Two pre-conference workshops took place in Athens, Greece, on June 2nd, 2024 between 12:30 and 17 o'clock: 

• Pre-conference workshop for early career professionals (ECP)
• Pre-conference workshop "Trade-offs in Chemical Risk Management: Industry, Toxicology and Social Science Perspectives"

Registration is now closed. Participation was open and free to everyone attending the 32^nd Annual Conference in Athens, Greece.

Pre-conference workshop for early career professionals (ECP) "Risk Science and Risk Communication"

As with the last three SRA-E conferences, there was a pre-conference workshop organized by the student representatives of the SRA-E chapters, aimed at young researchers who are at the beginning of their careers.

The goal of these workshops is to provide a platform for young researchers to interact with others, deepen and broaden their knowledge of risk research topics and general scientific practices, and lastly, inform new SRA-E conference attendees about our society and the regional chapters.

During the workshop, participants were able to listen to a talk from Marja Ylönen, Associate Professor in Risk Management and Societal Safety from the Faculty of Science and Technology at the University of Stavanger in Norway and current president of the SRA-E. This was followed by interactive group work as well as the opportunity to share own experiences and ask questions.

Besides, the workshop gave participants an introduction to the SRA-E society and its regional chapters and provided networking opportunities with other early career researchers.

Detailed timetable of the workshop:

12:30-13:00 Introduction to SRA-E (Conference, chapters and activities)
13:00-13:30 Talk Marja Ylönen "Reflections on Risk Science"
13:30-14:15 Discussion and questions about the talk
Break
14:30-14:45 Introduction to the group work
14:45-16:15 Group work
16:15-16:45 Discussion of key points in the big group
16:45-17:00 Feedback to workshop/input for future etc.

Pre-conference workshop "Trade-offs in Chemical Risk Management: Industry, Toxicology and Social Science Perspectives"

Chemical risk management requires making trade-offs and taking decisions under conditions of uncertainty. This frequently involves considering the perspectives, needs and requirements of regulation, industry and politics. Moreover, it needs to consider the perspectives of various other stakeholders, among them the media, interest groups and the general public.

Using case studies (e.g., Poly- and perfluorinated alkyl substances PFAS, plastic material), the workshop took an interdisciplinary look at chemical risk management. Ongoing efforts to overhaul the way chemical risks are assessed and managed will require inputs from different stakeholders. Thus, the workshop brought together stakeholder perspectives and utilised concepts, theories and frameworks from risk research to tackle future challenges in chemical risk management and communication. It featured input presentations by an interdisciplinary panel of speakers and the opportunity to meet, discuss and reflect with other participants.

Final program (start at 12:30, end at 17:00)

• Perspective of the chemical manufacturing industry (speaker: Dominique Werner, scienceindustries)
• Perspectives of human health and environmental risk assessors on environmental chemicals (speakers: Dr. Lothar Aicher, SCAHT; Dr. Alexandra Kroll, Oekotoxzentrum)
• Perspective of the social sciences on intuitive risk management and on risk communication (Dr. Angela Bearth, HF Partners; Dr. Tom Jansen, National Institute for Public Health and the Environment, RIVM)
• World Café and Role Playing Game

This workshop was jointly organised by the consulting company HF Partners and the Swiss Centre for Applied Human Toxicology (SCAHT).

Speakers:

Lothar Aicher has a degree in chemistry, a PhD in biochemistry, is a registered toxicologist and holds an MBA. He has more than 30 years of experience in chemical research and development, marketing, strategic planning and business development in various chemical sectors. Today he works as a risk assessor at SCAHT.

Alexandra Kroll holds degrees in Biology and Environmental Sciences and a PhD in Biology with her current research being focused on fate and effects of particles and chemicals in aquatic ecosystems. She has several years of experience in regulatory risk assessment in the private industry and has joined the Swiss Centre for Applied Ecotoxicology in 2019 as expert in environmental risk assessment.

Nick Werner has a BSc in chemical engineering, a MSc in process biotechnology and holds a MAS ETH in security policy and crisis management. As staff of SPIEZ LABORATORY he has over 10 years experience in chemical and biological arms control negotiations as well as national implementation up to 2007. He then returned to the private sector and focuses on chemicals legislation issues at scienceindustries, the association of the chemical, pharmaceutical and life science industries, for over ten years. He also serves as a chemicals consultant for the Zurich emergency services since 2006.

Tom Jansen has a background in Psychology of Conflict, Risk and Safety and holds a PhD in Environmental health risk perception and -communication. He is a scientific researcher at the Dutch National Institute for Public Health and the Environment (RIVM). His researcher focusses on (public) decision making and communication about environmental health risks. 

Angela Bearth currently works as a senior researcher at the Consumer Behavior group at ETH Zurich and at the Swiss Centre for Applied Human Toxicology at the University of Basel. She holds an MSc in Social and Health Psychology (University of Zurich) and a PhD in Risk Research (ETH Zurich). From summer 2024 on, she will continue her work in her own consulting and R&D company, HF Partners (https://hfpartners.ch/).