Training the next generation of exposure scientists: My contribution to the ISES Europe Training Series
I'm pleased to share that a lecture I delivered on environmental chemistry and ecotoxicology has now been published as part of the ISES Europe Exposure Science Training Series — a free, openly accessible resource for anyone looking to build expertise in exposure science.
What Is ISES Europe?
The International Society of Exposure Science (ISES) is the leading professional organisation dedicated to the science of understanding how people and ecosystems are exposed to chemical, physical, and biological stressors. ISES Europe is its European Regional Chapter, and its mission — "together, we build a European Exposure Science Strategy" — captures the collaborative spirit that makes the organisation so valuable to the field.
One of ISES Europe's key strategic commitments is education, formalised in the ISES Europe ETC strategy document as part of the broader European Exposure Science Strategy. The Training Series is a direct product of its Education, Training and Communication (ETC) committee, bringing together volunteer experts from academia, regulatory authorities, and the private sector to deliver high-quality, freely available teaching materials.
As course coordinator Gerald Bachler of the European Chemicals Agency (ECHA) puts it:
"The ISES Europe Training Series is an open-access resource for students, researchers, and professionals wanting to strengthen their knowledge of exposure science. It provides state-of-the-art insights from leading experts, covering foundational concepts, cutting-edge methodologies, and emerging topics — designed to support those new to the field while also helping experienced scientists explore topics beyond their own area of expertise."
The Training Series: Nine Domains of Expertise
The series is structured around nine Domains of Expertise (DoEs), each addressing a distinct area within exposure science. Together they provide a comprehensive curriculum, from first principles through to practical risk management and communication:
DoE 1: Basic Concepts and Principles in Exposure Science — the foundations: what exposure science is, key terminology, and the conceptual frameworks that underpin the field.
DoE 2: Fundamentals of Environmental Chemistry and (Eco)Toxicology — how chemicals interact with biological systems and the environment; environmental fate, hazard assessment, and the derivation of safe exposure limits.
DoE 3: Exposure Modelling — computational approaches to predicting human and environmental exposures.
DoE 4: Exposure Monitoring — measurement methods and strategies for characterising real-world exposures.
DoE 5: Exposure Assessment and Risk Characterisation — integrating hazard and exposure information to characterise risk.
DoE 6: Risk Management and Sustainability Assessment — translating risk assessment into practical management decisions and sustainability frameworks.
DoE 7: Relevant Legislative Frameworks — the regulatory landscape governing chemicals across the EU and beyond.
DoE 8: Risk Communication and Stakeholder Engagement — communicating complex risk information to diverse audiences.
DoE 9: Statistics and Epidemiology — the quantitative and epidemiological methods that underpin exposure and risk science.
All materials are freely available at ises-europe.org.
My Contribution: Fundamentals of Environmental Chemistry and Ecotoxicology
I had the pleasure of presenting Module 2 of DoE2: Fundamentals of Environmental Chemistry and Ecotoxicology. The session was hosted by Lucy Wilmot of ECETOC and coordinated by Gerald Bachler (ECHA). Module 1 on the fundamentals of toxicology was delivered by Wasma Al-Husainy (LANXESS).
You can watch the lecture below:
The lecture was designed as an introductory-level overview — accessible to those new to the subject, while still substantive enough to be useful to practitioners wanting a structured refresher. The content covers the following ground:
Environmental hazard identification — what ecotoxicology is, how adverse effects on ecosystems are investigated, and the range of methods used to generate ecotoxicity data. This includes standard in vivo laboratory tests on aquatic and terrestrial species, in vitro cell-based approaches, and in silico tools such as QSARs (quantitative structure-activity relationships). I also cover read-across — the use of data from structurally similar substances to fill data gaps — and discuss some of the limitations and regulatory acceptance challenges that come with each approach.
Concentration-response relationships and PNEC derivation — how ecotoxicity data are used to derive effect concentrations such as EC50, NOEC, and EC10, and how assessment factors are applied to arrive at a Predicted No Effect Concentration (PNEC) — the safe exposure limit used in environmental risk assessment.
Environmental fate assessment — covering degradation (hydrolysis, photolysis, biodegradation), partitioning between environmental compartments, and bioaccumulation. This is an area close to my own specialism: biodegradation and persistence are topics I work on extensively through both client projects and my role chairing the SETAC Persistent Science Interest Group. The lecture introduces the key endpoints — biodegradation half-lives, Kow, Koc, BCF, BMF — and explains how these feed into regulatory assessments and environmental exposure modelling.
Classification and labelling — an overview of the EU CLP Regulation's environmental hazard classes, including the recently introduced PMT (persistent, mobile and toxic) and vPvM (very persistent, very mobile) categories, as well as endocrine disruption classifications. These represent a genuinely dynamic area of regulatory chemistry right now, and one that's generating significant activity across industry.
PBT assessment — the framework for identifying substances that are persistent, bioaccumulative, and toxic, or very persistent and very bioaccumulative (vPvB), under EU REACH.
New approach methodologies (NAMs) — a look at the rapidly evolving landscape of non-animal testing approaches in ecotoxicology, including in vitro biotransformation assays, machine learning-based QSAR models, and microphysiological systems. This is a field moving fast, and one I think will look very different within a decade.
Why This Matters
Environmental chemistry and ecotoxicology sit at the heart of how we decide whether chemicals are safe to use and release into the environment. Understanding the fundamentals — how chemicals degrade, partition, bioaccumulate, and affect ecosystems — is essential not just for regulatory scientists and risk assessors, but for anyone working in product stewardship, sustainability, or chemical policy.
Making this kind of training freely available matters. ISES Europe has done something genuinely valuable in building this resource and opening it to anyone with an internet connection. I was glad to contribute to it, and I hope the lecture is useful to people working their way into the field.
The full DoE2 material — lecture video, presentation slides, and transcript — is available on the ISES Europe website. The broader Training Series overview is also worth bookmarking if exposure science is relevant to your work.
