More than 45 PlasticsFatE partners travelled from across Europe to convene in Edinburgh for its 2022 General Assembly from 27th - 28th September within the grand Edinburgh City Chambers building.
Over two days, partners listened, discussed, deliberated and came together as a strong team to plan the next phase of project implementation.
The consortium was joined by members of PlasticsFatE's Expert Advisory Board: Phil Demokritou (Harvard); Antoine Ghanem (Solvay) and Tobias Stöger (Helmholtz) in person, and and by Laia Quiros, PlasticsFatE's European Commission Project Officer, online.
Following a warm welcome from Scientific Coordinator, Rudolf Reuther (ENAS), day one provided a perfect opportunity for partners to group-think and discuss transversal topics, including optimising the selection of materials for ongoing and future work; and strategies for the inter-lab studies, including logistics, materials, and protocols. A session was then held on modelling and scenarios in which exposure, translocation, the fate of MNPs and the development of the decision support system were considered. Quality control and assurance were also examined in depth.
The second day saw partners planning the forthcoming testing strategies while fruitful exchanges were held on risk assessment as well as the importance of developing Integrated Approaches to Testing and Assessment (IATAs); and the coordination of the sample collection and analysis of bodily fluids.
In a salient presentation, Data Manager, Damjana Drobne, described PlasticsFatE's data integration with eNanoMapper and IPCHEM before Mark Morrison presented an update on CUSP engagement and vital policy work.
This was followed by insightful feedback and guidance from the Expert Advisory Board, after which the General Assembly concluded with time for discussion, networking, and further
engagement among partners.