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Seed quality, health and identity are of paramount importance for the global economy and the environment and key for global food security. Therefore, the International Seed Testing Association (ISTA) is holding this year’s seed symposium under the theme ‘Quality Seed for Sustainable Agriculture’ in Athens, Greece from 02-04 November.
To discuss most aspects of seed quality, the symposium brings together seed analysts, technologists, researchers, and managers from universities, research institutes, the government, and the seed trade. It provides a forum for discussion of the latest advances in seed science and technology, as well as an opportunity to exchange ideas and information
The 5 symposium sessions will each have a notable lead speaker, and are composed of presentations, poster sessions, and discussions – all presenting unique networking opportunities among others.
The detailed programme of the symposium, together with accommodation and venue information is available on the ISTA website and may be accessed from this link.
Registration is still open so please click here to take part of the upcoming ISTA Seed Symposium.
Announcing the International Conference “The Lab of the Future”, organised by ALPI-ASSOTIC in collaboration with EUROLAB on the occasion of the EUROLAB General Assembly 2022 & Accompanying Events.
The Conference will take place on 19 May 2022 from 14:15 to 18:00 at Centro Congressi Cavour – Via Cavour, 50/a Rome (Italy). For those of you who will not be able to attend in person, there will be the possibility to follow the Conference remotely.
The Conference is intended as an opportunity to share some in-depth information on digitization, developments in digital metrology, but also unpostponable needs, such as the sustainability of laboratory activities and IT security. The Conference, therefore, aims to point out that sometimes the future cannot wait, and, in some cases, the future is now.
To attend the Conference, please register here by Friday, 29 April 2022: https://forms.gle/n7hExth8XzjG6Uyk7
Find attached the full program and list of speakers. Regular conference updates will be published on our website and LinkedIn page.
Since the update in the last issue of the newsletter, Eurachem has continued to operate effectively as a virtual network.
In November we published a joint Eurachem/CITAC guide on ‘Assessment of performance and uncertainty in qualitative chemical analysis’. The guide was presented at an online workshop on 19-27 January, co-organised by CITAC, Eurachem and the Health Sciences Authority (HSA) Singapore. As well as introducing the guide, the workshop had sessions focussing on laboratory medicine, and chemical and forensic analysis. Feedback was very positive from the over 500 participants who attended from 75 different territories, with over 70% of respondents indicating they expected to implement the new guide in future work. Recordings of the four sessions can be accessed via the Eurachem website (https://www.eurachem.org/index.php/events/completed/394-wks-aqa2022). The picture shows Workshop Scientific Committee member Dr Tang Lin Teo (HSA) collecting results from one of the online surveys used during the workshop.
We continue to actively encourage the translation of Eurachem guidance documents and in the past year a number of translations of guides and leaflets have been published – see the Eurachem News pages at https://www.eurachem.org/index.php/news/newsarts for past announcements. The image shows some of the recent translations of information leaflets.
Although the pandemic situation finally appears to be improving, ongoing uncertainty in the first months of the year meant that the Executive Committee took the decision to (once again) run the General Assembly and associated workshop in May as online events. Hosted by the Georgian Laboratory Association (GeLab), on behalf of Eurachem-Georgia, the workshop on ‘Quality assurance challenges of measurements from field to laboratory with a focus on ISO/IEC17025: 2017 requirements’ will take place on 16-18 May. This will be followed by the General Assembly on 19-20 May. Workshop registration is open at http://gelab.org.ge/en/Event/Eurachem_2022.
Recently, the organisers of the 10th Eurachem Workshop on ‘Proficiency Testing in analytical chemistry, microbiology and laboratory medicine’ took the difficult decision to postpone the event until 2023. It is now scheduled for 25-28 September 2023 in Windsor, UK (see https://eurachem-pt2023.org/ for details).
Eurachem has longstanding collaborations with a number of organisations that share common interests in measurement quality. During the past year, the Executive Committee has been formalising some of these relationships by establishing new or updated Memorandums of Understanding. The MoUs provide a framework for future collaboration, with a view to optimising resources to ensure maximum benefit for both organisations’ members and the wider analytical community. In addition to the MoU signed with NMKL (Nordic Committee on Food Analysis) reported in the last issue, we have recently signed MoUs with Eurolab and the Europe Section of AOAC International.
One area where collaboration is planned is around the issue of validation of sampling activities. The Eurachem Working Groups on ‘Method Validation’ and ‘Uncertainty from Sampling’ have formed a joint task group to discuss and ultimately develop guidance on this topic. Although the activity is in its early days, a number of representatives from our liaison organisations have already joined the group.
