Scientific Colloquium N°25: a coordinated approach to assess human health risks of micro-and nanoplastics
in food

Angelo Maggiore is a marine environmental scientist. Since 2014 he has been working as Scientific Officer in the Scientific Committee and Emerging Risks Unit of the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA). He is currently coordinating the EFSA climate change project and involved in other projects related with climate change (risk characterization of ciguatera food poisoning in the EU and cyanobacteria toxins in food). He has supported the EFSA Scientific Committee in the development of the Guidance to develop specific protection goals for environmental risk assessment at EFSA.

Aleksandra Lewandowska currently works for the Scientific Committee and Emerging Risks Unit at EFSA and contributed to the final stages of the CLEFSA project. She is a biotechnologist specialising in plant stress responses and will obtain her PhD in biotechnology and bioengineering from Universiteit Gent and Vrije Universiteit Brussel this academic year.

Ana Afonso is currently a.i. Head of Unit at EFSA Genetically Modified Organisms unit. She was Team Leader of the Emerging Risks Team since 2015 and in that role involved in the development of the CLEFSA project. She joined EFSA in 2006 working at the Animal Health Unit . She is a veterinarian specialized in Aquatic Veterinary studies and worked as a Veterinary official for the Ministry of Agriculture Nature Resources and Environment in Cyprus, as a Veterinary assistant for hygiene and animal health issues on fish farming and as a Researcher at the Portuguese Veterinary Faculty.

Agronomist specialised in plant protection and environment by training, I have been working for 13 years as Scientific Officer in the EFSA Scientific Committee and Emerging Risks Unit, coordinating groups of experts on various topics, such as botanical safety, risk assessment methodologies, risk-benefit assessment of fish consumption vs. exposure to methylmercury. Since September 2020, I have become Team Leader of Emerging Risks. My interest for this info session is on the methodologies used for the identification, characterisation and analysis of the emerging risks linked with climate changes, and whether these methodologies can be applied on other drivers for emerging risks, such as innovations in food/feed sector or circular economy, of relevance for EFSA’s remit of activity.

Jessika Giraldi works at the Joint Research Centre of the European Commission, in the Competence Centre on Text Mining and Analysis. She is involved in projects focused on monitoring research and innovation on emerging technologies using text mining tools such as TIM - 'Tools for Innovation Monitoring'. She also collaborates on the foresight activities within the Commission and she contributed to the development of the current ‘EU Foresight system on Emerging Environmental Issues’ during her previous position at DG Environment.

Jorge Diogène (Barcelona, 1962. PhD. in Applied and Fundamental Toxicology) is currently Senior Research Scientist and Head of the Marine and Continental Waters Program at IRTA (Catalonia, Spain). His research interests are oriented towards the evaluation of toxin production by microalgae and their presence in fish, shellfish and the environment, and method development for marine toxin quantification and risk assessment. J. Diogène actively collaborates with food safety agencies.

Doctor in Veterinary Medicine with a PhD in Epidemiology and control of Zoonoses from University of Bologna, he received the title of Docent in Zoonotic Bacteriology from the University of Helsinki in 2015. From 2013 to 2018 he was appointed as associate professor in Environmental Health at the University of Helsinki researching on genomic epidemiology of Campylobacter and other food-borne pathogens. Currently he is scientific officer at the European Food Safety Authority, Unit Biological Hazards and Contaminants.

Stefano Messori works at the World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE), where he serves for the Secretariat for the STAR-IDAZ IRC, a major international collaboration initiative to coordinate research on animal health at global level. In his current function, he directs research gap analyses and advises on the realignment of research programmes, in order to foster the development of animal health strategies and tools. Veterinarian by training, he holds a PhD in animal science and has been recognised as European Veterinary Specialist on Animal Welfare Science, Ethics and Law.

Currently head of EFSA’s Scientific Committee and Emerging Risks unit; the main task of the Scientific Committee is the preparation of scientific advice in the area of new and harmonised approaches for risk assessment of food and feed; included in this is putting in place a process for the early identification of emerging risks in the European food and feed chain, as well as preparation for responding to crises. He has been working for EFSA for over fourteen years, including a period as acting head of the Science Strategy Department. He has previously worked in the dairy industry and started his career at the Reading laboratory of the Institute of Food Research, working on microbiological food safety. He graduated from Cardiff University where he obtained both a degree and PhD in microbiology.

