NSC Update 03 / 2025

GENERAL NEWS

Open position on AdMa – SSbD at the JRC (Ispra)

There is an open position on Advanced Materials – Safety and Sustainability by Design (SSbD) at the JRC in Ispra. The position is for 3+3 years and to be filled as soon as possible. Deadline for application is 9 April 2025.

More information is available here.

Welcome newcomer: AGRO4AGRI  

We are pleased to welcome the Horizon Europe AGRI4NANO project to the NSC community. Entitled "Fostering the advanced use of Agrochemicals for a sustainable Agriculture", the project seeks to provide ground-breaking and Safe and Sustainable by Design solutions for plant nutrition and protection consisting of nano and biobased controlled delivery fertilisers and plant biostimulants, and target-specific biopesticides based on RNAi technology, both for enhanced agrochemicals use efficiency.

Read more about it here.

Welcome newcomer: INSIGHT

We welcome the Horizon Europe project INSIGHT to the NSC community. The project aims to tackle the inefficiencies in assessing the safety and sustainability of chemicals and materials, by developing an innovative framework for their mechanistic impact assessment.

Read more here.

HARMLESS Factsheet on the Agriculture Case Study
 

This factsheet briefly summarises the key facts of the case study on imogolites for agriculture and environmental plant protections (Material: modified Imogolites), including an explanation of the material, its functionality and application, the objectives of the case study, how the case study was implemented, its benefits and impacts on the SDGs, outcomes of the case study, as well as the partners involved in the case study.

Welcome newcomer: InnoMatSyn

We are excited to announce that the Horizon Europe project InnoMatSyn has joined the NSC community. Under the name "Innovative Materials Ecosystem to Gain Synergies of Regional, National and EU Initiatives", the project will support the coordination of European, national and regional initiatives in the field of innovative advanced materials towards a materials ecosystem that cover any type of advanced materials (AdMa) and two-dimensional materials (2DM) to accelerate the development and scale up of the materials. The initiative will support the public authorities and funding research and innovation bodies by leveraging synergies between the different research communities and funding opportunities to facilitate the creation of one overarching materials ecosystem.

Read more about it here.

Recap of SUNRISE's 1st co-creation workshop on the Integrated Impact Assessment Approach (IIAA)

SUNRISE successfully held its first co-creation stakeholder virtual workshop on 26 February 2025. where key stakeholders engaged in an interactive discussion on the development and implementation of the IIAA.

Read a summary here.

INTEGRANO's SSbD Hub: Knowledge and Data Exchange Platform 

We are excited to present the SSbD Hub, an informative platform developed as part of the INTEGRANO project. This innovative website offers a wealth of resources for anyone eager to deepen their understanding of SSbD principles.

More information here.

Contribution opportunity to Discover Nano Journal

Discover Nano, a leading journal in nanotechnology, has launched a special issue on SSbD Antimicrobial Nanocoatings, with Prof. Zhenyu Jason Zhang as the guest editor.

More details here.

BNN QUARTERLY 01/2025 is out now!

Read through the latest BNN QUARTERLY, focused on "Collaborate to innovate: Success Stories from Scientific Cooperation", with many research news, an article about the NSC community and updates on many NSC projects (InnoMatSyn, HARMLESS, PLANETS, etc.). Additionally, relevant upcoming events, where several NSC projects will be well represented, are highlighted (e.g., SETAC 2025, Venice Training School 2025. and BNN Annual Forum)!

Enjoy reading it here.

WORKING GROUPS UPDATES

Summary of the last WG Education & Training meeting

On February 25th, 14 participants attended the 1st Working Group meeting in 2025. Key discussions included:

• Group Objectives: The group aims to enhance collaboration, knowledge sharing, and publication outputs, with emphasis on using the NSC Zenodo community --> Task force on joint publications?
• Overall Ambition: The group aims to cross-link projects, align training offers, facilitate researcher secondments, and provide informative webinars.
• EIT Deep Tech Talent Initiative: An opportunity for a joint application was presented. The call is still evaluated with next steps being taken for an application.
• IRISS Training Initiatives: Potential NSC contributions to a masters' curriculum, specifically in SSbD, were discussed.
• Other ideas: Project skills database, increased use of Zenodo, and increased involvement of industry through continuous professional development.

As a next step, we will continue to plan further joint webinars and training sessions, as well as populating the NSC website with informative materials. The next meeting will take place in June 2025.

SAVE THE DATE – Online workshop organised by the NSC WG on SSbD & the PLANETS project

The NSC workshop on "SSbD scenarios for advanced materials" will take place on 23 June 2025 (12:00-15:00h CEST, online) as a collaboration effort among several EU-funded projects, led by PLANETS!

Not all innovation scenarios in SMEs and industry are the same. Current JRC SSbD guidance and also PSA / Cefic frameworks lack a concept for adapting the intensity of SSbD screenings to the innovation scenario. As a first step, this workshop shall shortlist aspects that describe the scenario, and that are known at early innovation stages, on the example of real-world cases from the innovation-oriented RESILIENCE-01-24 projects. Follow-up workshops can use the scenarios to discuss different ways of adapting the SSbD screening. Scenarios will depend on the professional environment (start-up, SME or industry), the sector of application, the innovation innovation (incremental or advanced material), and other aspects that will be prepared by a pre-read from the PLANETS project, and jointly modified and tested in the workshop.

Registration will open soon. Stay tuned!

