On behalf of SG LAB FORUM, I would like to thank all participants, Speakers and Exhibitors for your active participation and contribution at our Microplastics Symposium.

 

We have got 175 participants including speakers attended this symposium and all talks/discussions were well attended and appreciated. Organizers also would like to thank Frontier Lab, Markes Internationals, Bruker, Leco Corporation, Thermo Fisher Scientific and Photothermal Spectroscopy Corp for their sponsorship and technical contributions. We will prepare a short report summarizing the different lectures and key points from panel discussion. The following are some of the top level key points that were brought up during discussions:

 

1) The impact of microplastics in the environment is not fully understood and data are insufficient for regulators/policy makers to develop any policy or regulation on this. However guidelines like policy from OECD and other federal agencies are an indications that they are also closely watching the progress and developments.

 

2) More of research is required to fill the gaps. At the same time, harmonization and standardization are required to have wholistic approach and fruitful comparison of data distribution around the world.

 

3) More collaboration among different research groups/researchers should be encouraged. Panel members were encouraged to make of use this community forum to develop collaborative work on mutual interests and common research topics.

 

5) Lack of reference materials were high lighted. Inter comparison exercises are suggested. We will explore both with few organizations support.

 

6) We will target to organize a physical event/meeting as follow up of this symposium. As we have many from researchers from Singapore (NUS/NTU), we will aim to plan this in Singapore during Dec2022/Jan2023. We will approach key peoples separately to develop this plan further.

 

7) SG LAB FORUM will aim to keep the participants intact through regular knowledge sharing and technology update. Some of the recorded lectures from the symposium will be disseminated through  regular webinar webinar series (monthly or quarterly)