Final meeting of the AGRI-As project at the Oulanka research center, Finland

The AgriAs project on the evaluation and management of arsenic contamination in agricultural soil and water (2016 Water JPI Joint Call) held its final meeting between 11th and 14th  March 2019 in Oulanka, Finland. This final meeting gave the Water JPI coordinator and a representative of the Finnish research funder, Academy of Finland, the opportunity to:

• Discuss the progress completed to date  within the project, in particular the effect of agricultural practices on arsenic concentrations in soils at two cases studies (Freiberg – Germany, and Verdun – France), solutions for arsenic remediation for soil and groundwater, and the development in risk assessment tool (new pathway introduced for animal product consumption, new data on plant uptake); and
  
  
• There was a visit to the  research center of Oulanka, which is part of the University of Oulu, and has  studies dating back  60 years on  aquatic and terrestrial systems (freshwater, biodiversity, plant ecology) in boreal and artic conditions. The Centre is a member of the Finnish Long-Term Socio-Ecological Research network (FinLTSER), and therefore of eLTER; and
  
  
• There was further discussion about the upcoming JPI activities of interest for the AgriAs consortium and on  how to connect research centres to the JPI activities on research infrastructures and their recommendation on how to improving call management, into the future.