Impressions from the 12th NanoSafety Training School (Press release)
Impressions from the 12th NanoSafety Training School on Safe and Sustainable by Design Approaches for Chemicals, Advanced Materials & Plastics
Nurturing International Collaboration to Advance Research for a More Sustainable Future
June 2023
For yet another consecutive year, a vibrant community of young researchers and experienced experts from various disciplines met in the historical centre of Venice for the 12th Nanosafety Training School, held on 15th - 19th May 2023, to discuss the latest approaches and trends in the field of advanced (nano) materials.
In line with Europe's ambition towards Safe and Sustainable by Design (SSbD) this year’s school focused on SSbD approaches for chemicals, advanced materials & plastics.
Jointly organised by the Horizon2020 flagship projects SUNSHINE, DIAGONAL, HARMLESS, ASINA, SABYDOMA, SAbyNA, SbD4Nano, and the US-led INFRAMES initiative, this edition of the school brought in international perspectives on a number of topics, including:
SSbD approaches for nanomaterials and advanced materials
Environmental and health impacts of micro and nano plastics
Physicochemical characterisation methods for advanced materials
Methods to assess the release of advanced materials, their fate, biodistribution and exposure
New approach methodologies (NAMs) for hazard assessment of advanced materials
FAIR data management in nanoinformatics
Computational modelling of properties and interactions
Sustainability assessment methods (environmental, social and economic)
Policy perspectives on risk governance of nanotechnologies
Responsible Research and Innovation
With a global presence of more than 130 scientists from academia, research institutions, industry, governmental institutions, and NGOs including around 30 online participants spanning Europe, USA and Korea, this year’s school hits the greatest attendance rate in our history.
Featuring interactive hands-on sessions, a number of keynote speeches and various networking opportunities, we were proud to host representatives from the JRC and the EC to comment on the Commission recommendation for safe-and-sustainable-by-design chemicals and materials.
“Nurturing international collaboration” was the mission of this years’ school with the presence of the US-led INFRAMES (International Network for Researching, Advancing, and Assessing Materials for Environmental Sustainability) community at the event. Hosting their annual meeting in parallel and together with the school, we were able to provide a good avenue to boost the US and EU networks addressing materials sustainability, foster knowledge exchange and discuss staff exchange opportunities.
INFRAMES includes 18 US universities associated with the Center for the Environmental Implications of NanoTechnology (CEINT) and the Center for Sustainable Nanotechnology (CSN), along with networks representing over 100 participating EU and UK partners, the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) in Ghana, and researchers at six synchrotron X-ray facilities in four countries.
This year’s main organiser was the SUNSHINE project, together with partners from SUNSHINE, DIAGONAL, HARMLESS, ASINA, SABYDOMA, SAbyNA, SbD4Nano and the INFRAMES initiative
However, the school would not have been possible without further support and contributions from
CHARISMA, AURORA, PLASTICHEAL, PlasticsFatE, IMPTOX, POLYRISK, NanoSolveIT, SUPREME, NanoInformaTIX , ACCORDs, BIO-SUSHY (all funded by the EU Horizon 2020 programme)
CompSafeNano (Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions)
SmartCERIALS (funded by the Austrian Research Promotion Agency, FFG)
CUSP Cluster
Early Career Researchers Group
All presentation slides and materials are public and now available to download HERE.
