Búsqueda de socios para FutureFoodS topic 1 (prácticas alimentarias domésticas para dietas sostenibles y saludables) y 2 (hacia sistemas diversos, sostenibles y circulares de procesamiento alimentario circular)

Nutrition and Dietetics Department of a Health-Focused University in Istanbul is seeking partners for 3 proposals under the FutureFoodS Call. Two proposals focus on Topic 1, (Domestic food practices enhancing sustainable and healthy diets) while one targets Topic 2 (Towards diverse, sustainable and circular food processing systems). Partners from eligible countries are invited to join.

Nutrition and Dietetics Department of a Health-Focused University in Istanbul Seeking Partners for the FutureFoodS Call

University Profile: The University, founded in 2007, is a non-profit private academic institution in Istanbul dedicated to health sciences. The Department of Nutrition and Dietetics has a large and diverse team, allowing researchers to contribute to different aspects of the call. Target Call: Second Joint Transnational Co-Funded Call of the FutureFoodS Partnership The Department of Nutrition and Dietetics is actively engaged in this call and has developed three project concepts, each seeking partners and from eligible participating countries. 1. Project: HEAT-SAFE Topic: Domestic food practices enhancing sustainable and healthy diets — systemic work at the household level covering food safety, cultures, nutritional needs and consumer behaviour. Thermal processing at home contributes to contaminants such as acrylamide, HMF, PAHs, HAAs, and nitrosamines. Related risk is majorly behavior-driven (darker browning, oil reuse, high heat, flame contact). Household-level mitigation is limited. Project will provide a practical Toolbox to reduce exposure while maintaining sensory quality and safety. HEAT-SAFE develops and evaluates a household-focused Thermal Contaminant Toolbox to reduce exposure to process-induced contaminants. Tools will include color reference cards, oil-use protocols, and QR-linked videos. Pilot implementation will assess behavioral change and chemical validation. Outputs will be openly shared to support scaling. Project reduces chemical exposure in home-prepared foods, promoting safer cooking without compromising nutrition or tradition. Supports sustainability by enabling informed choices, reducing waste from burnt products, and strengthening community engagement. 2. Project/ Sustainable Food Processing Strategies to Enhance Bioavailability of Food-Grade Senolytic Compounds from Pseudocereal By-Products Topic: Towards diverse, sustainable and circular food processing systems — improved processing/packaging, valorization of by-products and side-streams, and compositions tailored to diverse consumer groups. Modern food systems face a dual challenge: nutrient loss during processing and growing demand for healthy ageing solutions. Senolytic and senomorphic compounds (quercetin, fisetin, curcumin, resveratrol, etc.) naturally occur in pseudocereals and their by-products but show poor bioavailability. Valorization of sprouting residues, bran fractions, and fermentation side-streams can enable a circular, sustainable approach while improving nutritional and functional quality. The project proposes innovative, low-energy processing and carrier systems to maximize nutrient retention, bioaccessibility, and gut availability — aligned with sustainable and circular food processing goals. 3. Project/ H-SEBCIP Topic: Domestic food practices enhancing sustainable and healthy diets — systemic work at the household level covering food safety, cultures, nutritional needs and consumer behaviour. The H-SEBCIP project aims to design, implement, and validate a holistic framework that integrates education and monitoring processes to enhance sustainability performance at the household level. Within the scope of the project, food production practices, waste reduction, water and energy efficiency and environmentally friendly purchasing behaviours will be the main focus. By combining tailored behavior-change interventions, sustainability education modules, resource-monitoring tools, and sustainability scoring criteria, the project aims to enable families to make informed decisions and achieve measurable behavior changes that reduce their carbon and water footprints. This project intends to demonstrate measurable improvements through concrete indicators, including increased household sustainability knowledge and behavior scores, as well as reductions in food waste amounts. Advantages and innovation Across the three proposed ideas, the team introduces innovative approaches aligned with the FutureFoodS Partnership priorities. Two proposals address Topic 1. These concepts emphasize practical, user-centered innovations such as toolkits and tailored educational components that can be scaled across diverse communities. One proposal, responding to Topic 2, focuses on sustainable and circular food processing strategies. It leverages emerging technologies such as green processing and fermentation to enhance nutrient availability while valorizing by-products and reducing food system waste. This reflects a commitment to circularity, resource efficiency, and added-value ingredient innovation. Collectively, these proposals demonstrate the department’s capacity to bridge basic science, applied research, and societal impact. The projects also offer clear contributions to European priorities on sustainability, food system resilience, and consumer well-being. Technical Specification or Expertise Sought We are seeking complementary partners for three interconnected project concepts under the FutureFoodS Partnership Call. For HEAT-SAFE, we look for academic groups to co-lead the design, implementation and evaluation of heat-health risk assessment tools, municipalities to support real-life piloting and scaling in vulnerable communities, and industry partners (e.g. appliance or digital solution providers) to co-develop and integrate QR-guided tools into household devices. For the project on Sustainable Food Processing Strategies to Enhance Bioavailability of Senolytic Compounds, we seek: (i) a food technology institute/SME with expertise in green/sustainable processing and/or packaging, (ii) an analytical partner with strong LC-MS/MS metabolite profiling capacity, and (iii) industry partners working with functional ingredients and valorisation of side streams. For H-SEBCIP, we are open to universities, research centres, SMEs, companies and municipalities with expertise in nutrition, food systems, urban health, behaviour change, digital tools and community-level implementation, from eligible FutureFoodS countries. Framework program Horizon Europe Call title and identifier FutureFoodS Second Joint Transnational Co-Funded Call of the FutureFoodS Submission and evaluation scheme 2 stage application Anticipated project budget 500000 Coordinator required No Deadline for EoI Deadline of the call Project duration in weeks 144 Web link to the call https://www.futurefoodspartnership.eu/news/pre-announcement Project title and acronym Nutrition and Dietetics Department of a Health-Focused University in Istanbul Seeking Partners for the FutureFoodS Call