Just Days Now Until SETAC Dublin: See You Online or In-Person for an Exciting Scientific Program
Iseult Lynch, Chair of the SETAC Europe 33rd Annual Meeting Programme Committee
The SETAC Europe 33rd Annual Meeting, which will be held from 30 April–4 May, garnered so much interest that the in-person event in Dublin, Ireland, sold out! This will be the largest SETAC Europe conference to date with more than 2,000 participants in attendance and the first time we sold out. While this is exciting news that reflects the growing interest in environmental science, the program committee and SETAC leadership noted the growing demand and will review venue choices for future years to accommodate the growing needs.
For those attending virtually, registration is still open, and we are delighted to offer a rich and exciting program. Poster presentations will be available on demand, and platform presentations will be live streamed and recorded onsite and made available for on-demand viewing shortly after recording.
All uploaded and recorded presentations will be made available to registrants for three months after the meeting.
That said, check out the full program for Dublin and select the aspects that you can’t miss, whether you are watching online (in your pajamas) or in person.
We are thrilled to welcome back the SETAC Science Slam, which takes place from 16:45–17:45 IST on Tuesday, 2 May, and we have four exciting slams to watch live and vote on:
- Alyssa Wicks, University of Notre Dame: One cup PFAS, a tablespoon of flame retardants and a pinch of heavy metals: Baking up firefighter station wear
- Katie Reilly, University of Birmingham: Daphnia dating in Dublin: Sensing the waters
- David Mennekes, Swiss Federal Laboratories for Materials Science and Technology: Safe hiking trails in Switzerland – from a microplastics perspective
- John Hader from Stockholm University: We’ve polluted Earth — let’s not pollute Mars too
Also on the not-to-be-missed list are the daily topical discussions, held from 15:35–16:35 Monday through Wednesday, featuring overarching perspectives of important and pressing topics bridging science and regulations. Topical discussions will be live streamed so that remote participants can join in real-time.
Reflecting our SETAC multi-perspective and inclusive ethos, we invited three plenary speakers to present current hot-topics and compelling issues from the regulatory, academic and industrial perspectives, reflecting on the theme of the SETAC Europe 33rd Annual Meeting, “data-driven environmental decision-making.”
Pamela Byrne is the Chief Executive of the Food Safety Authority of Ireland, Vice Chair of the Management Board of the European Food Safety Authority, a founding member of the International Heads of Food Safety Agencies and a member of the European Heads of Food Safety Agencies. She has also been the Chair of the Management Board of the European Joint Research Programming Initiative “A Healthy Diet for a Healthy Life.” Her plenary presentation during the Opening Ceremony on Sunday, 30 April, will reflect on a number of themes, including alternative science careers, use of data in regulatory decision-making and the challenges therein, as part of the One Substance One Assessment policy, and the excitement around the growing acceptance of new and alternative methods (NAMs).
Peter Fantke will present “‘From better to good enough’ – An absolute environmental sustainability perspective on chemicals in product life cycles” during Monday’s plenary session. He is Professor for quantitative sustainability assessment at the Danish Technical University (DTU), and his research focuses on assessing life cycle fate, exposure and effects of chemicals. He is director of USEtox, the UNEP/SETAC scientific consensus model for characterizing chemical toxicity and ecotoxicity, and he coordinates global task forces on quantifying emissions of pesticides and addressing impacts from exposure to toxic chemicals and fine particulate matter.
On Wednesday, Anja Gladbach will talk about “5 years experience in sharing industry safety studies: Where did we start, where are we now and what have we learnt? A reflection about Open Science, trust and the way ahead of us.” She is an Environmental Safety Manager from Bayer Crop Science and will explain why Bayer embarked on this journey, what they learned over the course of the last five years, where Open Science and Open Data might take us, and how SETAC and its members can contribute to Open Science.
Whether you are joining us in person or online, we wish you a wonderful SETAC Europe 33rd Annual Meeting and hope that you come away inspired, buzzing with new knowledge and ideas, and with new friends and colleagues! Go n-éirí an bóthar leat (may the road rise to meet you)!
Author’s contact information: [email protected]
