SETAC Europe 29th Annual Meeting

Brussels — The Society of Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry Europe is organising its 29th annual meeting from 26-30 May in Helsinki, Finland, and is expected to draw over 2,000 scientists from more than 60 countries to discuss the latest research in environmental science.

Environmental protection is playing an important role in public health, and experts from academia, government and business, including representatives from international organisations such as the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), the UN Environment, the World Health Organisation (WHO), the European Commission, national governments and others will discuss major environmental topics.

The meeting theme, “One Environment. One Health. Sustainable Societies” reflects the importance that a variety of scientific disciplines and research objectives come together, connect and debate the scientific questions at the intersection of the human, animal and ecosystem health triad.

Sessions such as wildlife ecotoxicology, fate and effects of oil spills on aquatic and marine environments, climate impacts on polar and alpine ecotoxicology and environmental chemistry, but also gender bias and equal opportunity in scientific research and many other subjects are central to this theme.

Featuring more than 2,000 presentations over 77 sessions, including special sessions with invited talks, this conference allows environmental and human health scientists an opportunity to present their own research while connecting with others to learn about the most recent scientific knowledge, developments and applications for reducing and regulating the use of chemicals in the environment, remediating soil, air and water pollution, and to find more sustainable solutions for managing environmental and human health.

The key to successful and efficient environmental quality management has been proven to hinge upon transdisciplinary collaboration between environmental and human toxicologists, environmental chemists, and scientists and policy-makers from a diversity of disciplines, such as conservation biology, ecology, human health, aquaculture, sociology, law and economy. SETAC conferences have a strong record in strengthening this kind of collaboration.

“The diversity in scientific disciplines present at the SETAC conferences is huge. Discussing research methods and results with scientists from related disciplines often offers new insights that bring us closer to understanding and solving environmental health issues” says Bart Bosveld, Executive Director at SETAC Europe.

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The meeting includes a lineup of keynote speakers who will address important environmental topics.

Headlining the event is Cynthia de Wit with her talk on “One Health, Persistent Organic Pollutants and the Arctic” on 26 May. De Wit is a professor at the Department of Environmental Science and Analytical Chemistry, Stockholm University.

On 27 May, Bjorn Hansen, executive director at the European Chemicals Agency (ECHA), will address the question “Can One Environment, One Health and Many Chemicals be Sustainable?”

Closing keynote speaker, Juan Gonzalez Valero, head of Sustainable and Responsible Business from Syngenta will address “Innovation Where Everyone Wins: A Call for a New Dialogue in Environmental Toxicology, Chemistry and Risk Assessment” on 29 May.

Registration for this unique event, which will be held at Messukeskus Helsinki, Expo and Convention Centre, is now open.