Established in 1991, Harokopio University of Athens (HUA) is a public University located in the city of Athens, dedicated in promoting high-quality education and research in a small, well focused set of intellectual areas. HUA has been highly ranked based on its performance with regard to citations per Professor/Researcher and thus it is greatly acknowledged as a rapidly developing and expanding University in Europe.

The Department of Nutrition & Dietetics (DND) within School of Health Science & Education at HUA offers high standard graduate and postgraduate education, covering all aspects of human nutrition and clinical nutrition science. Research activity is highly encouraged by the School, promoting scientific knowledge primarily focused in the area of Non-Communicable Diseases prevention and management. Within the DND, Prof. Yannis Manios is leading the “Nutritional Assessment, Health Promotion and Counselling” group, one of the most active and recognised research groups of the University. This group has experience in studying the interactions among behavioural, demographic and physiological indices leading to the development of NCDs, as well as developing and implementing interventions for their prevention.

National Institute for Health and Welfare (THL) operates under the Ministry of Social Affairs and Health. THL promotes the wellbeing and health of the population, prevents diseases and social problems, and develops social and health services. THL is active in research, development, evaluation and follow-up, performs official tasks, and engages in extensive international cooperation. The Diabetes Prevention Unit of THL has long-standing experience in national and international research projects related to e.g. type 2 diabetes screening and prevention in high-risk individuals, as well as implementation of prevention programs in primary and occupational health care.

The research program of the Department of Movement and Sport Sciences (DMSS), research group Physical Activity, Fitness and Health group at the UNIVERSITEIT GENT (Ghent University), Belgium (UGent) has its main focus on health promotion and behavioural change with special attention to nutrition and physical activity. Based on the planning model of health promotion and behavioural change, studies are executed on (1) monitoring, measurement of nutrition and physical activity, including validity and reliability, (2) psycho-social and environmental determinants of both behaviours, (3) development of interventions for children, adolescents and adults, (4) effect and process evaluation studies and (5) dissemination activities. The Department of Public Health (DPH) in UNIVERSITEIT GENT (Ghent University), Belgium (UGent) has a long-standing experience in descriptive, analytical and experimental epidemiological studies and in health promotional intervention studies. The scientific interest area of the department is extremely wide and very sensible for permanent social and public evolutions. Three research units of the department will participate in the consortium. The Unit of “Health Information, Education and Health Promotion” is concentrating on the survey of health behaviour of young people, the development of programmes for information and education and their appropriateness. The Unit of “Public Health Nutrition” gained experience in the broad research field of human nutrition and public health related to the growing challenge of obesity. The third Unit “Health Economics” is a new but experienced unit and focuses on health economic evaluations in various preventive and therapeutic areas.

The Medical Faculty at Dresden University of Technology is the largest hospital structure in Saxony/Germany and consists of 43 hospitals and together with its teaching hospitals and the professional Network Carus Consilum Sachsen comprises another 19 hospitals and 1470 physicians in the region of eastern Saxony covering about 2.3 millions of patients. The Department of Internal Medicine III, Diabetes Care Center offers diabetes research programs that reach from cell biology to genetics, behavioural science, pathogenesis and regeneration of diabetes.

National and Kapodistrian University of Athens (NKUA) is the largest state institution of higher learning in Greece, and among the largest universities in Europe. The Faculty of Medicine of the NKUA is part of the School of Health Sciences. Within the NKUA, the Diabetes Center of the “Laiko” General University Hospital, is staffed by the faculty of Medicine and has ample experience in studying and investigating all aspects of diabetes prevention and treatment in the adult population.

International Diabetes Federation Europe (IDFE) is the European chapter of IDF and is an umbrella organization representing 69 diabetes organizations in 47 countries across Europe. IDFE is a diverse and inclusive multicultural network of national diabetes associations, representing both people living with diabetes and healthcare professionals.

The group at the UNIVERSIDAD DE ZARAGOZA (University of Zaragoza), Spain (UniZar) has a multidisciplinary background, implementing a multidisciplinary-based intervention combining nutritional-physical activity-psychological support approach. This research programme is supported by the Spanish Ministry of Health (FIS PI052451, www.estudioevasyon.com/). All physicians are experts in running clinical and public health investigations in conjunction with nurses, dieticians and physical activity trainers, in performing body composition techniques and indirect calorimetry. The main research activity of the group concerns the study of nutritional status and body composition in children and adolescents.

The Medical University of Varna, Bulgaria (MUV) is a fundamental, educational, scientific and medical centre in Northeastern part of Bulgaria and the Black Sea region. Its structure includes Faculties of Medicine, Public Health and Dental Medicine. It is supplied with modern equipment at a high level of information provision. Within MUV, the Faculty of Public Health is a major division in the Medical University-Varna and incorporates 8 departments. The main activities of the Faculty of Public Health and the Dept. of Social Medicine are devoted to public health education, research, training and consultancy. The topic of the Project fully corresponds to department’s research interests and its staff members had worked in the field of childhood obesity from the public health perspective. The Department has substantial experience in international (education and research) projects participation and coordination and very successful collaboration with international partners. The FPH has close links of cooperation with national and regional governments and local health and social services that would be essential for fulfilling the project objectives. The Dept. of Pediatrics and Medical Genetics also established within MUV is the centre of research, clinical excellence and methodological help in North-Eastern Bulgaria. Its main topics are chronic/rare diseases. The Paediatric Endocrinology team created 17 years ago has a long standing history of research in the fields of childhood diabetes epidemiology with a Register established in 1982 and participation in DiaMond and EURODIAB projects; postnatal growth and puberty in children born small for gestational age; rare syndromes and diseases. Clinical and research fellowships, grants for high score of presented work and successful collaborations were fulfilled throughout the years. It is a member of IASO, EASO, ESPE, ISPAD, IAA among others.

The University of Debrecen is the only one among Hungarian Medical Schools, where the Faculty of Public Health has been established. Since then, it became a unique, internationally recognized competitive training center, with doctoral (PhD) program in all fields of public health, including primary care. The Department of Preventive Medicine has been recognized by WHO as Collaborating Centre on Vulnerability and Health. Its other departments have also been involved in international collaborations and in EU-FP7 funded projects.

Extensive Life Oy (ELO) was founded in May 2012 in Tampere Finland and contributes to the Mobile Health market ecosystem through preventive and participative self-care tools. ELO delivers software and services to companies and citizens looking sustainable outcomes in Diabetes, Mental and Personal health. ELO has experience in remote health and lifestyle monitoring as well as persuasive behavioral systems for healthy lifestyles in collaboration with the National Institute for Health and Welfare.