The five-day workshop included mutual collaboration, a series of presentations by faculty professors, ECSDevelop masters and PhD students, field visits to the wastewater treatment plant in Tulln, Wien Energie – Austria’s largest energy provider in Vienna, the BOKU River Lab, and a meeting with officials of the BOKU International Relations.
On 16 October, the research team was hosted at the Institute of Chemistry of Renewable Resources, BOKU in Tulln. While in Tulln, MSc and PhD students presented their research results and a presentation by Prof. Ines Fritz introduced the consortium to biodegradable plastics. The team was also given a two-hour tour of the laboratory facilities in Tulln, and the day ended with an informal interaction with the research groups of Prof. Thomas Rosenau and Dr. Stefan Böhmdorfer.
On 17 October 2023, the team visited the wastewater treatment plant in Tulln and later had an interactive meeting with the BOKU International Relations in Vienna, hosted by Dr. Margarita Calderón-Peter, followed by a guided tour of the BOKU campus in Vienna. On 18 October, the team attended a lecture by Prof. Ursula Nopp-Mayer on microplastics in wild animals at BOKU (Muthgasse) in Vienna. Later, the team visited the river lab of BOKU in Vienna, where the team had very interactive sessions.
On 19 October, the team attended lectures by Prof. Maria Fürhacker and Prof. Christian Zafiu, which focused on microplastic analysis, environmental contamination and problems of data interpretation. Later, the team made a field visit to Wien Energie's Simmering power plant in Vienna. On 20 October, the research consortium had an open discussion on science and microplastics and reflected on the overall milestones of the ECSDevelop project.
