Participation of Sciensano in AOP visualisation group session organised by European Commission
On May 11th 2022, Sciensano participated in an Adverse Outcome Pathway (AOP) visualisation focus group session organized at the European Commission, Brussels, Belgium. The aim of this group session was to invite experts in AOP development and explore what user-centric design of the AOP graphic should and ultimately look like. Graphic plays an important role in the interface between AOPs and their various audiences. A previous report showed that the current graphic may sometimes be an obstacle for engagement in the AOP framework. The focus groups are therefore envisaged as opportunities to bring in AOP stakeholder groups as participant designers, who are involved in optimizing the graphic and also bring it back to their communities.
To set the scene for the meeting, a pre-focus group online meeting was organized on May 6th. The objective was to introduce the participants to each other. On May 11th, the session audience included 12 participants representing different European countries. During this session, participants were grouped and tasked to draw an AOP diagram based on various pictures (like traffic pollution, food and shampoo etc.). During this interactive session, participants shared their experiences and constructive thoughts to improve the visual elements of the AOP Framework. Overall, the session provided a good basis for understanding the strengths and limitations of the AOP diagram. Experiences acquired during the group session will contribute to the development of AOPs in ALTERNATIVE project (https://alternative-project.eu/). Such sessions will also be conducted in Ottawa and Washington DC later this year and the outcome of these focus groups will be discussed at OECD level, translated into ICT requirements and ultimately – depending on resources – implemented in the AOP-Wiki.
Further information:
Keywords:
Adverse Outcome Pathways, AOP diagram, AOP-Wiki, ALTERNATIVE