Dr. Cristina Tirado has been working at the interface between science and policy related to climate, health, nutrition, and sustainable food systems with WHO, FAO, UNEP, WB, governments, NGOs and universities worldwide. She is a professor on Climate, Food, Health and Sustainability policy at the Dept. of Political Science & International Relations of Loyola University and Tzu chi University in Taiwan. She is member of the UNFCCC Research constituency; she moderates the UN Standing Committee of Nutrition and Climate group and provides advice on transformative climate resilient food systems and the integration of health in the UNFCCC NDCs. She is a lead author of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) AR6 chapters on Health, Wellbeing and contributor of the chapters on Food, Desertification, African and Mediterranean Region and IPBES expert for the nexus climate change, food, water, health and biodiversity. She is co-founder & President of the Sustainability Health and Education (SHE) Foundation which facilitates investments and partnerships for integrated climate-resilient initiatives in Sub-Saharan Africa. Dr. Tirado is a DVM, and a Fulbright Scholar with MS/PhD degrees in Natural Resources and Environmental Sciences from Cornell University and she has authored numerous research and policy publications and books. http://www.environment.ucla.edu/people/cristina-tirado.php

Federica Barrucci is a statistician working as scientific officer at EFSA’s Assessment and Methodological Support Unit, where she supports the development, implementation and review of evidence-based risk assessment guidance, methodologies and tools. Previously, Federica worked at the Public Health and Risk Analysis Department of Istituto Zooprofilattico Sperimentale delle Venezie. She has more than 10 years of experience in working on multidisciplinary projects, involving food microbiologists, chemists, veterinarians, epidemiologists, mathematicians, communication scientists and many others. She has a Master’s degree in statistics and economics and a PhD in statistics.

I am working at the EFSA GMO Unit since 2016, contributing to the risk assessment of genetically modified crops and supporting the management of the CLEFSA project. In the past, I worked in several scientific projects related to climate change uncertainties in agriculture, crop model intercomparison, science-policy interface and development of mitigation and adaptation strategies.

Jan C. Semenza works on environmental and social determinants of infectious diseases at the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) in Stockholm. He was an Epidemic Intelligence Service Officer at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). He also worked with the World Health Organization (WHO) and conducted public health projects in Uzbekistan, Sudan, Egypt, Denmark, Brazil, and Haiti. He taught epidemiology and environmental health in the Oregon Masters Program of Public Health.

Barbara Gallani is Head of EFSA’s Communication, Engagement and Cooperation Department. She was listed as one of the UK Top 100 Scientists by the Science Council in January 2014 for her work on the application of science and evidence to ensure proportionate regulation. Barbara has extensive experience of communicating complex issues in the areas of food safety, authenticity and research to lay audiences; managing incidents and food scares; and developing and delivering specialist training courses on risk communication for UK and global audiences.

Barbara is a Chartered Scientist and Fellow of the Institute of Food Science and Technology (IFST) and has 16 years of professional experience, both in the public and private sector. Before joining EFSA, she worked in the UK at the Food and Drink Federation, at the British Retail Consortium and at the UK Food Standards Agency, including a secondment to the European Commission (DG SANCO) and a BA Media Fellowship on science communication at the Daily Telegraph. She also worked at the European Consumers’ Organisation (BEUC) in Brussels. Barbara holds a Bachelor's Degree in Physics, a Post Graduate Certificate in Education PGCE (Physics and Sciences) and a Master's Degree in Advanced Instrumentation Systems.”

Domagoj Vrbos currently works as Team Leader for strategic communications at EFSA’s Communication, Engagement and Cooperation Department. He joined EFSA back in 2018 as a social scientist and his area of work covers, among others, communication planning activities and the implementation of EFSA Social Science roadmap, which calls for taking into account insights from social research to contribute to better understanding and enhanced engagement with society along the risk assessment process and contextualize risk communication.

