The IOM is a major independent centre of scientific excellence in the fields of occupational and environmental health, hygiene and safety and has established a leading presence on chemical- and nanotechnology-risk issues through an international reputation in assessing the risk of small particles and fibres. The institute has expertise in hazard, exposure and risk assessment for workplace hazards, including nanomaterials and nanotechnology in support of regulation and industrial innovation.
IOM is a WHO Collaborating Centre in Occupational Health and is contracted to provide reviews for policy support on emerging occupational health issues for the European Commission and European Parliament. IOM is an invited expert on ISO Technical Committee 229 (Nanotechnologies) and is represented on OECD WPMN working groups and British Standards Institute committees, as well as being an active member of the EU-US nanoEHS Communities of Research and the EU Nano-Safety Cluster where it chairs the Working Group on Risk.
IOM has considerable project experience, participating in over 35 EC Framework and other national and international projects across a range of thematic programmes both as a coordinator and as a partner. This includes (i) core science projects such as ENPRA, Nanex, MARINA and MODENA (as co-ordinator) and NANOMMUNE, NANOTEST, NANODEVICE, ENHRES, SUN, Sanowork, NanoMicex, GUIDENANO, NANOREG I and II and PROSAFE (as WP leader or partner); (ii) industry-led innovation projects such as NanCore, Electrograph, NanoMaster, NanoSafePack; and (iii) strategic innovation projects such as NANOfutures and ObservatoryNANO. IOM are currently coordinating the H2020 project Biorima and are partners in the H2020 projects Patrols and Nanotextsurf.
