients-to-the-safe-sende…> Dear Franco, Thank you for the detailed explanation – this is very helpful and the proposal sounds both important and well aligned with our work. The focus on early adolescence and health literacy, as well as the involvement of medical students, seems like a particularly strong approach and a good fit with what we do at CHOICE Foundation. I would be very interested to learn more about the planned intervention package and how you envision our role in shaping the training and delivery. It would also be helpful, when possible, to understand the expected level of involvement and timeline for partners at this stage of the proposal. I look forward to your follow-up message. Best regards, Robert - Vänliga hälsningar Robert Åkesson CEO Insamlingsstiftelsen Choice Tfn: +46 (0)70 795 71 98 robert(a)stiftelsenchoice.se<mailto:robert@stiftelsenchoice.se> www.stiftelsenchoice.se<http://www.stiftelsenchoice.se> [cid:image001.png@01DCBDF6.78872700] 17 mars 2026, 13:10 centraleuropeisk normaltid, skrev Sassi, Franco <f.sassi(a)imperial.ac.uk<mailto:f.sassi@imperial.ac.uk>>: Dear Robert, Thank you for your prompt and interested reply. Let me answer first your two specific questions. We are working on a proposal that will be submitted to the European Commission (DG Research) on 16th April, so this is not yet approved or funded. We are still in the process of shaping it up. On your other question, we would include the CHOICE Foundation as a partner receiving funding from the EU, like all partners in the project. Let me try to provide additional information on the scope of the proposal in this message. I will then follow up later today or tomorrow with a more comprehensive description of the intervention package in which we would like your Foundation to contribute. The proposal is focused on three key health areas that are strongly associated with young people's behaviours (age 12-25, this is prescribed by the EU call). The three areas are obesity and metabolic health; mental health; and addictions (broadly covering, alcohol, tobacco, substance use, gambling, screen addictions etc.). We are breaking up the prescribed age range into two key transitions, one in the earlier age range (12-18) from early to late adolescence, and the second in the later age range (19-25), from school to tertiary education or work. We would see your involvement mainly in the earlier age range, if the information I have on your approach is accurate. For each of these transitions, we are developing a multi-component intervention package that covers multiple dimensions related with behaviour and habit formation in young people. In the adolescence age range, we envisage the intervention package to be implemented in secondary schools, covering the following four domains: (a) health and digital literacy; (b) self-management of digital media use; (c) healthy school environments and nudges; and (d) provision of resources and services. Your approach would fit within the first domain, as a way of improving children’s health literacy in the three health areas mentioned above. We are exploring the possibility to work with EMSA, the European Medical Students’ Association, who may be able to help us deploy the intervention in at least three countries (Norway and Spain would be two of them, we are currently selecting a third one), but we would be counting on your organisation’s experience to support the design of the training of medical students and the organisations of the format and contents of the sessions to be delivered in schools. As I mentioned, I will follow up with more details about the intervention package and the current structure of the proposal and partners in a separate email. Franco From: Robert Åkesson <robert(a)stiftelsenchoice.se<mailto:robert@stiftelsenchoice.se>> Sent: 17 March 2026 06:48 To: Sassi, Franco <f.sassi(a)imperial.ac.uk<mailto:f.sassi@imperial.ac.uk>> Cc: Olney, Jack J <jack.olney(a)imperial.ac.uk<mailto:jack.olney@imperial.ac.uk>> Subject: Re: Possible involvement in EU grant proposal CAUTION: This message came from outside Imperial. Do not click links or open attachments unless you recognise the sender and were expecting this email. Dear Franco, Thank you for your kind email and for reaching out. We are pleased to hear about your proposal, and the CHOICE Foundation is indeed interested in exploring the possibility of contributing to this project. Before proceeding further, I would appreciate receiving some additional details about the proposal, particularly regarding the overall scope, planned interventions, and the expected role of CHOICE Foundation. I also have a couple of initial questions: • Would participation in the project require any financial contribution from our side? • Has the proposal already been submitted or approved, or is it still under development? I look forward to learning more and continuing the discussion. Kind regards, Robert - Vänliga hälsningar Robert Åkesson CEO Insamlingsstiftelsen Choice Tfn: +46 (0)70 795 71 98 robert(a)stiftelsenchoice.se<mailto:robert@stiftelsenchoice.se> www.stiftelsenchoice.se<http://www.stiftelsenchoice.se> [cid:image001.png@01DCBDF6.78872700] 16 mars 2026, 14:00 centraleuropeisk normaltid, skrev Sassi, Franco <f.sassi(a)imperial.ac.uk<mailto:f.sassi@imperial.ac.uk>>: Dear Robert, I am following up on a contact that my colleague Jack Olney established with you over the past weekend. I am leading the development of a grant proposal under a current EU Horizon programme call on Behavioural interventions for the prevention of non-communicable diseases in young people. I have recently come across the work of the CHOICE Foundation, and I find it very interesting and potentially a great fit for our proposal. I wonder if you would consider a collaboration on this proposal. This would involve exporting your intervention model to at least three European countries (at the moment we are not planning interventions specifically in Sweden) and supporting implementation in those countries. In each of the countries in which we intend to implement interventions, we are partnering with the relevant National Public Health Institutes, and we have the support of the European Office of the WHO. If you have an interest in exploring this opportunity, I would be happy to provide further details about the proposal and to discuss a possible role for the CHOICE Foundation. I look forward to hearing from you. Franco Franco Sassi PhD Chair in International Health Policy and Economics Director, Centre for Health Economics and Policy Innovation (CHEPI) Imperial Business School London SW7 2AZ United Kingdom Email: f.sassi(a)imperial.ac.uk<mailto:f.sassi@imperial.ac.uk> Tel: +44(0)207 594 9157

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Z-HEALTH WHO
by Sassi, Franco 31 Mar '26

31 Mar '26

I have had a call with WHO this morning to discuss their possible involvement in the proposal. They do not actually require a full proposal today, but they have asked for it by next Tuesday. Hopefully we'll have a more advanced draft and a preliminary budget by then. The most annoying requirement is the due diligence that WHO needs to do on all partners that are not public agencies. This means that we need to collect some information on each of the partners, and we need to get them to sign a "Tobacco and arms disclosure form" (please, see attached email from Julianne). One of the WHO people on the call, who is used to doing this due diligence process, says that much of the information in the spreadsheet can be retrieved through ChatGPT queries. Please, let me know what you think. In terms of monthly rate, they have proposed 9566 Euros, which is a mix of 50% of a P3 official and a full time consultant. This does not buy many person months if we allocate 200k to them, but their contribution would be limited anyway. Franco

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Z-HEALTH, youth partners
by Sassi, Franco 31 Mar '26

31 Mar '26

Dear Katja and Arnfinn, Just a quick follow up on the discussion we had yesterday on the involvement of youth organisations in the proposal. We agreed that Katja will chase the European Medical Students' Association and will invite the International Youth Health Organisation to join the proposal. Arnfinn will speak to PRESS and invite them again to join the proposal. If we can include these three partners, I think we'll have the youth involvement angle well covered in the application, in addition to envisaging inputs from the PreventNCD youth advisory council and similar bodies established in countries implementing interventions. Please, keep zhealth-mgmt posted as you receive replies from the three organisations you are talking to. Thank you. Franco

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