CHronic exposure scenarios driving enviRONmental rIsks of Chemicals

CHRONIC aims at delivering a cohort of highly-skilled and informed future research leaders trained in understanding andintegrating, into risk-assessment practice, the long-term, low-dose chronic chemical exposure and their interactions withother environmental stressors.

CHRONIC research will support improved decision-making in risk assessment based onuncertain and potentially conflicting information, and in the development of scientifically-based monitoring strategies.

Thefocus on low chronic exposure to contaminants in different environmental organisms (macrophytes, invertebrates,vertebrates) and end-of-line systems (freshwater, sediment, soil) allow for a training that is broader than that achieved fromconventional narrower one-system concept generally included in PhD-programmes and in standard protection goals.

Thus,CHRONIC represents a paradigm shift in ERA methods and practices needed to deal with current and future contaminantchallenges.

CHRONIC will include 13 PhD projects aimed at developing tools and approaches to identify relevant nonstandardmodes of toxicity for low chronic chemical exposure and integrate these with environmental stressors.

CHRONICincludes academic institutions, research centres, government institutions, SMEs, and an NGO all with extensive experiencein education and training and a high state-of-the-art scientific and technical expertise and infrastructure.

The program willtherefore lay the basis for an integrated approach to environmental risk assessment that includes non-standard yetecologically relevant endpoints and low chronic exposure as key elements. CHRONIC include training-by-research, jointcourses covering technical, scientific, ethical, and transferable skills.

Students will also engage actively in communication toscientific and public communities and be enrolled in an ambitious intersectional networking exchange plan to increaseemployability and provide a broad perspective to their future career plan.