Barry Hardy is CEO of Edelweiss Connect (Switzerland). Within SSbD4CheM, he is leading the work package dealing with the project SSbD framework and workflow.

Tell us a bit about yourself. What is your area of expertise?

Barry Hardy: I am Founder and CEO of Edelweiss Connect, working at the intersection of computational toxicology, FAIR data infrastructure, and Safe and Sustainable by Design (SSbD) innovation. Our expertise focuses on developing knowledge infrastructures and mechanistically interpretable modeling workflows that integrate experimental and computational evidence to support predictive safety assessment. This includes development of FAIR-compliant data frameworks, AOP-based mechanistic modeling, and AI-assisted workflows such as ASPA, designed to generate high-quality, traceable evidence suitable for industrial decision-making and future regulatory acceptance.

How does your specific work package “SSbD4CheM framework and workflow” contribute to the project?

BH: Our work package contributes by developing the SSbD framework implementation layer that connects FAIR data, mechanistic knowledge infrastructure, and industrial innovation workflows. We are extending ASPA workflows to support SSbD applications, enabling structured integration of experimental data, mechanistic pathway knowledge, and predictive models into reproducible evidence packages. This infrastructure ensures that safety and sustainability assessments are transparent, traceable, and reusable, supporting industrial partners in making informed design decisions and preparing evidence that can ultimately support regulatory evaluation and acceptance.

What is the most exciting thing about the activities in your work package?

BH: The most exciting aspect is enabling a transition from fragmented data and isolated experiments to integrated, mechanistically grounded evidence that can directly guide safer and more sustainable chemical and material design. By combining FAIR data principles, knowledge graphs, and mechanistic modeling workflows, we are creating a foundation where safety and sustainability can be evaluated predictively and early in innovation. This opens the door to faster, more reliable development of safer products while building confidence in new approach methodologies (NAMs) that can eventually replace animal testing and support regulatory transformation.

In October 2025 (concretelly on Oct. 15th), Ivana Burzic, from Wood K plus, presented SSbD4CheM’s automotive case study at a dedicated meeting on the PARC project (European Partnership for the Assessment of Risks from Chemicals).

In her presentation, Ivana highlighted the safety (emissions) and sustainability (recycled materials, cellulosic fillers) goals of this case study on renewable based composites (WPC) with optimized TVOC emissions and odor for automotive car interior trims, as well as how the project is implementing all 5 steps of the SSbD framework. The presentation also covered different tests performed like weathering and TVOC emissions, before and after weathering tests, to ensure a safer production and application of the composites developed within the project, covering different cellulosic materials. The presentation also included LCA results.

The online meeting gathered PARC partners and European Commission Joint Research Centre (JRC) representatives to exchange experiences and contribute to building the EU SSbD toolbox. This collaborative effort supports a harmonised European approach to safer and more sustainable chemical assessments, enhancing environmental and health protection.

Demonstrating cross-project commitment to SSbD principles, Ivana also presented BIO-SUSHY’s food tray packaging as a case study, highlighting the PFAS-free, bio-based coatings that embody safety and sustainability principles from the very beginning of development.

This engagement underscores SSbD4CheM’s active participation in the European SSbD community and reinforces its position as a reference point for sustainable materials innovation.

The presentation is publicly available under DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.17403579 (Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license).

The third ECOSYSTEX Conference took place from 29 September to 1 October in Gothenburg, Sweden, bringing together experts, innovators, and industry leaders to discuss the latest technologies and business models for textile circularity.

Over two days, the 160 participants engaged in plenary and interactive breakout sessions, fostering lively discussions, networking, and collaboration opportunities across the textile sustainability community.

The event was supported by six ECOSYSTEX member projects — PESCO-UP, SOLSTICE, tExtended, BioFibreLoop, WhiteCycle, and Hemp4Circularity — which showcased their project results and hosted dedicated interactive sessions.

Onur Celen and Mine Türkay Kankıran (KORTEKS) attended the event on behalf of SSbD4CheM, presenting the project to fellow participants and exploring opportunities for collaboration. Their participation helped strengthen connections within the ECOSYSTEX network and provided valuable insights for future project developments.