If you would like to keep up to date with Eurachem activities you can:
• Follow our LinkedIn page https://eurachem.org/linkedin
• Follow us on Twitter @EurachemEurope
• Subscribe to our news mailing list https://www.eurachem.org/subscribe for occasional email updates
Dr Tang Lin Teo (HSA) – member of the Scientific Committee for the workshop on ‘Assessment of performance and uncertainty in qualitative chemical analysis’.
Some of the recently translated leaflets.
10th WORKSHOP ON PROFICIENCY TESTING IN ANALYTICAL CHEMISTRY,
MICROBIOLOGY AND LABORATORY MEDICINE
Windsor (UK), 25th – 28th September 2023
The EURACHEM Proficiency Testing Working Group (www.eurachem.org), in co-operation with CITAC (www.citac.cc) and EQALM (www.eqalm.org), is organising the 10th event of a series of Workshops addressing current practice and future directions of proficiency testing (PT) and external quality assessment (EQA) in analytical chemistry, microbiology and laboratory medicine.
Venue
The workshop will take place at the De Vere Beaumont hotel in Windsor, a town on the River Thames in southeast England, just west of London. It is home to Windsor Castle, a residence of the British Royal Family, built by William The Conqueror in the 11th century. The story of De Vere Beaumont Estate in Old Windsor is a very British one; a tale of democracy, royalty, education and religion. At its heart, sits an 18th-century mansion, a chapel, 75 event spaces and a Georgian white house in 40 acres of parkland grounds. The original house was built for Lord Weymouth but it was during its time as a public school, from 1854 – 1967, that saw most of the estate’s architectural developments.
Technical Programme
The workshop will include training sessions, keynote lectures, short presentations, working group discussions and poster sessions, to enable interactive participation and cross-fertilisation of ideas. The official language of the workshop will be in English. Invited lectures and accepted presentations/posters will be considered, through peer-review, for publication as full papers as a topical focus in an issue of Accreditation and Quality Assurance (Springer Verlag).
Training Sessions
Four training sessions, open to workshop delegates, on the following topics:
Lectures and Working Group Topics
Who should attend?
The workshop will provide an excellent opportunity for PT/EQA scheme organisers, and end-users of PT/EQA (laboratories, accreditation bodies, regulators and the laboratories’ customers) to come together and share their views.
Registration
Visit the workshop website to register.
Workshop Secretariat
Adele Collins
Phone: +44 161 762 2555
Email: adele.collins@lgcgroup.com
Website: www.eurachem-pt2023.org
Brian Brookman
Chair Eurachem PT Working Group
LGC, Bury, UK
The International Seed Testing Association (ISTA) is thrilled to announce the launch of its new website: www.seedtest.org.
The improved, modern, and better structured website, mirrors ISTA’s commitment to quality, professionalism, and expertise in a relevant and improved design, highly practical functionalities, user-friendly, and purposeful content.
Through the redesign, the Association provides an upgraded platform, where information can be found faster and tasks completed easier and in a more effective way. Furthermore, the enhanced site structure, and intuitive navigation attains good user experience, which is of paramount importance for every well designed and functional website.
Included in the redesign of the website is the improved Member Search area, providing advanced search criteria for Member Category, type of Test and Method used.
Ordering ISTA Certificates has also been made easier through an automated form.
Technical Committees are presented in a more visual and intuitive layout, while Bookstore contains modern features, allowing for a good shopping experience, aligned with contemporary standards.
Registrations for the GMO Proficiency Test will now be done directly via an online registration form; while the registration process for Events has been generally enhanced, with adapted payment methods for both Annual Events and Workshops.
We invite you to go ahead and explore the new ISTA website and we hope you will enjoy the new user experience!
The International Seed Testing Association takes pleasure in inviting you to its 33rd Congress, to be held in Cairo, Egypt, from 08 to 11 of May 2022.
The Venue of the Congress will be Sheraton Cairo Hotel & Casino.
On Sunday, 08 of May 2022, the Seminar “Advancements and innovation in seed testing: from science to robust test” will take place.
On Monday, 09 of May 2022, there will be the presentations of ISTA technical work.
The next day, Tuesday, 10 of May 2022, ISTA will be hosting the meetings of the Technical Committees in joint and parallel working sessions
During the last day of the Congress, on Wednesday, 11 of May 2022, we will hold ISTA Ordinary General Meeting.
Registration has already opened. For information on the programme, registration fees, and more other details, please click here.
Another important development at this point is that the Seed Symposium ‘Quality Seed for Sustainable Agriculture’ will take place in Athens, Greece, from 02 to 04 of November 2022. Abstract submission for the Symposium will be reopened in May. All authors of already submitted papers for the canceled Symposium in Christchurch, NZ, will be contacted by the ISTA Secretariat.
The World Metrology Day project is realised jointly by the BIPM and the OIML and is celebrated on 20 May each year.
