The Final ASPIS Open Symposium will take place on 2–3 July 2026 in Maastricht, the Netherlands, as a satellite event of the ESTIV 2026 Congress. This closing edition marks the culmination of five years of collaboration across the ASPIS cluster and shifts the focus firmly toward impact.
Bringing together scientists, regulators, industry representatives and policy stakeholders, the Symposium will concentrate on one central question: how can the scientific advances achieved by ASPIS translate into lasting change in chemical safety assessment?
Over the past five years, the three Horizon 2020 projects — ONTOX, PrecisionTox, and RISK-HUNT3R — have developed innovative, animal-free approaches that combine advanced biological methods, computational tools, and AI-enabled systems. With the projects concluding in 2026, the emphasis now turns to regulatory uptake, long-term accessibility of tools and data, and sustained collaboration beyond EU funding.
“The Final Symposium is both a celebration and a responsibility. Our priority is to ensure that ASPIS results move beyond research and become embedded in regulatory practice, supporting ethical and human-relevant chemical safety assessment.”
— says Prof. Mathieu Vinken, ASPIS Cluster Coordinator (2024–2026).
Four Sessions Framing the Transition
The programme will focus on:
- Research & Innovation – key scientific achievements across the three projects
- Regulatory Translation & Implementation – practical integration of ASPIS tools into decision-making
- Impact & Sustainability – ensuring long-term availability of data, platforms and expertise
- ASPIS Academy – empowering the next generation of scientists
As the Final Open Symposium of the ASPIS cluster, the 2026 edition is designed not only to look back at progress made, but to define how this €60 million European investment continues to shape chemical safety assessment in the years ahead.
Registration Details
Registration for the Final ASPIS Open Symposium is open until 1 June 2026. Early Career Researchers interested in presenting a poster are invited to indicate their interest during registration.
Looking Back and Ahead
Curious about what makes the ASPIS Open Symposium unique? Watch the highlights of the ASPIS Open Symposium 2025 through the recap videos:
About the ASPIS cluster
The ASPIS cluster comprises three Horizon 2020 projects (ONTOX, PrecisionTox, and RISK-HUNT3R), each playing a crucial role in advancing animal-free chemical safety assessment:
- ONTOX develops a generic strategy to create innovative NAMs for predicting systemic repeated-dose toxicity effects. By integrating AI-driven computational systems with biological, toxicological, and kinetic data, ONTOX aims to enable human risk assessment without animal testing.
- PrecisionTox applies a comparative toxicogenomics approach, using evolutionary diversity to identify molecular pathways of toxicity. Through high-throughput testing across multiple model species and human cell lines, PrecisionTox helps predict human health effects and understand population-level susceptibility.
- RISK-HUNT3R focuses on developing and implementing integrated, human-centric risk assessment tools. By employing in vitro and in silico NAMs, RISK-HUNT3R aims to assess chemical exposure, toxicokinetics, and toxicodynamics, providing a sustainable framework for NGRA
Together, these projects represent a €60 million investment by the European Union, directly supporting the EU Chemicals Strategy for Sustainability and the transition toward innovative, non-animal testing methodologies.
