HELLENIC HEALTH FOUNDATION

Their core work

The Hellenic Health Foundation is an Athens-based research centre focused on population health, nutrition epidemiology, and human exposure to chemicals in food and the environment. Their work combines cohort studies, health surveys, and biomonitoring to produce reference data that informs national and EU public-health policy. They contribute Greek population data and epidemiological expertise to pan-European research infrastructures on food metrology and human biomonitoring. In practice, they are the Greek scientific node that translates laboratory and cohort findings into policy-relevant health evidence.

What they specialise in

How they've shifted over time

Their earliest H2020 engagement (FoodSMART, 2015-2018) sat in applied food-choice and consumer behaviour research under MSCA-RISE mobility funding. From 2017 onwards they pivoted clearly toward population-level chemical exposure and food-system infrastructure, joining HBM4EU (human biomonitoring, endocrine disruptors) and METROFOOD-PP (food metrology infrastructure). The trajectory is unmistakable: from behavioural food science toward biomonitoring, exposure biomarkers, and formal research infrastructure roles.

They are moving toward being the Greek scientific anchor for pan-European health and food research infrastructures, making them a natural partner for any consortium needing Mediterranean cohort data or national-level biomonitoring input.

How they like to work

They consistently join as a participant or third-party contributor rather than leading, always inside very large pan-European consortia (151 unique partners across 33 countries from just three projects). That signals a specialist contributor role: they bring Greek cohort data and biomonitoring expertise into big infrastructure projects rather than building their own. Partners should expect reliable national-node delivery rather than coordination capacity.

Despite only three H2020 projects, they have worked alongside 151 distinct partners across 33 countries, reflecting participation in very large ERA-wide initiatives like HBM4EU and METROFOOD. Their network is pan-European with a natural southern-European anchoring in Greece.

What sets them apart

They are one of the few Greek organisations embedded in both the European human biomonitoring community (HBM4EU) and the European food-metrology infrastructure (METROFOOD), which is a rare combination. For consortium builders, they are the go-to Greek node when a project needs population-level exposure data or national representation in food and health infrastructures. They are not a lab-tech innovator; they are a credible evidence provider and national interface.

Highlights from their portfolio

• HBM4EU
  The flagship European Human Biomonitoring Initiative — the single most influential EU effort on population-level chemical exposure during Horizon 2020.
• METROFOOD-PP
  Preparatory phase of a pan-European research infrastructure on food metrology, placing them inside ESFRI-track infrastructure work.
• FoodSMART
  An MSCA-RISE mobility project on consumer food choice, marking their earlier behavioural-science footprint before the shift to biomonitoring.