Kuopio Risk Assessment Workshop 2008

Kuopio risk assessment workshop 2008 is the second workshop about new methods in risk assessment, organised by the National Public Health Institute (KTL), Kuopio, Finland. Its main purpose is to promote the idea and practice of open risk assessments, and further develop methods to perform them. The workshop has started from the needs of several EU-funded research projects, notably Intarese, Beneris, and Heimtsa. The workshop is mainly directed to doctoral students working in the fields of environmental health or risk assessment, but it is also open to anyone interested. If you want to join the workshop, please create a user account (by following the log in/create account link in the right-top corner of the page) with your contact information and add your username to the list on the bottom of this page. The number of participants might have to be limited due to practical reasons. If we have to restrict participation, people from the projects mentioned above and the ones who have registered early will have an advantage. There is no deadline for registration or registration fee for the workshop, but early registration is highly recommended.

General information

Time:	18.2 - 22.2.2008
Place:	KTL, Kuopio, Finland
Organizer:	National Public Health Institute (KTL), Department of Environmental Health

<googlemap lat="62.903976" lon="27.638855" type="map" zoom="11" width="375"> 62.893334, 27.679328, Kuopio, Finland 62.890603, 27.627397, KTL Neulaniementie 4, 70701 Kuopio, Finland </googlemap>

Description

The workshop will be on open risk assessment, namely:

Theory
Method
Technical facilitation
Application

Program

This is a tentative plan for the workshop program

Monday 18 February

9:00 - 11:45
- Introduction to Open Risk Assessment
- Introduction to the case study
- Practical arrangements
11:45 - 12:45
- Lunch
12:45 - 16:45
- Parallel training sessions:
  - Working in the wiki
  - Introduction to Analytica
  - Case study planning
- Group-work on the case study

Tuesday 19 February - Thursday 21 February

9:00 - 11:45
- Lecture (different aspects of ORA)
- Case study review
- Practical arrangements
11:45 - 12:45
- Lunch
12:45 - 16:45
- Group-work on the case study

Friday 22 February

9:00 - 11:45
- Group-work on the case study
11:45 - 12:45
- Lunch
12:45 - 16:45
- Wrap-up of the case study

A web-conference access will be provided for the lecture sessions. The case study will be worked on using the Heande website.

We will try to arrange lectures and group work in a way that people can attend the lectures via Internet (and possibly even participate). Group work will be mostly done in the Internet anyway. People who can not make it to Kuopio can be in contact using Skype. This way, we may be able to organise the workshop without a need to limit participation.

In addition to lectures and group-work, there will naturally be a great social programme including e.g. winter sports.

Case study

One objective of the workshop is to work on a real-life case study using the Internet tools that have been developed in the projects mentioned above. The work will be chopped into bite-size pieces so that a flexible number of people can effectively work on it. The actual topic of the case study has not been decided yet. Add your suggestion below.

Possible case study topics:

Fine particle risks in urban areas
Health impacts of actions reducing greenhouse gas emissions
One of the Intarese case studies
Benefits and risks of food (e.g. vegetable-rich vs. vegetable-poor diet)
Health impacts of Helsinki bus traffic - different fuel options & traffic planning scenarios

Attendees

The registration is open. If interested to participate, please create a user account by following the log in/create account link in the right-top corner of the page and add your user name on the list of attendees below. Early expression of interest, although it might have to be canceled later, is better than waiting for the last minute before registering. We will not limit participation unless it is necessary due to practical reasons, such as shortage of physical workspace available.

We will try to arrange student-apartment-level accommodation for the workshop participants, but you may also organise your own accommodation, e.g. hostel/hotel, yourself, if you prefer that. The cost/person for the student apartment accommodation will be approximately 200 - 250 €. The accommodation costs will be invoiced from the participants after the workshop. If you wish to have a student-apartment-level accommodation arranged for you, please add a mention about this (e.g. accommodation needed) after your name and organisation in the list of attendees below! We can guarantee student-apartment accommodation to those who have registered before the end of December 2007.

Each participant should have a laptop computer; if this is not possible for you, please let us know well in advance and we will see what we can do about it. You may also participate from wherever you are, as most major things - except the social programme - will be made available via Internet.

Please list your name and organisation here:

Kwaku Oduro Lokko, University of Kuopio