image: Applicants may submit until April 20.
Credit: SPSAS-EP
The São Paulo School of Advanced Science on Emerging Pollutants – SPSAS-EP will be held on September 2-13, 2025, in the port city of Santos (São Paulo state, Brazil).
A 12-day, intensive and interdisciplinary theoretical-practical course on emerging pollutants, the School is jointly organized by HydroPoll, the Colaborative Network for Research on Water Resources and Pollution, and the Antimicrobial Resistance Institute of São Paulo (ARIES), a Research, Innovation and Dissemination Center (RIDC) based at the Federal University of São Paulo (UNIFESP).
SPSAS-EP will be a multidisciplinary platform to raise awareness about emerging pollutants, their diverse nature, potential risks and possible solutions to address this problem. Activities such as theoretical and practical classes, field trips, case studies, round tables, technical lectures and a Hackathon are planned to foster intellectual and collaborative exercise, which will be deepened in small groups tutored by teachers.
The training trajectory will begin with the context of the EPs in the planetary limits, going through prediction and prioritization techniques, analytical challenges, collection and monitoring strategies, remediation and treatment and, finally, the regulatory dimension. Among the emerging pollutants, emphasis will be placed on pesticides, pharmaceuticals, PFAS, PFOS, illicit drugs, micro(nano)plastics and antimicrobial resistance genes.
The discussions at the School will benefit greatly from the participation of internationally renowned researchers as speakers, such as Stuart Khan, from the University of Sydney (Australia), who will be lecturing about “PFAS as a drinking water contaminant: water quality, treatment, regulation and impacts”; Julia Martin Bueno from Universidad de Sevilla (Spain), who will be developing on the topic “Microplastics and associated emerging pollutants in the environment”; Marco Parolini from the University of Milan (Italy), who will be giving the lecture " Application of a multi-level approach to explore toxicity of micro(nano)plastics towards aquatic organisms"; John W. Scott from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (USA); among others.
Reporters are invited to register for the scientific sessions and short courses, which will present state-of-the-art science and the results of new research.
The São Paulo Research Foundation (FAPESP) is supporting the event through its São Paulo School of Advanced Science Program (SPSAS http://espca.fapesp.br/home).
Travel, accommodation, food and travel insurance (for foreign participants) of selected students will be fully financed by FAPESP. The school will take place at the Bourbon Hotel Convention Center, located in Santos. Some practical sessions will also be held in UNIFESP’s campus in Diadema.
100 students worldwide will be selected based on an assessment considering the applicant’s research area, academic history, CV, research projects, recommendation letter. The primary target audience includes undergraduate, master’s, doctoral, and postdoctoral students.
Applications must be submitted by April 20, 2025 via the event’s website: https://www.emergingpollutantschool.pro.br/application.
About FAPESP
The São Paulo Research Foundation (FAPESP) is a public institution with the mission of supporting scientific research in all fields of knowledge by awarding scholarships, fellowships and grants to investigators linked with higher education and research institutions in the state of São Paulo, Brazil. FAPESP is aware that the very best research can only be done by working with the best researchers internationally. Therefore, it has established partnerships with funding agencies, higher education, private companies, and research organizations in other countries known for the quality of their research and has been encouraging scientists funded by its grants to further develop their international collaboration.