News
New connections and collaborations
The field of research and innovation focused on the risk assessment of chemical substances requires great knowledge and the mobilisation of a wide range of skills in different domains such as chemistry, biology, physics and computer science. “The partnership, created in the framework of Horizon Europe, aims to develop cooperation with other partnerships and complementary research projects. For this first newsletter, we are very pleased to announce the collaboration agreement established with the European Commission's Joint Research Centre (JRC)” explains Pascal Sanders, the coordinator of PARC. This agreement enables our colleagues at JRC to take part in PARC activities, evaluate and monitor projects, work together on certain projects that deal with new approach methodologies (NAMS), modelling or safe-and-sustainable-by-design (SSbD) as well as contribute to group discussions. At the same time, this agreement provided an opportunity for PARC partners to collaborate with JRC on specific areas of research and share our expertise with JRC.
PARC is also setting up a programme of synergies called SYNnet to identify and develop collaborations with the broader risk assessment research community. “SYNnet will enable researchers to become members of internal working groups or participate in some of them, as appropriate” highlights Nikiforos Alygizakis, from the University of Athens, which is leading that work together with the National Institute of Health Dr. Ricardo Jorge on SYNnet.
The establishment of this programme is based on contacts and exchanges with other partnerships in order to identify areas where mutual information exchange and collaboration on complementary projects can be beneficial. By implementing coordinated efforts in communication, training, organizing studies, and validating methods, European capacities will be strengthened. Such concerted actions can play a crucial role in enhancing the overall effectiveness of European initiatives focused on research and innovation. There are partnerships already established or currently being developed within the framework of Horizon Europe including Biodiversa+ ↗, Euramet ↗, European Open Science Cloud ↗ (EOSC), amongst others. Several clusters of projects are also ongoing in the framework of Horizon 2020 such as ASPIS ↗, the European Human Exposome Network (EHEN ↗) and Improving Identification of Endocrine Disruptors ↗ (EURION). There are also individual projects like EUTOXRISK ↗, and public-private partnerships like the European Partnership for alternative approaches to animal testing (EPAA) and the Innovative Health Initiative ↗ (IHI). Efforts are also being made on an international scale like NORMAN-Network ↗ and GoFAIR, as well as at national actions with a European vocation such as PEPPER ↗ on method validation. The PARC partners are committed to develop and strengthen these networks.
Do not hesitate to contact us to discuss and develop our synergies.