On the 10th of October, the PAPILLONS H2020 research project met in Athens for its first in-person Consortium meeting to review their pioneering research on soil micro & nano plastics (MNP).
While other separate meetings have already taken place amongst some of the Consortium partners, this occasion was the first time the whole Consortium has had the opportunity to encounter and discuss physically together at the same time and space since the beginning of the research.
Expectations were high, but our partners managed to deliver through the excellent coordination of the team at NIVA and our hosting partner, the Agricultural University of Athens, for whom without this event could not have taken place!
We have had a successful General assembly and Executive Board Meeting, as well as a joint PAPILLONS/MINAGRIS Stakeholder Forum, for which our readers can learn more by clicking here.
With such a full schedule, the days were intense, and thus no stones were left unturned. Multiple research topics such as single species tests, chemical additive analyses, or field plot experiments were on the agenda.
During the four days long meetings, our researchers managed to not only discuss the project’s progress, and talk through its next steps, but to get to know each other better too, and thus formulate a truly European research project.
Throughout these days, each Working package has had the opportunity to explain its project status and exchange with other partners on key cross-cutting issues.
Speaking of which, we had dedicated meetings for our cross-cutting themes, which involved the:
– Multi-actor approach
– Method development and validation
– And the European surveys on:
Overall, it has been a great experience, and we wish to congratulate the organizers once more, and thank all our partners for their time and combined effort!
We look forward to our next meeting in Helsinki, but until then far more research is to be done! Do not hesitate to follow us if you want to be up to date with what is going on in the world of agricultural plastics!