The Final Conference of the PRIORITY COST Action gathered more than 150 participants at the Technical University of Leoben – Montanuniversität for a four-day program dedicated to the scientific, technical, and societal challenges posed by micro- and nanoplastics in the environment.

From 2-5 September, the event brought together experts, researchers, policymakers, industry, and civil society to conclude PRIORITY’s collaborative achievements. Participants contributed through thematic sessions, oral and poster presentations, networking activities, and dedicated opportunities for early-career researchers. The conference offered a great opportunity to strengthen Europe-wide and international cooperation on plastics pollution.

One of the key moments of the conference was Session 4: Networking with External Projects, chaired by Stefania Federici and Aleksandra Tubic.
This session provided a platform for external projects addressing micro- and nanoplastics or related environmental challenges to showcase their objectives, methodologies, and achievements. By facilitating interactions across different initiatives, the session aimed to enhance collaboration, foster synergies, and amplify the collective impact of ongoing research across Europe and beyond. Representatives were encouraged to share their dissemination strategies, expand their professional networks, and explore new avenues for joint work in the growing field of micro- and nanoplastics research.

Our project coordinator, Milica Velimirovic (VITO) represented the project at the conference. She contributed to the scientific program wiht the general poster presentation of the project, highlighting its objectives and progress related to Safe-and-Sustainable-by-Design (SSbD) methodologies for chemicals and materials. Her participation helped raise awareness of the project’s approach, foster potential collaborations, and strengthen connections between the SSbD4CHeM project and the broader PRIORITY community.

One highlight of the event was the opportunity of meeting one of the members of our External Advisory Board, Melanie MacGregor, from the Flinders Universty!

Stephan Wagner is Professor for Environmental Analysis at Fresenius University of Applied Sciences (Hochschule Fresenius) (Leipzig, Germany). Within SSbD4CheM, he is leading the work package on analytical methods for visualisation, characterisation, analysis and identification of particles and organic compounds in the materials and products of the project.

Tell us a bit about yourself. What is your area of expertise?

Stephan Wagner: By training I am an environmental scientist with a focus on environmental analytics. Over the last ten years my research portfolio has expanded from environmental analysis to food, materials and consumer product analysis. My team and I develop new analytical approaches and apply them to the development of new technologies and risk assessment. We work with organic and inorganic mass spectrometry techniques. I like this area because we work very close to the application and it allows a high degree of innovation.

How does your specific work package “Analytical methods for tailored requests” contribute to the project?

SW: Our work package is designed to support the Safe-and-Sustainable-by-Design (SSbD) approach for the three case studies in the project by providing new and fit-for-purpose analytical tools. We aim to develop innovative analytical tools for imaging, nano- and microparticle characterisation, volatile organic compound (VOC) analysis and identification of unknown organic compounds in the materials and products of the project case studies. In this work package, analytical research and industrial application are very closely linked. We drive analytical innovation by considering the analytical needs of the industry in our work package.

For example, we are developing and implementing mass spectrometry-based analytical detection techniques for VOCs and applying them directly to characterise VOC emissions from vehicle interiors using state-of-the-art emission test chambers. These tests provide exposure concentration data that will be used for safety assessment of the new materials in car interiors.

What is the most exciting thing about the activities in your work package?

SW: We have been involved in many European and national projects where new analytical approaches have been developed. In SSbD4CheM, we want to not only develop and optimise new analytical approaches, but also apply them to the SSbD framework. Therefore, our partners are from research institutions and industry, which makes the work very exciting. For the next project period, we will also investigate the potential for harmonising our newly developed methods, which would make them applicable beyond the project.

Ivana Burzic is Project Leader at Wood K plus, a research organisation in the field of wood and wood-related renewable resources in Linz, Austria. Within SSbD4CheM, she leads the work package dealing with the development and validation of novel materials for the three case studies, with fulfilled sustainability and safety aspects.

Tell us a bit about yourself. What is your area of expertise?

