Following a morning of presentations, the afternoon will include a choice of interactive workshops*. See programme & workshop details here.
Tickets are £185 for members, £250 for non-members (includes SOBRA membership). We offer a 50% discount for local authority or not-for-profit employee members.
The event is to be held at the Priory Rooms and Conference Centre in central Birmingham; a 10 min walk from New Street, Moor Street and Snow Hill train stations. The venue offers disabled parking (prebookable) and nearby car parks are available should you wish to drive (please note the clean air zone charges in Birmingham). Teas, coffee, snacks and a hot lunch will be provided for attendees.
When booking, please let us know if you have any accessibility or dietary preferences/requirements. *Please nominate your preferred workshop AFTER you have reserved your place.
2025 December Conference 2025 – SoBRA & RSC Toxicology Group
Current Issues in Contaminated Land Risk Assessment
Date: Wednesday 10th December 2025 Venue: The Royal Society of Chemistry, The Library, Burlington House, Piccadilly, London, W1J 0BA Hybrid In-person and Virtual Conference.
Save the date. Further details to follow.
For all tickets, SoBRA members need to register as a Non-RSC member, then enter the discount code provided in the recent email to SoBRA members when prompted. Bookings close at 5pm on Monday 2nd December 2024.
In-person – RSC/SoBRA members £110 / non-members £150 / Students 50% discount / 20 x 50% places* for not-for-profit and regulators £75 Online – RSC/SoBRA members £50 / non-members £75 / Students 50% discount / unlimited x 50% places* for not-for-profit and regulators £37.50
*Discounted Tickets for Regulators and Not-for-Profit Employees. A limited number of 50% discounted tickets for regulators/non-for-profit employees are available for in-person attendance on a first-come first-served basis (50% discounted online tickets are unlimited). Please email [email protected] to request your discount code, stating whether you wish to attend in-person or online. The discount code can then be entered at the checkout under ‘Enter promotional code’.
2025/2026
Early Careers Webinar Programme
PFAS toxicology (Meera Cush & Jesse Davies, 17/06/25 at 1pm)
This webinar aims to clarify the complex regulatory environment for those pursuing a career in PFAS, assisting individuals in developing and implementing strategies to identify and mitigate the associated risks.
The SoBRA early careers group is pleased to announce that another series of free lunch-time webinars will be run during 2025 and into 2026. Each webinar is geared towards early career professionals and will provide guidance and top tips on topics. Webinars run for an hour, including a Q&A session, and will all be hosted on GoToWebinar – we thank RSK for allowing us to host these events on their account. All webinars are free to attend, but all attendees are required to register in advance.
Newcastle Allotments Lead Biomonitoring Study: Assessing Gardeners’ Lead Exposure in Urban Agriculture Sites to Improve the Derivation of Soil Assessment Criteria (Lindsay Bramwell, 14/11/24 at 1pm)
In the UK, the current soil screening level for a ‘low level toxicological concern’ for lead in allotments is 80 mg/kg (DEFRA, 2014). This soil screening level is 10 times lower than that observed on many allotments across Newcastle upon Tyne, a city in NE England, with a long industrial heritage. Detailed quantitative risk assessments have been previously carried out on Newcastle’s allotment gardens and Newcastle City Council concluded that, on balance, gardening activities and consumption of vegetables from these sites is a greater benefit than risk to health, however, there is considerable uncertainty in the exposure modelling, with the association between concentrations of lead in soil and blood remaining uncharacterised. The aim of this study was to determine the relationship between concentrations of lead in garden soils and the blood lead concentration of gardeners to give confidence to regulators who must decide the suitability of a site. Participants provided blood and saliva samples and helped the team collect soil, vegetable and fruit samples from their plots. To account for confounders, participants provided tap water samples, home dust samples, atmospheric deposition samples and completed a questionnaire on potential exposure factors.
Part 2A Investigation of Vapour Intrusion from Chlorinated Solvents (Simon Burr, Campbell Reith, 3/12/24 at 1pm)
Presentation of a case study which covers a Part 2A investigation into contamination of the soils and groundwater at a former dry-cleaners in Ross-on-Wye. The predominant pollutant pathway was associated with vapours from the chlorinated solvent plume which had migrated off site beneath existing residential buildings. The investigation comprised multi-level boreholes, vapour wells, and in-house vapour sampling, both in-house and sub slab. The investigation needed to account for fractured bedrock, potential vapour flow through the unsaturated zone, topographic falls across the wider area, consideration of preferential pathways (sewers) and background solvent concentrations. It also included a detailed communication strategy with emphasis on the off-site residents to enable entry to their properties.
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