VHP4Safety Designathon: Working together on human risk assessment

Joint efforts to improve chemical safety assessment 

The VHP4Safety project has the mission to improve the prediction of the potential harmful effects of chemicals and pharmaceuticals based on a holistic, interdisciplinary definition of human health, to be represented in the Virtual Human Platform, and accelerating the transition from animal-based testing to innovative safety assessment.  

At the 5th VHP4Safety Designathon, project partners, stakeholders and potential end users, including KWR, were challenged to think along with the researchers on managing uncertainties in risk assessment. Also, the needs of specific end user categories were explored and shared, and the advantages and disadvantages of AI in risk assessment were discussed. These topics are all relevant for chemical water quality assessment.  

Connecting with stakeholders at an early stage

For implementation and societal acceptance of the VHP4Safety concept, it is important that potential end users and societal stakeholders are involved from the beginning. The organization of this and previous Designathons, and Hackathons with a more technical context, are well received and contribute to achieve this.  

KWR was involved in a number of these interactive meetings with the focus of applying the virtual human platform for hazard and risk assessment in a water quality context. Now the project is midway, it is anticipated that stakeholders will be increasingly involved.