Prior to joining EFSA, Domagoj worked at the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) in Rome and Bangkok, where his worked focused on planning, monitoring and reporting results of food assistance projects and their impact on food security and nutrition.

He holds a bachelor’s degree in business economics (Marketing and consumer studies) from the University of Zagreb (Croatia) and a master’s degree in development studies from University of Rome La Sapienza (Italy).”

Aleksandra Lewandowska currently works for the Scientific Committee and Emerging Risks Unit at EFSA and contributed to the final stages of the CLEFSA project. She is a biotechnologist specialising in plant stress responses and will obtain her PhD in biotechnology and bioengineering from Universiteit Gent and Vrije Universiteit Brussel this academic year.”

Dr Marta Hugas is serving as Chief Scientist at the European Food Safety Authority. This position addresses the development of EFSA’s scientific strategic direction; acting as focal point on scientific matters and facilitating the understanding of science; fostering scientific cooperation as well as leveraging connections and networks for promoting EFSA’s research priorities. She joined EFSA in 2003 and since then Marta has held several positions: Head of Biological Hazards Unit (BIOHAZ), Head of the Risk Assessment and Scientific Assistance Department a.i. (RASA) and Head of the Biological Hazards and Contaminants Unit (BIOCONTAM). Marta is a member of the China International Committee for Food Safety advising the China Food Safety Authority and co-chairs together with William Slikker Jr from FDA, the Global Coalition for Regulatory Science Research (GCRSR). Recently she has been appointed by the UN secretary general to the Scientific Group for the preparation of the 2021 UN summit on Food Systems as a co-coordinator of Action Track 2, Shifting to sustainable consumption habits.

Marta holds a BSc in biological sciences, an MSc in genetics and microbial biotechnology and a PhD in food microbiology. Prior to joining EFSA, she worked for the Institute for Food and Agricultural Research and Technology (IRTA) in Spain, where she was Head of the Food Microbiology and Biotechnology Unit and led a research group on applied research on meat and food safety. From 1992 to 2004 she was an Associate Professor at the University of Barcelona. Marta’s areas of expertise focus on: food hygiene, development of starter and bio protective cultures, probiotics for the safety of poultry meat, emerging preservation technologies as well as risk assessment of biological hazards. Dr Hugas has extensively published papers and book chapters.”

Sandra Rainieri holds a MSc in Biological Sciences (University of Parma, Italy); PhD in Food Biotechnology (University of Bologna, Italy), boasts over 25 years of research experience in microbiology and toxicology both in Universities and Research Institutes worldwide. She has published more than 40 research articles in international journals and 4 books chapters in the field of Food Biotechnology and Food Safety. For 11 years she was part of the toxicology group of the research center AZTI (Spain) where she studied the adverse effect of food contaminants including nanoparticles and microplastics, setting up and using tests alternative to the use of laboratory animals. Since 2018 she joined the scientific staff of the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) in the Food Ingredients and Packaging Unit as scientific officer in the food enzyme team.”

Marco Binaglia has a Master degree in Organic Chemistry from The University of Perugia and a Specialisation degree in Toxicology from the University of Milan. He joined EFSA as Senior Scientific Officer Toxicologist in 2010 and currently holds this position with the role of Team Leader of the Team on Contaminants at the Unit on Biological Hazards and Contaminants. Formerly he worked as an industrial toxicologist with responsibility in product safety and human and environmental risk assessment of commodity and speciality chemicals in a multinational chemical company. Since 2007 he is a European Registered Toxicologist (ERT).”

Angelo Maggiore is a marine environmental scientist. Since 2014 he has been working as Scientific Officer in the Scientific Committee and Emerging Risks Unit of the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA). He is member of the Scientific Programme Committee of this Scientific Colloquium. He has also coordinated the EFSA climate change project and has been involved in other projects related with climate change (risk characterization of ciguatera food poisoning in the EU and cyanobacteria toxins in food). He has supported the EFSA Scientific Committee in the development of the Guidance to develop specific protection goals for environmental risk assessment at EFSA, in relation to biodiversity and ecosystem services.

In the past he has worked at the European Chemicals Agency in Helsinki in the field of environmental hazard classification.

