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

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.

The DIAGONAL project was one of the School organisers this year, along with SUNSHINE project (main organiser), and ASINA, SABYDOMA, SAbyNA, SbD4Nano, and HARMLESS. 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)

> SUPREME, MACRAMÉ, REPOXYBLE (Horizon Europe)

> SmartCERIALS (funded by the Austrian Research Promotion Agency, FFG)

> CUSP Cluster

> EU NanoSafety Cluster

> Early Career Researchers Group

Several partners from DIAGONAL attended the event: 

> Susanne Resch (BNN) chaired several sessions

> Colleagues from NovaM organised a hands-on session on Computational Materials Modelling on 16 May

> Julieta Diez Hernández and Mario Santiago Herrera (UBU – ICCRAM) organised, on 18 May, a hands-on session on how to conduct a complete sustainability assessment, taking into account the three pillars of environment, economy and society, and based on the SSbD framework and recommendation of the European Commission. 

> Carlos Rumbo and Sonia Martel (UBU – ICCRAM), Antreas Afantitis (NovaM) and Susanne Resch (BNN) were part of the Scientific Committee of the School; Beatriz Alfaro Serrano (BNN) was involved in the organisation of the event.

All presentation slides and materials are public and available to download HERE.

Download PRESS RELEASE