Postgraduate Chemical Risk Assessment Course

On Friday and Saturday (NOV 18-19) we held the postgraduate chemical risk assessment course. This activity was the focal point of my current Fulbright grant and this course has been in development for well over a year, Each day of the course had a full slate of 45 minute lectures covering contemporary issues in chemical risk assessment. In total we settled on 15 presentations covering a wide array of topics. I have spent several months developing and revising the course content (I was the sole instructor). The course was targeted to Nordic toxicologists and 0.5 credits of continuing education was provided (roughly equivalent to a 1 unit graduate course back in the United States). The course used a hybrid approach with approximately half of the course participants joined us in person here in Kuopio while the remainder joined online. Local course participants had the opportunity to meet for dinner on Friday night. The food and companionship made the evening special.

We used a pre-course survey to assess the participants familiarity with the course materials and then a second survey to see how well we met expectations. Our survey results were positive. I had a recurring nightmare of either missing the course by oversleeping or losing my voice. Fortunately neither of these outcomes occurred. It was a lot of work to create the course  – personally I learned a lot by doing so and I hoped the participants felt the same. I must admit that I am grateful for the opportunity but I am also glad that the course went off without a hitch.

Thanks again to my colleagues at the University of Eastern Finland, Fulbright Finland, and NCSU for providing me with the opportunity.