The theme for 2022 ‘Metrology in the Digital Era’ was chosen because digital technology is revolutionising our community, and is one of the most exciting trends in society today.
More widely metrology, the science of measurement, plays a central role in scientific discovery and innovation, industrial manufacturing and international trade, in improving the quality of life and in protecting the global environment.
The 2022 World Metrology Day website is now live and can be accessed here. The website includes the Press Release, Directors’ Message and a promotional poster which is available in English and French.
Please feel free to access these materials and use them to support and promote the importance of metrology and World Metrology Day.
AOAC INTERNATIONAL recently hosted its 135th Annual Meeting & Exposition, August 27 – September 2, 2021. It was a hybrid meeting, with registrants having the option to attend onsite in Boston, MA or virtually online. Over 600 attendees represented more than 30 countries at the event. Highlights included:
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Next up on AOAC’s events calendar are the 2022 Midyear Meeting, March 14 – 18, 2022 in Gaithersburg, MD, and the 2022 Annual Meeting & Exposition, August 26 – September 1, 2022 in Scottsdale, AZ. Visit https://www.aoac.org/meetings-and-events/ for more information.
In an effort to continuously collaborate with DRC’s laboratories on their accreditation processes, ASCOLAB have worked with DRC’s laboratories to design an internal auditor coaching programme to meet their objectives.
After the completion of training on Internal auditing based on ISO/CEI 17025: 2017 and ISO 19011: 2018 and after learning the procedures, methodologies, and objectives that a high-quality internal audit must meet, the ASCOLAB experts guide delegates through the entire process and teach them exactly how to prepare thoroughly for their new competencies.
The ASCOLAB experts accompany internal auditor candidates’ local laboratories in all key steps of the audit, and assist in defining the scope, performing the risk analysis, formulation of non-conformances, and establishing the provisional plan, conducting the opening and closing meetings, presentation of the non-conformances, and the effectiveness of corrective actions.
ASCOLAB experts check whether they are aligned with the methodology and the auditing standards, and therefore meet all the quality requirements of the profession.
The ASCOLAB goal is to directly transform the laboratory’s first engagement into a success that brings added value to the laboratory organization.
Based on the online and on-site coaching, the objectives of ASCOLAB are:
During 2021, four Internal Auditors of Central Laboratory of Panda GCM/BU/US have been qualified by ASCOLAB.
It has been a busy six months for Eurachem, despite the ongoing challenges presented by the pandemic. Travel restrictions meant that once again the General Assembly week and associated workshop in May were virtual events, rather than in Prague as we had hoped. Organised by Eurachem-Czech Republic, the workshop on ‘Trends and challenges in ensuring quality in analytical measurements’ discussed experiences with the revised ISO/IEC 17025:2017 and issues related to ensuring quality in medical laboratories, presented current Eurachem activities in the field of analytical quality assurance, and discussed future challenges from both research and practical perspectives. Copies of the workshop presentations are available on the Eurachem website and recordings are available on our YouTube channel.
Eurachem currently has three events in the diary for 2022 and we hope that those scheduled as face-to-face activities will be able to go ahead as planned:
The Eurachem Working Groups have continued to be active in developing and updating guidance documents. The 2nd edition of the Eurachem/CITAC guide on ‘Use of uncertainty information in compliance assessment’ was published in April. This edition has been amended to take into account the developments in a number of documents including ILAC G8 (Guidelines on decision rules and statements of conformity) and JCGM 106 (Evaluation of measurement data – The role of measurement uncertainty in conformity assessment). The Measurement Uncertainty and Traceability Working Group has also published an updated information leaflet on the use of uncertainty information in compliance assessment to accompany the guide.
The evaluation of uncertainties associated with sampling is an ongoing area of interest for many laboratories. The Sampling Uncertainty Working Group, in collaboration with the Royal Society of Chemistry Analytical Methods Committee (AMC) Sampling Uncertainty Working Group, recently published a new leaflet explaining the concept of the uncertainty factor (https://www.eurachem.org/index.php/publications/leaflets/uncertainty-factor).
Finally, work developing guidance on ‘Assessment of performance and uncertainty in qualitative chemical analysis’ is well advanced with a new guide expected to be published shortly.
In addition to its network of member countries, Eurachem also works through liaisons with stakeholder organisations that share common interests in measurement quality. In recent months the Eurachem Executive has been working to refresh and formalise its relationship with a number of key organisations. The first output of this activity was the signing of a new Memorandum of Understanding with NMKL (Nordic Committee on Food Analysis) on 16 August. The MoU provides a framework for future collaboration, with a view to optimising resources to ensure maximum benefit for both organisations’ members and the wider analytical community.
If you would like to keep up to date with Eurachem activities you can: