Sustainable solutions for water treatment: This was the topic of the PhD day and workshop that the AquaticPollutants research project NanoTheC-Aba organized in collaboration with the AMROCE project. From May 22nd-23rd, 35 PhD students, researchers, professors and speakers came together to learn about the recent advances of the participating projects in the field of water remediation: ARENA, INTEGRANO, SusWater and IN2AQUAS. In the end, the PhD Day showed that challenges are best faced together!

The first part of the NanoTheC-Aba PhD Day was dedicated to the training of PhD students. Four one-hour lectures dealt with various scientific, technological and economic aspects of wastewater treatment. The lectures presented case studies from other European projects on wastewater treatments were presented, like SusWater and In2Aquas and highlighted the experience of two Italian companies (Project Hub and Eco resolutions). The day was concluded with a funny and educational bingo game on wastewater treatment concepts.

The second day started with a general overview of the AquaticPollutants research project NanoTheC-Aba by the project coordinator, Prof. Giuliana Magnacca (Torino University, Torino, Italy), followed by presentations on the main results from the project partners. The second part of the day was dedicated to related projects. Two additional AquaticPollutants funded projects – AMROCE and ARENA – presented their research, followed by a presentation on INTEGRANO by Prof. Paride Mantecca (Milano Bicocca University, Milan, Italy), which uses two functional materials developed by NanoTheC-Aba.

The event was concluded with the visit to the NanoTheC-Aba pilot plant temporarily located at Torino University. The plant was set up by Prof. Vittorio Boffa (Aalborg University, Aalborg, Denmark) and is currently being tested by the partner UNITO.

The workshop showed that the collaboration between partners with different competences and resources is of paramount importance for the success of a research project. The in-person PhD Day with its stimulating discussions and social activities also re-emphasized that face-to-face is the best format to brainstorm new ideas and strategies!