2nd OECD Expert Workshop on NanoCarriers

Needs for methodological adaptation for safety assessment of Nanocarriers
Second Expert Workshop of the OECD Working Party on Manufactured Nanomaterials (WPMN) on Nanocarriers, November 5-6, 2025, in Vienna / Austria or Online

Nanocarriers offer benefits for a variety of application areas for which active ingredients can be encapsulated into or attached to inorganic, organic, hybrid materials, or supraparticles.

In June 2023, the first OECD Expert Workshop was held to discuss the use of nanocarriers in different applications, based on the OECD’s Early Awareness and Action System for Advanced Materials (Early4AdMa). This pre-regulatory and anticipatory risk governance tool enables the identification of knowledge gaps and signals of possible concerns regarding the safety and/or sustainability of nanocarriers. Based on these results, action needs and recommendations were formulated. One of the objectives is to develop and harmonise test methods for the adequate assessment of nanocarriers.

Reliable safety testing of nanocarriers is an important prerequisite for effective environmental and health protection. The second workshop of the OECD Working Party on Manufactured Nanomaterials (WPMN), which is organized jointly with the BOKU University and the German Environmental Agency (UBA), is dedicated to this topic. The event will address the methodological challenges and opportunities identified in testing the potential hazards and risks of nanocarrier systems. One of the key areas to be addressed is the testing of the environmental fate of nanocarrier, with a focus on the selected endpoints mobility, release, and degradation. The expert discussion is being conducted as part of a project on the environmental behaviour of nanocarriers funded by the Federal Ministry for the Environment, Climate Action, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety (BMUKN) of Germany and executed by BOKU. In addition to the presentation of project results, there will be further presentations and contributions from international experts.

Date: November 5-6, 2025, from 12:00-17:30 and 9:00-13:00, respectively
Costs: In person or online participation is free of charge
Registration is possible until 1.9.2025
Organisers: BOKU University and German Environment Agency (Umweltbundesamt, UBA)
Location for in person participants: Wilhelm-Exner-Haus, Peter-Jordan-Straße 82, 1190 Vienna
Link for online participation will be made available after online booking.
Contact person: florian.part@boku.ac.at or bernd.giese@boku.ac.at