The European Radioecology Alliance: Encouraging the Coordination and Integration of Research Activities in Radioecology: 7- Environment and Natural Background ;8- Transport / Sealed Source Management; 9- Non-ionising Radiation

The European Radioecology Alliance (ALLIANCE) was established in 2009 by eight founding European organizations with the main objective to progressively strengthen the coordination and integration of research in the field of radioecology at national, European and international level. In 2012, the Radioecology Alliance was officially constituted as an Association, and in 2016 it grew to 25 members from 14 different countries. Within the framework of the ALLIANCE, an EC-Network of Excellence in Radioecology STAR (Strategy for Allied Radioecology) was created in 2011. In 2013, the EC-project COMET (COordination and iMplementation of a pan-European instrumenT for radioecology) was funded to strengthen the pan-European research initiative on the radiation impact on man and the environment by facilitating the integration of the Research and Development activities in radioecology. The ALLIANCE in close collaboration with STAR and COMET, has developed a Strategic Research Agenda (SRA) for Radioecology. The SRA identifies three challenges: (1) To predict human and wildlife exposure more robustly by quantifying the key processes that most influence radionuclide transfers; (2) To determine ecological consequences under realistic exposure conditions and (3) To improve human and environmental protection by integrating radioecology. Within these 3 challenges, 15 research lines have been identified. After a consultation process an updated version of the SRA was launched. Recently, a first proposal for a 5-year roadmap of the radioecology SRA has been developed within the COMET project in collaboration with the ALLIANCE. This shorter-term roadmap will be the basis of an implementation plan for the priority research activities that have been identified in the SRA.