The role of research in the sound management of chemicals on a national and global scale

‘Sound management of chemicals’ is the organising principle for global efforts that aim to minimise potential adverse impacts on human health and the environment of chemicals from production to disposal. Implementation of this principle is of global importance because the chemicals industry is the second largest manufacturing industry in the world. In this presentation, we will review the basic features of the management of chemicals in Australia and globally that apply to minimising their impacts on the environment. We will consider three examples of scientific research that have made a material difference to the way chemicals are managed. We will also consider priorities for impactful research that promotes the sound management of chemicals nationally and globally.

Glen is the Principal Regulatory Scientist for Chemicals and a Director in the Australian Government Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water (DCCEEW). He has been with the department for 18 years leading work on the environmental risk assessment of industrial chemicals. A career highlight was leading the ecological risk assessment of more than 9,000 industrial chemicals under the now completed IMAP program.

Glen is a chemist by training and studied at James Cook University, ANU, Caltech and MIT. He collaborates with national and international researchers working on new approaches to managing the environmental impacts of chemicals and pollutants. His team is currently developing new regulatory chemical informatics tools and applying them to the prioritisation, informed chemical substitution and identification of high concern chemicals in products and articles. He represents Australia on the OECD Working Party on Hazard Assessment and the OECD/UNEP Global PFAS Group. He was a co-author of the OECD definition for PFAS published in 2021 and co-chaired the 2024 What’s in Our Water Symposium in Canberra.