Ivana Burzic: I have many years of experience in researching thermoplastic-based materials/formulation development and their application to various polymer processing technologies. I hold a position at Wood K plus R&D Center (Austria) as International Project Manager in the Bio-based Composites and Processes (BCP) team. Previously, I studied Organic Chemistry and Polymer Engineering from the University of Belgrade (Serbia), and I’m interested in sustainable and circular materials for different application areas. Before joining Wood K plus, I spent 3 years at the Johannes Kepler University (Austria) at Institute of Polymer Extrusion and Compounding, where I worked closely with students as a research associate. During this time, I enjoyed teaching students about plastic welding. I really love teaching young people, especially children, how we can change the future by having good habits and acting responsibly.

How does your specific work package “SSbD driven R&D of novel materials and Demonstration of Industrial Assay” contribute to the project?

IB: The WP7 work package of the SSbD4CheM project plays an important role as it develops novel renewable composites with optimised Total Volatile Organic Compounds (TVOC) emissions and odour for automotive applications, PFAS-free coatings for textile applications and investigates different types of nanocellulose as a sustainable additive in cosmetics in the light of the implementation of the SSbD framework. In order to fully exploit the potential benefits that innovative SSbD4CheM materials can offer, it is essential to prioritise safety aspects in conjunction with sustainability considerations. Therefore, by applying different steps of the Safe and Sustainable by Design (SSbD) Framework considering different SSbD4CheM use cases, the WP7 work package will work closely with partners from other WPs to integrate functionality/innovation with safety and sustainability considerations as early as possible in the innovation process at TRL3/4 (R&D development process), thus saving costs towards their market introduction.

What is the most exciting thing about the activities in your work package?

IB: Collaboration with international teams as well as close collaboration with industrial partners (representatives of Stellantis Group, AHAVA and KORTEKS) to address different, sometimes complex issues related to the different use case requirements.

On March 13, 2025, Wood K plus took part in the  KC Fachtagung [Conference on Materials] – Focus on Fiber Composites held in Linz, Austria. The event, organized by the Upper Austrian cross-sectional network of the industrial plastics sector (Business Upper Austria), brought together approximately 40 industry stakeholders to discuss the latest developments and applications of fiber-reinforced plastics.

This year’s conference explored a wide spectrum of materials and their forward-looking applications, ranging from mobility and construction to other sectors where fiber-reinforced composites are essential. Key topics included recyclability, design for recycling, and the integration of recycled and bio-based raw materials. Experts from both industry and research institutions presented new insights and visions aimed at driving sustainable and innovative use of fiber-reinforced composites in relevant sectors.

Our colleague Dr. Claudia Pretschuh from Wood K plus contributed to the conference with an oral presentation on “Developments in the Area of Fiber-Based Composites by Using Natural Fibers”. The presentation highlighted key developments from the automotive case study of the SSbD4CheM project, which specifically targets the development of composites reinforced with natural fibers, cellulose fibers, and wood particles for use in automotive interior applications, and focuses on the Safe and Sustainable by Design (SSbD) principles.

Dr. Pretschuh outlined the SSbD approach followed by the project, emphasizing several steps such as:

• Step 3 – Safety aspects: Addressing safety aspects related to the use phase, with a particular focus on volatile organic compound (VOC) emissions from automotive interior materials.
• Step 4 – Sustainability aspects: The sustainability dimension is taken into account through a life cycle assessment (LCA) approach, in collaboration with the University of Leiden, also partner in the project.

Additionally, foam injection molding was presented as a potential solution for creating ultra-lightweight thermoplastic compounds. 

The event provided an excellent platform for networking and exchanging perspectives. Following the presentation, Wood K plus engaged in discussions with Magna Powertrain regarding the potential of natural fiber-based composites. Magna expressed interest in further material testing, simulations, and results from ongoing LCA studies. Additionally, future discussions are planned with Borealis to explore material applications and LCA aspects further.

Participation in this conference underscores Wood K plus’s commitment to advancing sustainable material solutions in the automotive sector and beyond.