Horizon SMILE

08/04/2026

🧠 Prioritising mental health at work is no longer optional. It’s essential.

As part of the SMILE Workshop Series, the Mestna občina Maribor hosted the “Stop Stress” workshop, engaging 28 employees in an interactive session focused on understanding and managing stress.

From recognising stress triggers to practicing breathing, relaxation, and mindfulness techniques, participants gained practical tools to support their well-being, both professionally and personally.

SMILE Partners continue working with local partners to promote healthier, more resilient workplaces across Europe.

07/04/2026

🌍 Today, on World Health Day 2026, we highlight a simple truth: there is no health without mental health.

At SMILE, we are working to make mental health support more accessible, inclusive, and adapted to today’s challenges, especially for young people.

Through digital innovation, ethical design, and user-centered approaches, we aim to equip youth and professionals with tools that are engaging, trustworthy, and grounded in real needs.

💡 From gamified experiences to AI-supported tools and collaborative platforms, SMILE contributes to building resilience and supporting well-being across Europe.

Let’s continue to break stigma and make mental health a priority for all.

23/03/2026

🚀 SMILE at the forefront of digital health innovation in pediatrics!

We are proud to share that we were present at the ###V Meeting of Pediatricians and the XXII Meeting of Pediatric Nurses, organised by the Slovenian Pediatric Society in Maribor, Slovenia.

In collaboration with fellow EU projects and , our partners from Univerza v Mariboru and Mestna občina Maribor, showcased SMILE, and its screening experiments.

👩‍⚕️👨‍⚕️ Strong engagement from the medical community:
• Day 1: 170 clinicians & 160 nurses
• Day 2: 241 clinicians & 170 nurses

➡️ More than 700 healthcare professionals reached!

This was a great opportunity to exchange with practitioners, raise awareness about HorizonSMILE, and demonstrate how digital health tools can enhance pediatric care and clinical decision-making.

👏 A big thank you to our partners and all contributors on-site for representing SMILE!

11/03/2026

📢 New scientific publication

We are pleased to share a new research article published in Acta Psychologica titled: “Coping with existential anxiety: How resilience, intolerance of uncertainty, and cognitive-emotion regulation shape mental health outcomes.”

In this study, Urška Smrke, Nejc Plohl, Izidor Mlakar, and Ana Lampret from the explore the role of existential anxiety as a transdiagnostic factor linked to depression and anxiety in young adults.

Based on data from 330 Slovenian participants, the study shows that:
🔹 Existential anxiety significantly predicts both depression and general anxiety
🔹 Psychological resilience can buffer these negative effects
🔹 Intolerance of uncertainty and certain maladaptive cognitive emotion regulation strategies may amplify them

These findings highlight modifiable psychological mechanisms that could be targeted in therapeutic and preventive interventions aimed at improving emotional well-being among young people.

📄Scan QR Code to read the article
👉 Or click here: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.actpsy.2026.106547

10/03/2026

Our partners from Heidelberg University Hospital represented the SMILE project at the German Congress for Psychosomatic Medicine and Psychotherapy (DKPM) in Berlin, Germany.

During the congress, Nelli Tschobur presented the SMILE study protocol for our upcoming feasibility study, under the supervision of PD Dr. Jobst-Hendrik Schultz. The presentation highlighted how the project aims to support the mental health and resilience of young people through a gamified digital intervention integrating principles from cognitive behavioural therapy ( ).

By combining serious gaming, daily experience sampling, and digital self-reflection tools, SMILE seeks to better understand everyday mental health dynamics and support young people with innovative, accessible solutions.

👏 Congratulations to the team for representing SMILE and contributing to this important discussion.

04/03/2026

📍 Maribor, 19 February 2026
We are pleased to share highlights from the third workshop of the SMILE workshop series organised by Mestna občina Maribor.

Entitled “Maintaining Inner Stability and Calm in the Workplace”, the session focused on practical tools to better understand stress responses, strengthen emotional regulation, and remain focused in demanding professional situations.

