ECETOC, VHP4Safety and ONTOX invite you to save the date for this upcoming interactive workshop, with experts from industry, academia, and regulatory bodies to explore the latest advancements in AI-driven health risk assessment.

The 3R online seminar series ‘Alternatives to animal use in research and education – Refine, Reduce & Replace’ (WS 25/26) will take place again this year. Sixteen outstanding scientists will provide a broad overview of the wide range of topics in the field of 3R.

The “One Health” concept is a holistic approach to improving and sustainably protecting the health of humans, animals, and the environment. It recognizes that the health of humans, animals, and the environment is closely interlinked. We present case studies from interdisciplinary research initiatives that support the “One Health” approach, discuss the scientific challenges involved in implementing the concept, and introduce new approaches to risk assessment of biological and chemical stressors.

Call for research projects in applied human toxicology now open

Interested researchers can submit their pre-proposals until 15 October 2026

The Swiss Centre for Applied Human Toxicology today launched the preparation of its 2029 – 2032 research program.

The SCAHT aims at establishing two Swiss regulatory toxicology flagship projects, demonstrating how human-relevant New Approach Methodologies (NAMs), mechanistic biomarkers, and integrated kinetics can support Next Generation Risk Assessment (NGRA). To this end, Swiss research groups are invited to develop proposals for two independent integrated collaborative research projects focusing on the assessment of chemicals adversely affecting i) female reproductive health and ii) the central nervous system. For each area, one project will be funded.

i) Female reproductive health embraces the whole female reproductive life cycle from germ cell development up to successful pregnancy including placenta development and function. Proposals might focus on toxicity of compounds on any stage/process within this life cycle.

ii) Neurotoxicity should focus on the chemicals’ contributions to the development of neurodegenerative diseases.

Human disease relevance must be in focus for both topics.

SCAHT funding for integrated projects is CHF 650,000 – 800,000 per year for a duration of 4 years per project. Due to the nature of SCAHT funding, successful projects are expected to be co-funded through in-kind contributions (for details please refer to the call document).

Each proposed project must be a collaborative initiative involving a project lead who is employed at least for the duration of the funding period by one of the current SCAHT member higher education institutions, i.e. the University of Basel, the University of Geneva, the University of Lausanne or the FHNW School of Life Sciences, together with multiple research groups from Swiss institutions. The proposals should clearly demonstrate how the collaboration creates added value by combining complementary expertise, technical skills and infrastructure thereby generating scientific synergies that could not be achieved by individual groups alone.

The two funded projects will be selected in a two-stage process. We ask researchers to submit project pre-proposals per email to the attention of Stéphanie Boudon (stephanie.boudon@scaht.org), using the application form until 15 October 2026.

Detailed information on the requirements for participation and the submission and selection procedures is available in the call document.

SCAHT Contacts:

Questions about the funding program: Stéphanie Boudon, Research and Education Coordinator; +41 61 207 19 59; stephanie.boudon@scaht.org

Link to the pre-proposal template

Link to the call for proposal document

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Register via this link by September 8.

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