The POLARIS Research Center was founded in 2008 as acronym for POLveri in Ambiente e RIschio per la Salute. Our objectives have grown over these years and in 2022 the POLARIS Center changed its name to the Interdepartmental Center “Environmental Health and Sustainability (POLARIS)”, established at the University of Milan – Bicocca.
“POLARIS” brings together teachers and researchers from different scientific disciplines to holistically address issues related to environmental health and sustainability. The Center develops research in line with the European Green Deal and the systemic approaches “One Health” and “Safe and Sustainable by Design (SSbD)”. In line with this, environmental issues, also linked to climate change, the presence of contaminated substances and the diffusion of pathogens, are placed at the center of both the aspects inherent to the prevention and mitigation of health effects, and the safety and sustainability of (innovative) processes of production of goods and services throughout their life cycle, from design to end of life , with a view to reuse and recycling (circularity).
The main purpose of the Center is to increase and integrate the state of knowledge in the following fields:
Air quality and impact on human and environmental health
Development of innovative, safe and sustainable (nano)technologies
Evaluation of the environmental, economic and social impacts of products and processes; development of environmental policies with a view to sustainability and circularity
Study of emerging contaminants (including micro- and nano-plastics), their impact on health and prevention and risk mitigation
The POLARIS Research Center is established at the University of Milan – Bicocca between the Departments of:
• Department of Environmental and Earth Sciences
• Department of Materials Science
• Department of Biotechnology and Biosciences
• Physics department
• Department of Medicine and Surgery
• Department of Sociology and Social Research
• Department of Economics, quantitative methods and business strategies