The ambition of the PIANOFORTE Partnership is to improve radiological protection of members of the public, patients, workers and environment in all exposure scenarios and provide solutions and recommendations for optimised protection in accordance with the Basic Safety Standards. Research projects focusing on identified research and innovation priorities will be selected through a serie of three competitive open calls. The input to define the research priorities will be based on the priorities defined in the Joint Road Map (JRM) developed during the H2020 CONCERT EJP but also on the results of ongoing H2020 projects and on the expectations expressed by other actions carried out in other European programmes, in particular the SAMIRA action plan. High priority will be dedicated to medical applications considering that 1) medical exposures are, by far, the largest artificial source of exposure of the European population and 2) the fight against cancer is a top priority of the present European Commission. In order to ensure an appropriate continuity in the research goals and methodologies, in line with the contents of the CONCERT JRM, two other priorities have been identified to further understand and reduce uncertainties associated with health risk estimates for exposure at low doses in order to consolidate regulations and improve practices and to further enhance a science-based European methodology for emergency management and long-term recovery. Once the research priorities defined, the open call system will promote excellence in science and widening participation through a process open to the whole radiation protection community. Beyond the research actions, the selected projects will be able to benefit from the system of sharing and mutualisation of infrastructures that will be implemented at the European level. This will be accompanied by education and training schemes for health workforce and young scientists to increase Europe’s research capacity in the field.

The pervasiveness and social-economic dependence on wireless technology has steadily increased over the last three decades. Currently, the 5th generation (5G) New Radio (NR) cellular system is being deployed to unlock the potential of new applications that require the connection of many more devices (Internet of Things), higher data rates and low latency (autonomous driving, 'Factory of the Future'). 5G operates in two frequency bands, 5G NR FR1 and 5G NR FR2. Many exposure parameters of 5G are similar to those of 2G-4G. However, there are also many differences that lead to major knowledge gaps, all of which will be addressed by the SEAWave project. SEAWave will (i) quantify the differences in exposure patterns between 2G-4G and 5G for the entire population including children; (ii) provide new tools and instruments for reliable exposure evaluation of base stations, local networks in factories, and end-user devices; (iii) provide the means to minimise exposure; (iv) generate important new scientific data for assessing the health risk from exposure to the new frequency bands (FR2), especially with regard to the potential (co-)carcinogenicity of skin exposure and other hazardous effects; and (v) provide knowledge for effective health risk communication and dissemination to various stakeholders. To achieve these ambitious objectives, the interdisciplinary consortium consists of highly experienced partners with leading expertise in the field who ideally complement each other to achieve maximum impact. European citizens, workers, national public health authorities, European Commission services, regulators, and standardisation bodies will all benefit from the SEAWave results as they will support science-based decisions and policies for the safe deployment and use of 5G and future wireless networks. Project SEAWave is part of the European cluster on EMFs and health.