Two new partners have joined Project GOLIAT in the summer of 2023. Shizuoka Graduate University of Public Health (SGUPH) and Hokkaido University Center for Environmental and Health Sciences (CEHS), both from Japan, have thus become the first Asian partners to join the project. 

Under the leadership of Noriko Kojimahara, SGUPH will participate in WP6 (Understanding health impacts, risk perception, and exposure reduction). They will perform interviews to experts and citizens, participate in identifying public misconceptions, and run a panel survey of misconceptions in the general public.

The CEHS group, led by Keiko Yamazaki, will participate in WP2 (Neuropsychological effects of RF-EMF in young people and workers).They will carry out prospective data collection in their existing birth cohort following the standardized protocol developed in GOLIAT. This includes the newly developed questionnaire on use of communication/connected devices and technologies, as well as the assessment of cognitive functions, mental health, and sleep. They will participate in all the GOLIAT analysis that aim to draw causal inferences between radiofrequency electromagnetic fields exposure and cognitive functions, mental health, and sleep in young people. 

Both partners will also participate in the work packages related to communication, dissemination, and policy (WP8), ethical, legal, and societal issues (WP9) and project coordination and management (WP10). 

“The inclusion of these associate partners brings us the unique opportunity of extending the work of GOLIAT into Asia, expanding the diversity in radiofrequency electromagnetic fields exposure and risk perception”, said Mònica Guxens, coordinator of Project GOLIAT.

With these two new additions, the GOLIAT consortium has now a total of 23 member institutions. The project, which is now entering its second year out of five, is open to the collaboration of new potential partners.