Rosa Freitas, a CESAM researcher and professor at the Department of Biology of the University of Aveiro, Seila Díaz Costas, a CESAM/DBIO researcher, and Marta Cunha, a CESAM/DBIO doctoral student, are part of the CESAM team for the BE‑SMART project, selected under the internal projects programme PIP‑CESAM. This programme, created to implement the 2025–2029 strategic plan, supports projects of scientific excellence, promotes international mobility, consolidates strategic partnerships and contributes to the career development of CESAM researchers. Structured into four funding lines, PIP‑CESAM covers transversal projects between Thematic Lines and Research Clusters (Line A), support for the preparation of European Research Council proposals (Line B), initiatives with CPLP partners (Line C) and joint projects with Asian institutions (Line D).
It is within Line D – dedicated to projects with Asian research institutions, involving co‑funding and bidirectional mobility – that the BE‑SMART project falls, an acronym for “Environmental distribution, bioaccumulation, and risk assessment of key contaminants in aquaculture bivalve environments”. Coordinated by Rosa Freitas, the project results from a collaboration between CESAM and the East China Sea Fisheries Research Institute (ECSFRI), of the Chinese Academy of Fishery Sciences, based in Shanghai.
BE‑SMART focuses on assessing the environmental distribution, bioaccumulation and risk of emerging contaminants – such as critical metals (including rare earth elements), battery‑related metals and per‑ and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) – in aquaculture bivalve environments. The project adopts a One Health framework, linking coastal environmental quality, the health of marine organisms used as sentinel species (such as clams, oysters, cockles and mussels), and the risks to human health associated with shellfish consumption. By harmonising sampling and analytical protocols between Portugal and China, the project makes it possible to compare contamination gradients and biological responses in different environmental and socio‑economic contexts.
Within this initiative, Rosa Freitas, Seila Díaz Costas and Marta Cunha travelled to the East China Sea Fisheries Research Institute in Shanghai to present the BE‑SMART project and, together with the local team, align the work plan, sampling campaigns and scientific mobility activities. The visit included technical meetings, methodological discussion sessions and contacts aimed at consolidating institutional cooperation between CESAM and ECSFRI.
The project’s main objective is to develop and implement a transcontinental biomonitoring network based on bivalves, capable of assessing, in an integrated way, risks for ecosystems, organisms and consumers. Specific objectives include quantifying emerging contaminants in water, sediments and bivalve tissues in Portuguese and Chinese coastal areas, assessing eco‑physiological and biochemical responses of organisms, applying OMICS approaches (namely metabolomics and transcriptomics) at representative sites, and developing the One Health Coastal Risk Index (OHCRI). This index will integrate environmental, biological and consumer risk data into a single, operational metric that allows comparisons between different coastal locations in Europe and Asia.
With this initiative, CESAM takes another step towards implementing its internationalisation strategy and integrating its Thematic Lines and Research Clusters into projects with a strong global dimension. PIP‑CESAM, through its four funding lines, is a key instrument for turning the 2025–2029 strategic plan into concrete results – from transversal internal projects with an obligatory internationalisation component and the preparation of excellence‑level proposals to cooperation with CPLP partners (Line C) and with Asian institutions (Line D).