Project Partners
The Catalan Institute of Oncology (ICO) is a public non-profit comprehensive cancer organisation with a high international recognition (i.e., WHO Collaborating Centre for Tobacco control and WHO HPV Information Centre). On top of cancer care and prevention, specialised training, and research, ICO develops primary cancer prevention and implementation research through its Cancer Prevention and Control Programme and Cancer Epidemiology Research Programme. ICO is partnering with both the Catalan Health Service (CatSalut), which is the unique purchaser of public services for all 7.7 million Catalonian citizens, and the Public Health Agency of Catalonia (ASPCAT), which is responsible amongst other tasks for Public Health policies and programmes for the Region. In PIECES, the close collaboration between the three entities will allow access to all the public healthcare network in Catalonia, comprised by 71 hospitals, 371 primary care centres, and 96 intermediate care centres.
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The Catalan Health Service (CatSalut) is the entity that guarantees public health care to all citizens of Catalonia. It was born in 1991 as an entity for planning, evaluation and financing of services and benefits, within the fields of health and social health care.
In order to comply with its main objective of guaranteeing quality public coverage assistance to all citizens of Catalonia, it carries out the function of purchasing health services from the various provider entities, based on the health needs of the population it defines the Department of Health and also evaluates the satisfaction of citizens with the services provided.
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Amsterdam University Medical Center’s mission is to promote healthy behaviours in their broad societal context and to prevent health conditions and reduce health inequalities – through high-quality and impactful research, education and dissemination. Amsterdam UMC focus primarily on: 1) the prevalence and causes of health behaviours (e.g. nutrition, physical activity, sports, sedentary behaviour, smoking) and their consequences for health and health inequalities, and 2) identifying, developing, implementing, and evaluating solutions to health behaviour problems to improve health and reduce health inequalities. Their research covers a wide range of topics, such as: food systems, lifestyle medicine, physical activity surveillance, sport injury prevention, and tobacco control.
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Trimbos is an independent non-profit research and knowledge institute providing research, policy, and practice-based advice for policy makers and professionals on mental health and substance use across the life course. Trimbos has the Netherlands Expertise Centre for Tobacco control (NET) and the Expertise Centre on Alcohol (EA) to support professionals and implement evidence-based interventions for reducing tobacco and alcohol consumption, with potential reach to all 17,7 million inhabitants of the Netherlands. Trimbos collaborates closely with several partner organizations, including the National Institute for Public Health and the Environment (specifically, the WHO Collaborating Centre for Tobacco Product Regulation and Control), the Netherlands Network for Tobacco Researchers, the Partnership Stop Smoking, and national health charities that are active in cancer prevention, such as the Cancer Society, Hearth Foundation and Lung Foundation. In collaboration with Santé publique France, Trimbos chairs a EuroHealthNet thematic working group on Social Marketing to Address Addictions, focussing on tobacco and alcohol prevention.
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The University of MedicineTirana (UMT) is a public non-profit university and the biggest Albanian research centre covering all medical and life-sciences, including areas of disease prevention and health promotion, with close links with the Institute of Public Health (IPH), a public non-profit research and university centre that operates as technical branch of Ministry of Health; both led the recently approved 2022-2030 National Cancer Control Plan. IPH provides technical guidance to 36 local Units of Health Care in all districts of the country, while coordinating national cancer registry and other programme databases. UMT and IPH partner with the newly established national agency for management of health care (National Health Care Operator), running all healthcare institutions including 413 primary health care centres and 12 regional hospitals; reaching this way virtually 2.8 million inhabitants for education, prevention and research purposes.
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The “Istituto per lo studio, la prevenzione e la rete oncologica” (ISPRO) is a public Research Institute belonging to the National Health System of Italy and Tuscany Region (3.7 million people), endowed with public legal personality and organizational, administrative, and accounting autonomy. ISPRO main aim is to promote and study primary, secondary and tertiary cancer prevention interventions and to organize and coordinate pathways of research programmes, diagnosis, treatment, and rehabilitation in oncology, in collaboration with hospitals and local health units. ISPRO activities include epidemiological evaluation and surveillance, management of registries, design, implementation and monitoring of screening programmes, and coordination of the Tuscany cancer network for the definition and monitoring of clinical guidelines, and oncological diagnostic and therapeutic pathways.
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The Association of European Cancer Leagues (ECL) is a non-profit, pan-European umbrella organisation of national and regional cancer societies. Located in Brussels, ECL provides an exclusive platform for members to collaborate with their international peers, primarily in the areas of cancer prevention, tobacco control, access to medicines and patient support, and creates opportunities to advocate for these issues at the EU level. ECL’s VISION: A Europe free of cancers ECL’s MISSION: To advocate for improved cancer control and care in Europe through facilitating collaboration between cancer leagues , and influencing EU and pan-European policies.