At the Italian Environmental Protection Agency, he has worked as environmental damage assessor, providing technical support to the Ministry of the Environment.

At the beginning of his career, he worked as oceanographer at the Imperial College in London and at the National Research centre in Bologna, modelling the ocean circulation under different meteorological forcing conditions and simulating plankton patchiness.”

Karen Mackay is a scientific officer in EFSA’s Biological Hazards and Contaminants Unit, where she supports the Panel on Contaminants in the Food Chain and its Working Groups, on topics including microplastics in food and PFAS in food. She also provides technical support to the European Commission on veterinary drug residues. Before joining EFSA in 2011, she worked for over 10 years in the pharmaceutical industry as a toxicologist. Karen has a Bachelor’s degree in Biological Sciences and Master’s degrees in Drug Design & Biomedical Sciences and Applied Toxicology.”

Ana Afonso is currently a.i. Head of Unit at EFSA Genetically Modified Organisms unit. She was Team Leader of the Emerging Risks Team since 2015 and in that role involved in the development of the CLEFSA project. She joined EFSA in 2006 working at the Animal Health Unit . She is a veterinarian specialized in Aquatic Veterinary studies and worked as a Veterinary official for the Ministry of Agriculture Nature Resources and Environment in Cyprus, as a Veterinary assistant for hygiene and animal health issues on fish farming and as a Researcher at the Portuguese Veterinary Faculty.”

Anthony Smith currently works in the Department of Communication, Engagement and Cooperation, of the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA). Anthony has over 20 years of experience as a professional communicator. He is involved in research at EFSA on Risk Communication and Uncertainty Communication in the food safety area.”

Tobin Robinson is Head of EFSA’s Scientific Committee and Emerging Risks unit; the main task of the Scientific Committee is the preparation of scientific advice in the area of new and harmonised approaches for risk assessment of food and feed; included in this is putting in place a process for the early identification of emerging risks in the European food and feed chain, as well as preparation for responding to crises. He has been working for EFSA for over fourteen years, including a period as acting head of the Science Strategy Department. He has previously worked in the dairy industry and started his career at the Reading laboratory of the Institute of Food Research, working on microbiological food safety. He graduated from Cardiff University where he obtained both a degree and PhD in microbiology.”

Ruud Peters (PhD) works for Wageningen Food Safety Research (WFSR), Wageningen University & Research (WUR) and is based in Wageningen, The Netherlands. He has over 30 years of experience in analytical chemistry with a focus on chromatography and mass spectrometry. Currently he is team leader Organic Contaminants and deals with organic contaminants like dioxins, PAH, flame retardants, perfluorinated compounds and process contaminants. For several years he coordinated the National Plan Residues in food from animal origin at WFSR as enforced by the EU. From a scientific point of view he is involved in the development and application of new methods for contaminants in food and feed and the identification of new and “unknown” contaminants. The last 10 years the development of methods for the detection and characterisation of nanoparticles in food and environment have been a special research item of him. More recently he also became interested in microplastics in food. He has (co-)authored over 80 scientific peer-reviewed publications and has an H-index of 37.”

Ana Elena Pradas del Real obtained her Ph.D. (2013) in agricultural chemistry from the Autonoma University of Madrid. She was postdoctoral researcher in the Institute of Earth Sciences (IsTerre) and the European Radiation Facility (ESRF) in Grenoble (France) from 2013 to 2018 where she became specialist in the use synchrotron X-ray techniques. She currently works at the Madrid Institute of Agroenvironmental research (IMIDRA) (Spain). The objective of her research is to study the fate of nutrients and pollutants in agricultural soils to assess their impact on soil quality, crops production and food safety. She is especially interested in the study of rhizosphere processes and her current research interest are focused on nanoenabled agriculture and the ecotoxicology of micro and nano plastics.”

