Climate, Kidneys, and Cognition: Establishing Causal Pathways from Climate Stressors to NCD Progression

We are an established interdisciplinary consortium investigating how climate change drives kidney disease progression and brain health impacts through the gut-kidney-brain axis. Our hypothesis: climate stressors → gut barrier dysfunction → inflammatory mediators/uremic toxins → kidney disease progression → brain health impacts.

Our consortium has substantial existing assets ready for immediate deployment. We have an 18-month animal pollution exposure study with tissue samples (kidney, brain, gut, blood, feces) awaiting analysis. We have access to Brazil transplant cohorts, Kazakhstan paediatric nephrology data, and multiple European CKD cohorts. Infrastructure is in place: ERA5 global climate data (1950-present, hourly resolution), Met Office supercomputing access, omics platforms (transcriptomics, metabolomics, lipidomics), animal facilities with 10+ kidney injury models, and fetal kidney organoid models.

Our interdisciplinary team spans nephrology (paediatric/adult), animal models, omics, epidemiology/biostatistics, gut microbiome research, pharmacology, climate science, and organoid technology. Geographic coverage includes Netherlands, UK, France, Greece, Cyprus, Kazakhstan, China, Colombia with LMIC partners in, Brazil and Chile.

What we need: Senior EU-based coordinator with Horizon experience and climate-health research credibility. Also seeking SSH partners (environmental justice, health economics, behavioural science), policy translation partners, and additional Northern/Southern geographic coverage.