This November, PARCopedia ↗ marks its second anniversary, a milestone that highlights two years of building connections, sharing expertise, and strengthening the chemical risk assessment community.

Launched as part of the Partnership for the Assessment of Risks from Chemicals (PARC), PARCopedia was created to bridge knowledge and connect everyone involved in chemical risk assessment – whether researchers, risk assessors, risk managers, or policymakers working across human health or environmental domains.

The idea behind PARCopedia is simple yet powerful: by fostering mutual understanding and open exchange of information, we can help advance the entire field of chemical risk assessment.

Structured around three main components, PARCopedia offers:

• A collaborative community platform to exchange ideas, discuss, and build networks.
• A central hub for news, events, job opportunities, and key resources in chemical risk assessment.
• A co-created WIKI space designed to collect and structure knowledge in an accessible and evolving way.

Today, the PARCopedia community includes more than 1,300 registered users, and the editorial team continues to work on improving the platform’s functionality and usability. A refreshed layout and several new features are currently being implemented to make PARCopedia more intuitive and tailored to users’ needs, inspiring greater community activity and reflecting the team’s ongoing commitment to providing a user-friendly space that fosters transparency, collaboration, and collective learning.

Maintaining an open dialogue with users is central to PARCopedia’s mission. By continuously engaging with the community and incorporating feedback, the editorial team aims to ensure that the platform remains responsive, relevant, and aligned with the evolving needs of those working in chemical risk assessment.

Of course, new ideas can spread through traditional channels like scientific publications and conferences, but if we want to accelerate this process, we need additional mechanisms to build consensus – and that’s exactly what PARCopedia offers, highlights Gavin Maxwell, Unilever / European Partnership for Alternative Approaches to Animal Testing (EPAA ↗).

PARCopedia was originally launched on 15 November 2023.