Pietro G. Gucciardi earned a PhD in physics from the University of Firenze after obtaining a Master in Physics at the University of Pisa (Italy). He is currently Research Director at the Institute for Chemical-Physical Process (IPCF) of the National Research Council of Italy (CNR) in Messina. He is founder of the NanoSoftLab@IPCF, where he coordinates the activities on nano-optics and nano-spectroscopies. Dr Gucciardi has extensive experience in near-field optical microscopy and plasmon-enhanced spectroscopies (SERS/TERS). His research includes the combination of optical tweezers with Raman/SERS spectroscopy for the analysis of individual nanostructures, including graphene and nanoplastics, and the development of advanced nano-biosensors based on optical nanoantennas and hybrid metal-2D layered materials. In 1997 he received the "Philip Morris award for scientific research and technology" and in 2009 the "CNR award for strategic research 2005." He is author of more than 120 peer-reviewed articles that have received more than 4100 citations.”

As a Toxicologist for Dow, Dr. Ellis-Hutchings provides leadership and guidance on the health, safety, and sustainability of new and existing Dow products. He leads active efforts within Dow and the industry to understand and address scientific gaps relating to the potential risk of microplastic hazards to humans. He is involved with several multi-stakeholder microplastic committees including PlasticEurope’s microplastic science team, which he chairs, as a member in ILSI Europe’s dietary microplastic initiative, and microplastic task forces within ICCA and ACC.”

Jana Weisser studied Pharmazeutical Bioprocess Engineering at the Technical University of Munich and completed with a Master of Science degree. Since 2017, she is a Ph.D. candidate at the Chair of Food Chemistry and Molecular Sensory Science at her Alma Mater, investigating microplastics in foodstuffs. She is involved in the project “MiPAq – microplastics in the aquatic environment and in foodstuffs”, funded by Bayerische Forschunsgsstiftung. Her research focusses on the entry paths for microplastics into food products along the production and packaging process, which is supported by food and beverage manufacturers in the project. She applies FTIR imaging and machine learning techniques to establish robust and fast analysis of various food matrices. As a member of the DIN standardization committee "Microplastics in food and food products – Determination of microplastics – Analytical methods", she aims to contribute to the harmonization of microplastics analysis in food products.”

Dr Knutsen is Senior Scientist at the Norwegian Institute of Public Health. She is toxicologist with PhD in cell and molecular biology and has more than 20 years’ experience in risk assessment of contaminants in food. She was EFSA CONTAM Panel member 2009-2018 and CONTAM Chair 2015-2018. Dr Knutsen is currently EFSA NDA Panel member and is chairing the NDA WG on Novel Foods. She is also chairing the contaminant panel in the Norwegian Scientific Committee for Food and Environment (VKM) and is member of the VKM Steering Committee.”

Dr. Bart Koelmans is an environmental chemist and ecotoxicologist by training who heads the Aquatic Ecology and Water Quality Department at Wageningen University. In the field of plastic research, his group aims to bridge the gap between conceptual and empirical approaches to obtain a mechanistic understanding of the risks of microplastic for human health and the environment. Bart is a global highly cited researcher (Clarivate analytics), advises international organizations like the World Health Organization, led international working groups about risks of plastic pollution, such as the European Commission’s Science Advice for Policy by European Academies (SAPEA) expert group on Microplastics in Nature and Society, and is Editor-in-Chief of the Springer journal Microplastics and Nanoplastics. For more info on the Wageningen Microplastic Lab, see: https://www.microplasticlab.com/”

Sabine Pahl is a Social Psychologist engaged in basic and applied research and her applied work focuses on the human dimension in environmental issues. She investigates perceptions and behaviour change, particularly in the area of protecting marine environments, marine litter and microplastics and energy efficiency. Other applied work examines restorative effects of natural environments including the use of natural environments in healthcare. Sabine has been involved in research projects funded by EPSRC, ESRC, DEFRA, DECC, NERC, UNEP, FP7, Interreg and H2020. She has more than 70 peer-review publications (google h-factor = 30) and serves on the Editorial Boards of the two key journals in the field, Journal of Environmental Psychology (https://www.journals.elsevier.com/journal-of-environmental-psychology) and Environment & Behavior (https://journals.sagepub.com/home/eab), as well as the new journal Microplastics and Nanoplastics (https://microplastics.springeropen.com/). Her projects typically span research and application in interdisciplinary teams. She has provided science advice and input into policy at national, European and international levels, always contributing psychological and behavioural science perspectives. At the international level, she has contributed to two microplastics reports with the Joint Group of Experts on the Scientific Aspects of Marine Environmental Pollution (GESAMP WG40, http://www.gesamp.org/), and has led the UNEP-funded global stocktake of actions against plastic pollution in 2020. She was co-chair of an interdisciplinary working group that reported to the EU Group of Chief Scientific Advisors (SAPEA, 2019, https://www.sapea.info/topics/microplastics/) and has contributed to a G7 working group in Oct 2019 and a WHO working group in March 2020.”

Veerle Vanheusden, PhD, Policy officer - Unit E2 – Food processing and novel food, Directorate General Health and Food Safety, European Commission.

Veerle Vanheusden holds a PhD in Pharmaceutical Sciences (medicinal chemistry) from the University of Ghent (Belgium), where she graduated in 1999 as a Pharmacist. Before joining the European Commission she worked in the private pharmaceutical sector (organic chemistry and analytical chemistry).

Veerle Vanheusden joined the European Commission in 2013, where she worked for 4 years as a policy officer in the Unit ""Pesticides and Biocides"" of the Directorate General for Health and Consumers. Since September 2017 she moved to the DG SANTE unit dealing with Food processing and novel foods, where her main area of activity is the EU policy and legislation on contaminants.”

Dr. Douglas Gilliland received his Ph.D in applied chemistry from the University of Strathclyde in 1993. After 3 year period of post-doctoral research within the Institute for Advanced Materials of the JRC, he became an official of the European commission in 1997. Within JRC he has gained research experience in the analytical applications of radiotracers and has specialized in surface analytical chemistry by XPS and ToF-SIMS. More recently he has been developing methods for the wet chemical synthesis, detection and physicochemical characterization of nanostructured materials and nanoparticles. Since the end of 2013 he has been a group leader with responsibility for scientific activities relating to nanoparticles detection and characterisation. Currently he is contributing to the development of new research activities relating to the analytics of micro and nanoplastics.”

Francesco has an education in Chemistry and is a research scientist and team leader at the Italian National Health Institute (ISS). He works in the Unit of Human Nutrition and Health of the Department of Food Safety, Nutrition and Veterinary Public Health, dealing with food safety through a multidisciplinary approach embracing nutrition, toxicology, and risk-to-benefit assessment.

He carries out research on chemicals - nutrients and other substances - in food, and their impact on human health. Scientific interests include analytical chemistry, atomic spectrometry, bioaccessibility, bioavailability, biomarkers of exposure, biomarkers of status, dietary intake, element speciation, environmental health, environmental monitoring, exposure assessment, food chemistry, food safety, human biomonitoring, micronutrient nutrition, nanomaterials, nanotoxicology, risk assessment, total diet studies, and trace elements. He leads a group with a long track record in research on trace elements and their effects on human health. Analytical determination, toxicology and risk assessment of nanomaterials is another key field of activity. Research focuses on engineered NMs, food-grade particulate materials (additives, nutrient sources), and environmental particles, including micro/nano-plastics. The assessment of nutrient intake and dietary exposure to chemicals is another major research field. Methodological approaches include total diet studies, duplicate diet studies, and human biomonitoring.

Chairman of the 3rd International IUPAC Symposium on Trace Elements in Food (TEF-3, 2009), the first, second, and third national conference ‘Nanotechnologies and Nanomaterials in the Food Sector and their Safety Assessment’ (2013, 2016, 2019), the national conference ‘Arsenic in the Food Chains’ (2015), the conference ‘The national Total Diet Study: Intake of nutrients and exposure to contaminants of the Italian population’ (2018). Expert in risk assessment in food safety, member >10 EFSA working groups (Scientific Committee, CONTAM, NDA, FEEDAP, FAF). National scientific expert in the EFSA Network for Risk Assessment of Nanotechnologies in food and feed since 2011.”