• Workshop on Data Standardization for Digital Passports, 27 March 2025, 11:00-14:30h CET, online – Digital Passports are gradually becoming key part of product development. This event aims on providing the background on the production of digital passports, its benefits and their use by different stakeholders both in academia and industry. 
• EMMC 2025 Conference - Accelerated Innovation and Sustainability by a Materials Modelling and Data Ecosystem, 08-10 April 2025, Vienna, Austria – Session 6 "Sustainability" 
• RESILIENCE-22 projects workshop on SSbD methodologies and applications across industrial sectors, 17 April 2025, 10:00-12:00h CEST, online – First online workshop organized by the RES-22 projects (ANALYST, INSIGHT, INTEGRANO, SUNRISE) on the SSbD methodology and its diverse applications across various industrial sectors, exploring key results from the projects, providing valuable insights into innovative practices and solutions. Register here now.
• SETAC Europe 25, 11-15 May 2025, Vienna, Austria         
• EU IndTech 2025, 2-4 June 2025, Kraków, Poland – AVISO: NSC activities in the frame of EU IndTech25 on June 2nd and 3rd!        
• AIT 2025 conference, 3-5 June 2025, Milton Keynes, UK
• 1st Sustainable Engineering Systems (SUSTENS) meeting, 4-5 June 2025, online
• EU Industry Days 2025, 5-6 June 2025, Rzeszów, Poland
• Venice Training School 2025, 9-13 June 2025, Venice, Italy – SAVE THE DATE – 13th Venice Training School - “Innovating with Purpose: A Hands-on Journey into Functional, Safe and Sustainable Advanced Materials” at Auditorium Santa Margherita of Universitá Ca’Foscari. Registration and more information coming soon!
• 21st edition of RECETOX Summer School & PARC Training Course on New Approach Methodologies (NAMs) and Hazard Assessment of chemicals, 11-13 June 2025, Brno, Czech Republic – Application deadline: 8 April 2025
• 3rd workshop on the Commission Roadmap towards phasing out animal testing for chemical safety assessments, 16-17 June 2025, Helsinki (Finland) and online – Jointly organised by the European Commission and ECHA. Register until 15 May 2025 to attend physically. No registration is needed for online participation 
• Driving Sustainability with Digital Product Passports and Digital Transformation: Bridging Regulation and Business, DPP4EU 2025 Conference, organised by DigiPass, 16-18 June 2025, Brussels, Belgium – SAVE THE DATE 
• Joint Regulatory Risk Assessors Summit – Advancing Safety & Sustainability Assessment of Advanced Materials, 19-20 June 2025, at the OECD in Paris, France – Organised by the projects MACRAMÉ, iCare and nanoPASS, the summit will take place back-to-back with the meeting of the OECD Working Party on Manufactured Nanomaterials (OECD WPMN). It will feature discussions, latest method developments, and direct engagement with regulators, scientists, and industry professionals. Key sessions will focus on regulatory challenges, scientific developments, and pathways towards advancing test methods for regulatory testing.
• INTOXICOM workshop 4 - 4th ELIXIR Toxicology Community workshop, 24-25 June 2025, Birmingham, UK – Join the ELIXIR Toxicology Community in the fourth in a row of five workshops designed for toxicology and bioinformatics trainers, teachers, educational material providers, and curriculum developers. Under the title "Making Toxicology Educational Resources more FAIR", attendees will be able to learn how to make toxicology educational resources more FAIR (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, and Reusable). 
• nanotexnology 2025, 5-12 July 2025, Thessaloniki, Greece – AVISO: NSC activities in the frame of NN25 on July 10th : 22nd International Conference on Nanosciences & Nanotechnologies (NN25), 8-11 July 2025, Thessaloniki, Greece

On 10 July 2025 (11:30-13:00 EEST, tbc), as part of the NN25, the NSC will organise a Pitch Session!

Join us for an engaging 90-minute session featuring project-related presentations in the style of pitches. We specifically invite early career researchers (ECRs), but everyone is welcome! This dynamic event will showcase up to 15 pitches, providing a platform for projects results, innovative ideas, and cutting-edge research.

Moderator: Cris Rocca (University of Birmingham)

Don't miss this opportunity. Mark your calendars and send us an email at c.rocca@bham.ac.uk if you are interested in being part of it.

Abstracts submission deadline for the NSC Community pitches: 31th March 2025 - Abstract format: 1page max., with or without images.

• 21st Global Conference on Sustainable Manufacturing (GCSM 2025), 10-12 September 2025, Bologna, Italy – NOTE: keynote speech by JRC entitled "Safe and sustainable by design: evolving manufacturing and boosting competitiveness" and a workshop on the SSbD approaches and implementations in the industrial environment.
• 7th International Conference on Nanotechnologies and Biomedical Engineering (ICNBME-2025), 7-10 October 2025, Chisinau, Republic of Moldova – Deadline for paper submission is 25 April 2025.
• SSbD25, 10-12 November 2025, Zürich, Switzerland – SAVE THE DATE     
• ESTIV 2026 Congress - 23rd International Congress of the European Society of Toxicology In Vitro, 28 June – 2 July 2026, Maastricht, Netherlands – The deadline for session proposals is 1st April 2025, 11:59 am (CEST)
• EuroTox2026, 13-16 September 2026, Vienna, Austria – SAVE THE DATE  

Feel free to share the information with your colleagues and invite them to directly join the NSC community by subscribing to the NSC mailing list.

Furthermore, we ask you to report your project related citable research output. Supported output includes journal articles, project deliverables, data, software releases, books and book chapters, and basically anything else with a DOI. You can get a DOI with online repositories like Zenodo (presentations, data, software, preprints, etc). This has the added benefit that you can link this research output via OpenAIRE to your EU grant in CORDIS. Get listed on the NSC website by sending us the citation of your publications to info@nsc-community.eu.

If you would like to send us any news and events for the NSC website and/or for the monthly NSC update, please send them to info@nsc-community.eu(including all your pictures in 1280x720 as attachment (.PNG or .JPG) by 21 April 2025, 12:00 p.m. CEST at the latest.