A three-day in-person training course on Quality Assurance and Quality Control (QA/QC) in Human Biomonitoring (HBM) brought together 29 participants from 16 European countries in Ljubljana, Slovenia. Organised under the 1st PARC training plan and hosted by the Jožef Stefan Institute (JSI) ↗, the course gathered professionals committed to advancing the quality and comparability of chemical measurements across Europe.

The training combined expert-led lectures, group exercises, and interactive discussions, offering participants a comprehensive understanding of QA/QC procedures in the context of HBM. It was closely aligned with PARC’s work on human biomonitoring and harmonisation of chemical analysis methods, supporting the initiative’s broader goals of ensuring reliable and comparable data across laboratories.

This training provided a unique opportunity to translate QA/QC principles into practice and to highlight the importance of metrological traceability and measurement uncertainty in real-world applications Understanding analytical quality requirements is essential to ensure that HBM data can support evidence-based health and environmental policies, highlighted Milena Horvat and Igor Živković, scientific coordinators.

This training was an opportunity to connect theory with practice and to show why traceability, validation, and uncertainty really matter in human biomonitoring studies. Through interactive sessions and case studies, participants recognized the value of systematic QA/QC procedures as a foundation for reliable biomonitoring data. The success of the training reflects PARC’s broader commitment to building long-term capacity for high-quality, comparable measurements, they added.

The programme combined expert-led lectures, group exercises, and discussion sessions, offering participants a detailed overview of QA/QC procedures in the context of HBM. Closely aligned with PARC’s activities related to Human Biomonitoring and to Joint Activities – Harmonisation, the course provided practical insights into the latest QA/QC guidance and its application.

During the course, a full-day session focused on harmonised QA/QC for chemical analysis, based on the new guidance document. Participants actively explored key performance parameters and validation planning, applying these concepts to real HBM cases. This session helped build a shared understanding and reinforce harmonisation in chemical analysis within PARC, explained Hans Mol, trainer and leader of the task related to joint activities – harmonisation.

In addition to method performance and validation, participants also explored essential concepts such as metrological traceability, measurement uncertainty, and data lifecycle management, including data treatment and harmonisation. The sessions were guided by experts from the Jožef Stefan Institute (JSI) ↗, Wageningen University & Research (WUR) ↗, National Institute of Health Carlos III (ISCIII) ↗, and RECETOX ↗, Masaryk University (MU) ↗.

Participants praised the clarity and relevance of the content. 

The course was highly valuable for strengthening concepts of QA/QC, especially regarding validation and uncertainty during the analytical phase, and for gaining a deeper understanding of planning and data lifecycle in human biomonitoring studies, shared Eunate, trainee, from Spain.

The training on QA/QC was an excellent opportunity to become familiar with the PARC guidelines and move towards method harmonisation. The participants’ diverse backgrounds highlighted the importance of this topic, and I believe we all left with a deeper understanding of the value of robust analytical data and the need to incorporate measurement uncertainty in HBM studies, added Aline, trainee, from Belgium.

Beyond technical knowledge, the training reinforced a shared commitment to high-quality, comparable data generation across laboratories and institutions, a cornerstone of PARC’s mission to strengthen chemical risk assessment in Europe.

Stay tuned to the PARC website for updates on upcoming training opportunities.