Pianoforte objectives & organisation

Launched in 2022 with 58 partners and coordinated by ASNR, the European Partnership for Radiation Protection Research (PIANOFORTE Partnership) is co-financed by the European Union's EURATOM programme and the European participating countries, also welcoming non-European associated partners participating at their own costs.

By establishing a comprehensive pan-European scientific and technological foundation, PIANOFORTE aims to support a robust radiation protection system and to develop consolidated, science-based policy recommendations for decision-makers across diverse sectors that utilise ionising radiation, both energy and non-energy related. As of January 2025, it involves more than 100 partners from 23 European Union countries, 5 non-EU countries and the 6 European research platforms in radiation protection (MELODI, EURADOS, EURAMED, NERIS, ALLIANCE and SHARE).

Facts sheet

• Duration: 2022 - 2029
• Funding: total budget amounts to estimated € 46 million which is financed by the Euratom research and training programme by 63 % and by EU member states or Euratom programme associated countries by 37 %.
• As of January 2025, after two open calls (2023 and 2024), 108 partners involved (such as research and/or regulatory bodies, European research platforms, universities, hospitals).

Objectives of the partnership

The PIANOFORTE partnership contributes to achieve priority European policies such as the fight against cancer (Europe Beating’s Cancer action plan), the protection of human and ecosystem health from environmental risks (European Green Deal) and finally the improvement of anticipation and resilience in disaster situations (European action plan of the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction).

To this end, this European partnership promotes multidisciplinary research activities and innovations in a collaborative approach bringing together researchers/scientists, authorities and all stakeholders including civil society. Research projects, focused on clearly identified priorities, are selected through open calls for proposals that target the following specific objectives:

• The improvement of patient radiation protection in relation to the use of ionising radiation in the medical field.
• A better comprehension of variability of individual response to exposure to ionising radiation.
• The understanding of mechanisms involved in chronic exposure to low doses of ionising radiation.
• The improvement of anticipation capacities and resilience in nuclear or radiological crisis situations and post-accident management.

Particular attention is paid to the involvement of all stakeholders (authorities, civil society, radiation protection practitioners, experts, etc.) in the priority setting of the scientific topics that will be the subject of open calls for proposals and with respect to the question of translating this research into actual impact for strengthened radiation protection. The overall objective is to meet and integrate the expectations of the wide range of radiation protection stakeholders as best as possible. This partnership also specifically aims to build bridges with research activities carried out at European level in the "non-Euratom" fields, in particular in the health and the security sectors.

Beyond these research activities, PIANOFORTE contributes to maintaining a sustainable capacity of expertise in radiation protection in Europe, which is internationally recognised, in particular by promoting the availability, use and sharing of existing state-of-the-art research infrastructures at the European level as well as by implementing education and training activities.

The partnership will build on previous work, and in particular on the results of the European Joint Programme CONCERT conducted under the H2020 framework programme which ended in 2020. It also benefits from the achievements of other European projects just completed or in progress such as MEDIRAD, HARMONIC, RadoNorm or SINFONIA.

Executive board