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Hannover Medical School (MHH) is represented by an interdisciplinary team of physicians, sports scientists, oncologists and nutritionists in an institutional collaboration between the Institute of Sports Medicine, Department of Rehabilitation- and Sports Medicine (led by Prof. Dr. Uwe Tegtbur) and the Department of Gastroenterology, Hepatology, Infectious Diseases and Endocrinology (led by Prof. Dr. Heiner Wedemeyer). Hannover Medical School is an oncological center of excellence with certifications by the German Cancer Society and part of the Comprehensive Cancer Center Lower Saxony (CCC-N). Our background brings together the expertise of a visceral oncology center with the knowledge about the establishment of individually tailored sport programs based on personal needs and risks. As an implementation site for physical activity, we aim to use the PIECES Toolkit to implement a physical activity program for people with metabolic risk factors and liver diseases to enhance individual health and reduce cancer risk. Our implementation setting is the occupational health care system with internal health check-ups via the medical service in a large automotive company.
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Public Health Centre of Ukraine (UPHC) is responsible for controlling the sanitary and epidemic situation in the country, prevent diseases, fight against epidemics, increase life expectancy, and improve the health of citizens. In the frame of health care reform in Ukraine the focus has been shifted to health promotion and diseases prevention. Besides designing public health campaigns, UPHC conducts epidemiological research, mainly through its department of Behavioural Risk Factors. This department investigates the prevalence of cancer risk factors addressed in PIECES, including tobacco and alcohol consumption, low physical activity, and an unbalanced diet. Ukraine is currently deploying regional disease control and prevention centres aimed at delivering campaigns for the prevention of non-communicable diseases covering all country regions. Therefore, interventions implemented in the context of the PIECES project are expected to benefit the entire 35 million population.
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Haukeland University Hospital is the second largest university hospital in Norway, known for its extensive investment in medical and health-related research and innovation. The primary aim of research and innovation at Haukeland University Hospital (HUH) is to enhance health services and provide effective, high-quality healthcare in a secure way. Forhelse SFI (Centre for Digital Healthcare) is a research-based innovation project led by Haukeland University Hospital. Funded by The Research Council of Norway, Forhelse encompasses multi-year research and innovation projects that involve close collaboration with national and international partners in academia, industry, health services, and user organizations. This initiative focuses on advancing healthcare solutions to improve accessibility and quality of care.
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The German Cancer Research Center (Deutsches Krebsforschungszentrum, DKFZ) is a public, non-profit comprehensive research centre and the largest biomedical research institute in Germany. Its Unit Cancer Prevention (UCP) is devoted to implementing evidence-based programmes in tobacco, alcohol, and HPV prevention. Currently, the DKFZ is setting up, in collaboration with the German Cancer Aid, the National Cancer Prevention Centre, which will combine high-level prevention research, education and training, as well as public relations and policy advice and implement them nationwide via outreach programs and networking.
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The University of Stirling is an international university with pioneering spirit and a global reputation for high-quality teaching and research. Founded in 1967, the University of Stirling has always been driven by transformative thinking and a will of innovation. Its aim is to be recognised across the world as a University that addresses the needs of society through innovative and interdisciplinary research, learning and teaching of the highest quality, and by sharing its knowledge with the world. The core strength of the University of Stirling is the people. To build on our success, they invest in the best staff from around the world to deliver on the ambitious strategies for research, teaching and international partnerships. The Institute for Social Marketing (ISM) is the UK’s leading social marketing research centre, bringing over 35 years’ experience to the study and dissemination of social marketing theory and practice. ISM conducts research in three areas: the use of social marketing concepts and theory to understand health behaviour and to inform the development and evaluation of behaviour change interventions; the critical examination of the effects of commercial marketing on health and society, and the impact of policies to control commercial marketing and to protect public health.
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The German Network for Tobacco Free Healthcare Services (Deutsches Netz Rauchfreier Krankenhäuser und Gesundheitseinrichtungen e.V., DNRfK) supports implementation of tobacco control standards in healthcare services. With “smoke-free plus”, members of the network integrate tobacco cessation in treatment processes and denormalize tobacco consumption on their premises. Implementation is based on a self-audit tool and step-by-step change process coordinated by an implementation team and supported by exchange of best practice and a peer review. Implementation of systematic screening, brief intervention and referral to the Quitline with the “smoke-free ticket” is funded by the German Federal Centre for Health Education and lead by the DNRfK team. To support nurse’s role in tobacco control and network of nursing schools is established. Nursing teachers get trained to implement a program to reduce tobacco use among nursing students and to integrate training in brief interventions as a standard part of nursing education. The network is seen as a nationally valuable platform for the development of further tobacco-control programs in health care and received the WHO World No Tobacco Day Award 2021.
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With two research intensive schools, medical education, and five hospital-based institutes and centres, we are well positioned to link the pre-clinical and clinical sciences with population and global health. Within our Faculty, we are teachers and we are researchers. We are students and we are staff. We are health professionals and together, we are united in our quest to make a global difference to health outcomes. Medical and biomedical science research projects within the Faculty have already led to discoveries with far-reaching social and economic impacts, including the Gardasil vaccine for cervical cancer.
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