The goal of the YEAH! project is to develop an innovative, personalized program to improve the health of children (ages 8–10) and adolescents (ages 14–16) by influencing their behaviors (physical activity, screen time, diet, and sleep). To achieve this, the YEAH! program will train those around them (parents, teachers, etc.) to adopt a style of interaction that encourages children and adolescents to adopt healthy behaviors, using digital solutions. The program’s development is grounded in scientific knowledge while being co-created with end users and stakeholders to ensure it is tailored as closely as possible to the needs of children and adolescents.

The program will unfold in three phases. First, the behavioral intervention will be designed during the first and second years of the project, including the technical development of a mobile app that will serve as a platform for training children and adolescents and their social circles. The third year of the project will be devoted to implementation. The interventions will then be carried out in 7 countries among more than 2,688 children and adolescents (approximately 400 per country), in 8 schools to target a socioeconomically diverse population.

“YEAH! This is a great opportunity to implement an initiative from start to finish—from design to evaluation—and to test it on a large scale. The ultimate goal is a widespread rollout involving as many schools as possible to create a snowball effect.” "I'm delighted," says Aïna Chalabaev, a professor at UGA and project coordinator who works at the SENS Behavioral Sciences Laboratory on promoting physical activity and healthy behaviors.

A highly competitive program led by the UGA that brings together 16 European partners

Of the 119 projects submitted to the Health Cluster under Pillar 2 of the “Horizon Europe” program, only three were selected for funding.

Coordinated by UGA, the YEAH! project involves a total of 16 European partners in France, Romania, Denmark, Spain, Greece, the United Kingdom, Germany, Belgium, Finland, and the Netherlands:

1. Université Grenoble Alpes (UGA) as coordinator
2. Savoie Mont Blanc University (USMB)
3. Babeș-Bolyai University (UBB)
4. University of Southern Denmark (SDU)
5. Barcelona Institute of Global Health (ISGLOBAL) Private Foundation
6. University of Thessaly (UTH)
7. Glasgow Caledonian University (GCU)
8. Clermont-Ferrand University Hospital (CHU CF)
9. Ruprecht-Karls University of Heidelberg (UHEI)
10. Free University of Brussels (ULB)
11. University of Jyväskylä (JYU)
12. Fleurbaix Laventie Healthy City Association (FLVS)
13. École Normale Supérieure de Rennes (ENS Rennes)
14. Foundation for University and General Child and Adolescent Psychiatry in the Northern Netherlands (ACCARE)
15. Pere Virgili Institute for Health Research Foundation (IISPV)
16. University of Rennes II (RENNES 2)

At UGA, the project involves about 20 people across 8 research units:

• The Translational Research and Innovation in Medicine and Complexity Laboratory (TIMC - CNRS/UGA - Grenoble INP-UGA/VetAgro Sup)
• The Sport and Social Environment Laboratory (SENS - UGA)
• Pacte, Social Sciences Laboratory (CNRS/UGA – Sciences Po-UGA) 
• The Grenoble Computer Science Laboratory (LIG - CNRS/Inria/UGA – Grenoble INP-UGA)
• The Hypoxia and Cardiovascular and Respiratory Pathophysiology Laboratory (HP2 - Inserm/UGA)
• The Grenoble Alpes Research Unit for High-Performance Computing and Data Infrastructure (GRICAD - CNRS/Inria/UGA – Grenoble INP-UGA)
• The Grenoble Laboratory of Applied Economics (GAEL - CNRS/INRAE/UGA – Grenoble INP-UGA)
• The Center for Management Studies and Applied Research (CERAG - UGA – Grenoble INP-UGA)