Water, Alliance for Vital Ecosystems
WAVE is building a Freshwater OneHealth evidence base by linking European aquatic ecosystem indicators with public health and wellbeing metrics across EUniWell regions. This project will integrate data, maps risks and opportunities, and develops a pilot visualization framework for policy and research.
Why this project matters
Environmental challenge
European freshwater systems are under pressure from climate change, pollution, eutrophication, drought, and habitat modification, with implications for ecosystem service loss and water resilience.
Health challenge
Degraded aquatic systems are linked to waterborne disease, vector-borne risks, and wider wellbeing impacts, yet these relationships remain weakly quantified at scale.
System gap
Environmental assessments and health surveillance often operate in separate silos. WAVE addresses this fragmentation with harmonized datasets, exploratory evidence mapping, and a pilot dashboard concept.
Objectives
- Data integration: Harmonise European freshwater and health datasets at NUTS-2/3 level to create a credible foundation for future analytical work.
- Evidence scoping: Map ecosystem-health linkages, identify thresholds and inequities, and define the current state of evidence and uncertainty.
- Pilot visualization: Develop an initial framework for interactive visualization of integrated environmental and health indicators.
- Policy relevance: Generate an actionable scoping brief aligned with Water Framework Directive and River Basin Management Planning cycles.
- Network building: Establish an EUniWell Aquatic OneHealth network with clear pathways for collaboration, student engagement, and future funding.
- Cross-cutting value: Bring together freshwater ecology, public health, limnology, AI/analytics, and FAIR data stewardship within one shared project architecture.
Work plan and project phases
Phase 1 — Data discovery, licensing and harmonisation
Phase 1 — Data discovery, licensing and harmonisation
The first phase establishes the project’s technical foundation by assembling, validating, and standardising environmental and health data sources across the participating regions.
- Assemble 2010–2023 environmental indicators from WISE/EEA, Copernicus water quality sources, and national monitoring systems.
- Link these indicators to EUROSTAT, WHO, ECDC, and related health and wellbeing datasets.
- Standardise all relevant variables to NUTS-2/3 geographic levels for later comparison and analysis.
- Develop a metadata registry, conduct QA/QC, identify gaps, and complete ethical and governance review.
Phase 2 — Evidence scoping and mapping
Phase 2 — Evidence scoping and mapping
This phase maps existing evidence linking freshwater system conditions to human health and wellbeing outcomes, while clarifying uncertainty, regional gaps, and analytical opportunities.
- Review associations between water quality indicators such as nutrients, dissolved oxygen, algal blooms, and pathogen markers and public health outcomes.
- Build an evidence map showing methodological approaches, regional coverage, strengths, and blind spots.
- Identify key inequities, thresholds, and research gaps across European freshwater-health linkages.
- Assess the feasibility of future advanced methods including multilevel models, GAMs, and causal designs.
Phase 3 — Exploratory visualization and feasibility
Phase 3 — Exploratory visualization and feasibility
In this phase the project then translates integrated evidence into a visual exploration framework that can guide future decision-support and predictive tool development.
- Develop a pilot visualization structure to showcase integrated freshwater, health, and wellbeing indicators.
- Use interactive plots and dashboard components to make trends, comparisons, and emerging signals easier to interpret.
- Run a stakeholder scoping exercise to understand priority indicators and useful features.
- Test the practical feasibility of future predictive tools and early-warning models.
Phase 4 — Synthesis and future directions
Phase 4 — Synthesis and future directions
The final phase consolidates project learning, translates it into policy-relevant outputs, and prepares the next stage of larger-scale collaborative funding.
- Draft a synthesis report covering project results, limitations, and a framework for progressing toward predictive tools.
- Produce a concept note for follow-up research targeting future European and partnership funding streams.
- Create policy and scoping briefs aligned with WFD and RBMP cycles.
- Disseminate findings through a closing workshop and network-building activities.
The project consortium
The Universidade de Santiago de Compostela will act as the coordinator and contribute to Freshwater ecology, governance, coordination, synthesis, and dissemination leadership. Contact: Professor Manel Leira
The University of Birmingham will work on the AI and Dashboard. They will contribute to the Data engineering, exploratory AI/ML pathways, and dashboard design for integrated freshwater-health evidence. Contacts: Dr Iestyn Stead and Dr Anandadeep Mandal
The University of Cologne will be looking at Piblic Health and contribute to Health indicator validation, evidence-based medicine framing, scoping review, and evidence mapping. Contact: Dr Claire Iannizzi
Linnaeus University will be working on the FAIR data and contribute to Limnology, citizen science and data stewardship, FAIR-ready structures, and student engagement coordination. Contact: Dr Samuel Hylander.
Expected Results and Deliverables
Expected Results and Deliverables
Integrated FAIR-ready database: A documented structure for freshwater, health, and wellbeing indicators across EU-27 and EUniWell regional levels.
Scoping review and evidence map: A synthesis of water-health linkages, data limitations, methodological patterns, and future research opportunities.
Visualization prototype: A proof-of-concept dashboard framework enabling users to explore trends and integrated indicators.
Synthesis report: A structured report outlining results, limitations, and pathways toward predictive and decision-support tools.
Policy and scoping briefs: Concise outputs aligned with water policy and river basin planning cycles to support translation into practice.
Future funding concept note: A launchpad for Horizon Europe, Water4All, Erasmus+, LIFE, Interreg, and regional co-funding pathways.