Participants worked on:
▪ Identifying personal stress triggers
▪ Understanding how thoughts and emotions influence behaviour
▪ Applying breathing techniques for rapid calming
▪ Communicating mindfully in tense or conflict situations

Delivered in three sessions to enable broad participation, the workshop reflects the Municipality’s strong commitment to fostering a supportive and psychologically sustainable working environment.

02/03/2026

Today, on World Teen Mental Wellness Day, we highlight the importance of early, ethical, and accessible mental health support for adolescents.

Teen mental wellbeing influences academic performance, self-esteem, social development, and long-term life outcomes.

At HorizonSMILE, we are working to:

✔ Develop evidence-based digital tools
✔ Support early identification of emotional distress
✔ Empower young people through safe and responsible technology
✔ Align innovation with ethical and rights-based frameworks

Because promoting adolescent mental wellbeing is not optional.
It is foundational.

24/02/2026

🎙️ Today we organised the 6th session of the Mental Health Dialogues series:

“How do we make interdisciplinarity work in mental health research?”

Together with seven EU-funded projects, we explored what interdisciplinarity really looks like in the day-to-day collaborations, beyond proposals and theory.

A special thanks to Alexandru Padurean ( ) for opening and moderating the session, and to Barbara Regeer (Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam for the keynote on the science of interdisciplinarity.

💬 Our panelists shared insights from their projects:

• Advance Mental Health: Wietse Anton Tol (Københavns Universitet - University of Copenhagen)
• : Dominic Heutelbeck ( ) & Gwendolyn Mayer (Heidelberg University Hospital)
• : Annet Kleiboer (Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam)
• Net&Me Bootstrap: Hernâni Zao (Universidade de Évora)
• : Kate Woodcock (University of Birmingham) & Adam Barnard ( )
• : Rodrigo Lima & Anne Marie Kuchler (Hospital Sant Joan de Déu Barcelona)
• : Arlinda Cerga Pashoja (St Mary's University, London)

💡 Key takeaways:

• Interdisciplinarity requires intentional structures, time, and trust.
• Real collaboration begins where comfort zones end.
• Spaces for dialogue, reflection, and learning are essential.
• EU projects can be laboratories for new ways of working together.

This discussion is just the beginning. Insights may feed a joint publication and help shape future Horizon Europe collaborations.

🙏 Thank you to everyone who joined and contributed!

( ), European Commission

24/02/2026

Online hate speech is harmful and dangerous — and can lead to cruelty and violence in real life.

Each of us can raise awareness and help support people targeted by hate speech, both online and in our communities.

Ideas of how you can say “No To Hate”: https://www.un.org/en/hate-speech

20/02/2026

19/02/2026

Our coordinator, Prof. Dr. Dominic Heutelbeck, and Dr. Gwendolyn Mayer are representing SMILE in this round of Mental Health Dialogues! 🌟

Prof. Dr. Heutelbeck is a Professor of Computer Science and Managing Director of the Research Institute for Telecommunications and Cooperation (FTK). He coordinates the European research project SMILE and focuses on IT security, distributed systems, and event-driven architectures, with particular emphasis on attribute-based access control and secure data sharing. He has led numerous national and European research projects and works as a consultant and trainer in software architecture, Domain-Driven Design, and secure system design.

Dr. Gwendolyn Mayer is a Research Associate at Heidelberg University Hospital, Department of General Internal Medicine and Psychosomatics. Her work focuses on digital mental health interventions for depression, anxiety, and eating disorders, as well as neurofeedback and psychosomatic research. She brings expertise in digital mental health, communication skills, and the social dimensions of patient care.

Together, they will share insights from coordinating and implementing interdisciplinary digital mental health research across Europe, bridging secure technological infrastructures with psychosomatic and clinical perspectives.

🗓️ 24 Feb 2026 | 🕒 11:00–12:30 CET | 💻 Online (Zoom)
👉 Register: https://ucph-ku.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_7lYBZ7lCRLWJlBNjBogPGg

Advance Mental Health Net&Me Bootstrap ( ), European Commission