NEWS Chemistry professor Patrik Andersson, Umeå University takes up a new role with IVL Swedish Environmental Research Institute, with the aim of increasing collaboration between academia and the sector when it comes to “safe” use of chemicals.
Patrik Andersson.
ImageAnna Strom“This is a time where organisations and projects are aimed at making society sustainable. I am excited to be part of this effort. I will have the possibility to shape this role”, said Andersson, a longstanding member of the Department of Chemistry.
Previously part of its management team, focusing on education, he sees his new role as Innovation Coordinator for Sustainable Chemistry with IVL both as an opportunity to promote graduate education and to deepen sectoral collaboration on “safe” chemicals.
As a scientist, Andersson has been part of developing screening and testing of chemicals. In a string of projects his team focused on understanding the fate and effects of substances on various host organisms and the development of computational techniques, he said.
Funds from the Swedish government bodies Swedish Research Council and Formas have allowed for multiannual studies and Andersson has held work packages in European Union projects, of which Partnership for the Assessment of Risks from Chemicals that kicked off in 2022.
“We should do the right thing from the start”, Andersson said;
“This is why we talk about safe and sustainable chemicals by design”.
His approach echoes that of leading public health researchers, calling for a new global “precautionary” approach, in a recent article in New England Journal of Medicine, that would only allow chemical products on the market if their manufacturers could establish through independent testing that the chemicals are not toxic at anticipated exposure levels.
Swedish IVL, meanwhile, offers research and consulting services in the areas of environment and sustainability and has an overarching aim of bringing together industry, policymakers, higher learning institutions and relevant international organisations to work on the topical areas it oversees, according to its website.
It also plays host to the coordination of multiannual projects backed by Swedish national funders, such as Mistra SafeChem, where Andersson is new director and previous member of the Board.
Riding on the concept of substitution of chemicals deemed to pose a risk to people and the environment under the 2007 EU Regulation on the Registration, Evaluation, Authorisation and Restriction of Chemicals and related rules, Mistra SafeChem focuses on “smart” substitution in the field of organic synthesis and catalysis, in particular.
“I am going to work with key players including companies in the sector. I think that we can deepen the collaboration”.
Andersson will continue to work part time as a scientific research leader at Umeå University, and will be one of two IVL representatives based at Umeå, Sweden.
“I hope that I can contribute with a different perspective. I see the academic world and can highlight its advantages”, he said;
“As a researcher, you may have very little contact with industry”.
Andersson stepped into his new role of innovation coordinator and programme director 1 January 2025.