Ron Hoogenboom joined RIKILT in 1985 as PhD student in Toxicology. Using cultured pig hepatocytes, he showed that protein-bound residues of nitrofurans are a risk for consumers, including development of the method now used for official control. He worked on health risk of hormones, aflatoxin decontamination, bioassays for e.g. dioxins and marine biotoxins. He was involved in various incidents with dioxins. He was Program leader on food contaminants for 20 years, then switched to emerging risks. He joined the EFSA CONTAM Panel in 2012 and participated in various Working Groups, some as the chair.”

Peter Simpson is a Senior Scientific Officer at the European Chemicals Agency (ECHA) in Helsinki with over 20 years’ experience on the risk assessment and risk management of chemicals. Peter is an ecotoxicologist and is currently the restriction process coordinator at ECHA. Peter is also leading ECHA’s work on a restriction of ‘intentionally added microplastics’. Previously, Peter has worked on developing restriction proposals for cyclic siloxanes, decaBDE, lead in PVC, and lead in ammunition. Prior to joining ECHA, Peter worked as a chemical risk assessment consultant and for the Environment Agency of England and Wales.”

Birgit Sokull-Klüttgen, who has a PhD in Natural Sciences (Biology), is the Deputy Head of the Consumer Products Safety Unit (F.2) of the European Commission's Joint Research Centre (JRC) in Ispra (Italy). Joining the European Commission in 1995, Birgit worked for many years on the scientific/technical support to the conception, implementation and monitoring of EU legislation on chemicals. Since a long time Birgit is involved in research and policy support projects on safety assessment of nanomaterials. Furthermore, she coordinates JRC work on micro(nano)plastics. She is particularly interested in linking science to policy needs in order to provide circumspect opinions for a better regulation to the European Commission and to EU Agencies.”

Dr. Gouin received a PhD specializing in the field of environmental chemistry from Trent University, in Canada, through the Watersheds Ecosystems Graduate Programme in June 2006. Following his graduate studies, Dr. Gouin, has obtained both experimental and modelling experience in assessing diverse chemical exposures including current use pesticides in Costa Rica and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in the Arctic regions of Alaska. More recently, he was employed for eight years by Unilever, where he was involved in the development and application of tools aimed at both screening and prioritization of chemicals and higher-tier risk assessment methods. He now provides consultancy work on a range of topics, where his current research interests include the development and application of risk assessment methods for particulates, such as microplastic particles, nanomaterials, and UVCBs, as well as the development and application of models to better assess chemical exposures for both humans and the environment.”

Dr. Claudia Menzel is a post-doctoral researcher in the Environmental Psychology Group at University of Koblenz-Landau, Germany. Her research interests cover the perception and evaluation of nature and its properties, beneficial effects evoked by experiences with (virtual) nature, and the perception of plastic packaging and pollution. At University Koblenz-Landau, she is also active in teaching environmental psychology and other classes. Before falling in love with environmental psychology, she was a research assistant and doctoral researcher at both the Experimental Aesthetics Group at University Hospital Jena and Person Perception Research Group at University Jena, Germany. There her research focussed on the processing of natural scene characteristics in faces and artworks.

She started her scientific career by studying the behaviour of great apes at the Max-Planck-Institute of Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Germany. During her studies of biology, she focused on behavioural science, psychology, nature conservation, and ecology.”

Severine Koch is a psychologist with a research background in health psychology and consumer health protection. After her PhD she worked for several years in teaching and research at various universities in the Netherlands and Australia. In 2016, she joined the Department Risk Communication at the German Federal Institute for Risk Assessement (BfR) and is currently engaged in risk research from a social science perspective.”

Julia Süssmann is a PhD-Student at the Center for Earth System Research and Sustainability at the University of Hamburg. After studying Food Chemistry at the University of Hamburg she currently works at the Max Rubner-Institute (MRI), Department of Safety and Quality of Milk and Fish Products. The MRI is a federal research institute focusing on research regarding consumer health protection in the nutrition sector and advising the Federal Ministry of Food and Agriculture (BMEL) in this area.

Süssmanns research interest is focused on the human exposure to small plastic particles via consumption of seafood products. However, due to the lack of standardized analysis methods, current data on microplastics exposure often is of limited reliability and difficult to compare between studies. Therefore, her work aims to contribute to method harmonization and optimization by focusing on method development for the analysis of micro- and nanoplastics in seafood products.”