Second NRP 79 Annual Meeting in Lugano: Focus on exchanges and synergies
On 20 September 2023, the second Annual Meeting of National Research Programme 79 “Advancing 3R” was held in Lugano.
Attended by 26 teams from the Innovation, Implementation and Ethics & Society modules, the event gave participants an opportunity to exchange information about their projects and identify synergies. The four new research teams focusing specifically on the humanities and social sciences were also present in Lugano.
Also attending were the members of the Steering Committee as well as representatives of other participating organisations, such as 3RCC, Innosuisse and the Federal Food Safety and Veterinary Office (FSVO). “Facilitating exchanges between the project teams is an important objective of the annual meetings,” says Herwig Grimm, chair of the Steering Committee. This cooperation is intended to develop new solutions to meet the challenges of the 3Rs.
Discussion on synergies
In addition to various input presentations in the morning (e.g. on the patent situation in the 3R field), group sessions in the afternoon gave researchers the opportunity to exchange information about their projects and talk about how they can complement and support each other’s teams.
The results of a survey among the research groups were also presented. Among other things, research teams were asked which measures of success they consider to be the most important. In particular, researchers emphasised the importance of developing new tools and methods. They also stressed the need to network the project teams with suitable stakeholders to ensure that their findings are implemented.
Next Annual Meeting in Lausanne
The research phase of NRP 79 will continue until spring 2027. During this period, the results of the research projects will be disseminated through workshops, events and the programme’s various communication channels (website, newsletters, social media). The next Annual Meeting is due to be held in Lausanne in 2024.