The European Human Biomonitoring Initiative (HBM4EU) is a joint effort of 26 countries and the European Commission, co-funded by Horizon 2020. The main aim of the initiative is to coordinate and advance human biomonitoring in Europe. HBM4EU will thereby provide better evidence of the actual exposure of citizens to chemicals and the possible health effects to support policy making. This launch event is organised under the Slovak Presidency of the Council of the EU, demonstrating the high-level interest in human biomonitoring across the EU.The HBM4EU initiative represents a novel way of collaborating between several Commission services, EU agencies and national representatives, highlighting how research funding can build bridges between the research and policy worlds. At the launch event, the initiative will be presented publicly for the first time, including key features, envisaged activities, the expected impact and information on how stakeholders can stay informed about the initiative, and the subject in general.The conference programme is structured around the following sessions:

1. Welcome and introduction of the political framework
2. Presentation of the HBM4EU initiative
3. The international HBM landscape - challenges and opportunities
4. Key features of HBM4EU
5. National expectations for HBM4EU
6. The way forward

 Event participationRegistrations are now open, the deadline for registration is 24 November.We welcome the participation of interested people and organisations from different policy and research areas, with a common interest in the opportunities and challenges of human biomonitoring. Post-event consultation meetingThe launch event will be followed by a half-day technical consultation meeting on9 December. This meeting will be limited to 120 participants and is the first in a series of more in-depth discussions with stakeholders, which will accompany the development of the HBM4EU's annual work plans. Participants are invited to flag their interest in attending this meeting when registering for the launch event on 8 December, and will, if capacity allows, receive a separate confirmation email.The registrations for the 9 December technical consultation meeting are now closed.