Barcelona-based global health institute specializing in how environmental exposures — air pollution, chemicals, urban design — affect human health from pregnancy through aging.
ISGlobal is a leading global health research institute based in Barcelona that investigates how environmental exposures — air pollution, chemicals, urban design, climate — affect human health across the lifespan, with particular emphasis on pregnancy, childhood development, and respiratory disease. They run large-scale epidemiological cohort studies, develop biomonitoring methods, and translate environmental health evidence into public health interventions. Their work spans from molecular-level exposome research (linking chemical exposures to biological effects) to citizen science platforms that engage communities in environmental monitoring. They also maintain significant programs in infectious disease (leishmaniasis, malaria) and health system strengthening in Africa.
Core theme across AIR-NB, ALEC, OBERON, HBM4EU, LIFECYCLE, BlueHealth, and multiple MSCA fellowships studying air pollution, endocrine disruptors, and chemical mixtures effects on health.
Projects like AIR-NB (prenatal air pollution and brain development), LIFECYCLE (early-life stressors), COGNAC, and APGAR focus specifically on how environmental factors affect pregnancy outcomes and child development.
ESAIRE, CitieS-Health, InSPIRES, and related work demonstrate a sustained capability in designing and running citizen science platforms for air quality and urban health monitoring.
ALEC (aging lungs in European cohorts), PAIR (physical activity and respiratory health), MOBILISE-D (COPD digital assessment), and ACCLIM demonstrate deep expertise linking air pollution exposure to respiratory outcomes.
EUROLEISH-NET (leishmaniasis), NOMORFILM (marine biomolecules against biofilm), SugarBlock (malaria), and INTE-AFRICA (diabetes/hypertension in Africa) reflect ISGlobal's tropical medicine roots.
MOBILISE-D (digital mobility outcomes), sensor-based monitoring in multiple projects, and data linkage work in HELICAL and EUCAN-Connect show growing investment in digital health tools.
In the early H2020 period (2015–2018), ISGlobal focused heavily on citizen science platforms for air quality monitoring, participatory sensing methods, and foundational cohort studies on lung health and childhood exposures. From 2019 onward, the focus shifted decisively toward exposome science — integrating multi-omics data, toxicology, and health economics to understand how combined environmental exposures (air pollution, noise, urban design, endocrine disruptors) drive disease. The recent period also shows increased emphasis on digital health tools, large-scale data federation (EUCAN-Connect), and translating research into policy-relevant interventions rather than purely observational studies.
ISGlobal is moving from measuring single environmental exposures toward integrated exposome approaches that combine multi-omics, digital sensors, and health economics to quantify the total environmental burden on human health — making them an ideal partner for projects requiring complex exposure-outcome modeling.
ISGlobal operates as both a consortium leader and a strong contributing partner, coordinating 21 of 56 projects (38%) — a high coordination rate that signals organizational maturity and project management capacity. With 655 unique consortium partners across 57 countries, they function as a major European hub rather than relying on a fixed set of collaborators. Their projects range from focused MSCA fellowships (2-3 partners) to large RIA consortia (20+ partners), showing flexibility in adapting to different project scales and governance structures.
ISGlobal has built one of the broadest collaboration networks in European global health research, with 655 unique partners spanning 57 countries — well beyond the EU, reaching into Africa, Canada, and other regions. Their network is particularly dense in environmental health, epidemiology, and public health institutions across Western Europe.
ISGlobal sits at a rare intersection: they combine deep environmental science (air pollution, chemical exposures, urban health) with population-level epidemiology and community engagement methods, all under one roof. Unlike purely laboratory-based institutes, they can follow an environmental exposure from molecular mechanism through cohort-level health outcomes to citizen-driven monitoring and policy impact. Their Barcelona base and bilingual Spanish-English research culture also makes them a natural bridge between Southern European, Latin American, and African research communities — a geographic advantage few Northern European institutes can match.
