Nanosafety Annual School - fourth edition

Understanding Human Health Effects
and Environmental Impacts of Engineered Nanomaterials

Ca' Foscari University of Venice (Italy)
March Sunday 17th - Friday 22nd 2013

Organizer:
Ca' Foscari Challenge School
Co-organizers:
Heriot-Watt University
Karolinska Institutet
IOM - Institute of Occupational Medicine

School purpose

Both the benefits and the risks, associated with the application of engineered nanomaterials (ENMs) in industrial settings and in consumer products have been widely debated in recent years. In contrast to the dominating projections that nanotechnology will bring significant technological development and well-being to society, it is considered that exposure to certain ENMs may cause environmental and/or human health problems.
The Fourth Nanosafety Annual School will focus on the emerging trends in the nano environmental, health and safety (EHS) research area and at the same time it will update the state-of-the-art on the scientific knowledge and technical tools for an integrated risk assessment of nanotechnologies. The school is organized in the frame of the major EU 7th Framework Programme, such as MARINA and NANOVALID projects.
The school will highlight the best practices and approaches for physicochemical characterization, (eco)toxicity testing, exposure, risk and lifecycle assessment of ENMs. It will provide an interactive learning environment and direct access to key experts from Europe and the United States.

Target audience

The Fourth Nanosafety Annual School is especially designed for personnel from research and academic institutions as well as from Industry, governmental agencies and hospital departments. The School is aimed at senior researchers, young scientists, PhD students and in fact anyone dealing with nanosciences, nanotechnologies, nanosafety and epidemiology.

Steering Committee

• Antonio Marcomini, University Ca' Foscari (Venice, Italy)
• Vicki Stone, Heriot-Watt University (Edinburgh, UK)
• Bengt Fadeel, Karolinska Institutet (Stockholm, Sweden)
• Lang Tran, Institute for Occupational Health (Edinburgh, UK)

Invited speakers

International experts from Europe and the United States will be invited. To be announced soon.

School programme and course organization

The school programme will focus on three main subjects:

• Hazard assessment
• Exposure assessment
• Risk and regulation

Each speaker will hold a lesson, followed by a discussion. You can find the tentative School Programme here. The final programme will be provided in few weeks.
During the Journal Club, the class will be divided in two groups on the basis of most preferred subjects:

• Group 1: Toxicology & ecotoxicology;
• Group 2: Characterization & exposure assessment.

All school materials (e.g. publications for the Journal Club) will be provided one week before the school starts.

School certificates

Each participant will be given a certificate of attendance.
It is possible to verify one's knowledge by answering to a written test. In this case, another certificate will be delivered.

School registration and payment

To register to the school, please fill in the registration form. After you have submitted the form, you will receive a registration confirmation including the payment details and a privacy desclaimer by email. The registration is completed after you have send the privacy desclaimer, duly filled in, and a copy of the payment confirmation from your bank to corsi.challengeschool@unive.it.
Fiscal data (Taxpayer code or National insurance number or VAT Registry Number) are compulsory to perform the registration.

Registration fee and deadlines

The following fees include: school participation, course materials (slides, reference papers), lunches, coffee breaks and a social event. Hotel booking and dinners are not included. The number of participants is limited to 50.

(*) Early registration discount equal to -10%

Deadlines

• November 30th 2012: early registration deadline (discount of 10%)
• March 12th 2013: registration deadline

Cancellation

The cancellation deadline is March 12th 2013. In case of cancellation, immediately contact the School Administrative Office (corsi.challengeschool@unive.it or nanosafety@unive.it).
If the notice is received before March 12th 2013, the whole fee will be refund, subtracting 100 € for operating and administrative costs. No reimbursement is possible for notices received after March 12th 2013.

School location

The fourth edition of the school will take place in Venice (Italy). The lectures will be held at the main building of the university, i.e. Ca’ Foscari Palace, which is located in the heart of the city, on the bend of the Grand Canal.
The main lecture room is equipped with Wi-Fi. In order to allow the participants interested in this service to receive the necessary username and password, the organizers will have to provide VIU offices with the list of names and a photocopy of their ID card at least 3 weeks before the event. Please send the required data to nanosafety@unive.it before March 12th 2013.

How to reach and leave Venice & the School venue

Please download the Travel Guidance.

Accommodation

Rooms at special rates are available for the school participants.

Contacts

Technical and administrative secretariat:

Ca' Foscari Challenge School
e-mail: corsi.challengeschool@unive.it
tel.: +39 041 234 6853
fax: +39 041 234 6941

Organizers:

Danail Hristozov
e-mail: danail.hristozov@unive.it
tel.: +39 041 234 8638