Francisco Sampaio, a researcher at CINTESIS@RISE/RISE-Health, is leading the COST Action entitled ‘Climate change impacts on mental health in Europe’. The proposal, which he is leading, has been approved and will start next October. Only 60 out of 522 applications were approved.
‘Climate change is a major current problem, widely proven by scientific evidence, with a direct environmental impact, but also with societal consequences. This same evidence shows that the population, especially teenagers and young adults, has been experiencing predominantly symptoms of anxiety, resulting, for example, from the fact that their individual action is insufficient to put an end to the problem and from the disbelief they feel towards the political actions that have been carried out in this area,’ explains Francisco Sampaio.
This COST Action will receive funding of around 600,000 euros over a period of four years (from October 2024 to October 2028), starting on 29 October, the date of the first Management Committee meeting.
According to Francisco Sampaio, ‘a COST Action essentially aims to create a network at European level that comes together to study a problem and try to find solutions to it. In this case, it’s a network that includes not only researchers, but also stakeholders such as health professionals, representatives of Non-Governmental Organisations, small and medium-sized enterprises, among others.’
‘What we want, in essence, is to gain a broader understanding of the impact of climate change on mental health, the coping strategies used by the affected population and, above all, to develop sustainable intervention strategies that make it possible to improve symptoms without jeopardising the maintenance of pro-environmental behaviours. Naturally, as this is a project financed by European funds, it is crucial for us to get the main results and recommendations to the political decision-makers,’ he says.