Joint Call between the Soil Deal for Europe Mission and the Cancer Mission (Horizon Europe)

Environmental and occupational cancer risks are estimated to contribute to over 10% of the total cancer burden in Europe, with soil pollution by carcinogenic substances, such as PFAS, and heavy metals like arsenic and cadmium, posing significant concerns for human and environmental health. However, the complex relationships between land management practices, soil parent material, soil properties, and presence of carcinogenic substances remain largely unknown. Moreover, significant knowledge gaps exist regarding biomonitoring, the bioaccumulation and transfer processes of soil pollutants into the food chain, water, and air, the pathways of human exposure and the impact of such exposure on cancer incidence, mortality and prevalence.

Projects under this topic are intended to expand and complement the network of Mission Soil living labs and lighthouses initiated with projects funded under Work Programmes 2023, 2024 and 2025 of the Mission Soil, with the aim of gradually establishing 100 living labs and lighthouses to lead the transition towards healthy soils by 2030.

Topics with submission deadline on 21 September 2027:

• HORIZON-MISS-2027-06-SOIL-CANCER: Living labs to monitor and mitigate carcinogenic substances in and originating from soils: Evaluating their effects on human cancer risks

Find the full work programme “Missions " for 2026-2027 here.