The Institute of Occupational Medicine (IOM) is an independent organisation with over five decades of expertise in occupational and environmental health. We apply rigorous scientific evidence to understand, evaluate, and manage risks across workers, workplaces, and the wider environment. Based in Edinburgh, Scotland, IOM’s roots stem from pioneering research into coal miners’ health. Since then, our work has continuously evolved to tackle modern workplace and environmental challenges, always driven by our core mission: translating evidence into actionable strategies that protect human health and improve working environments. Its multidisciplinary expertise spans occupational hygiene, exposure science, epidemiology, toxicology, chemical risk assessment, ergonomics and human factors, data science, and the assessment of emerging technologies and materials. Through research, consultancy, laboratory analysis and technical services, IOM translates scientific evidence into practical solutions that help organisations reduce exposure, improve workplace health and safety, strengthen compliance, and support evidence-based policy and decision-making.
Within CHIASMA, IOM contributes expertise in chemical risk assessment, computational modelling, and data integration to advance next-generation approaches for the safety and sustainability assessment of chemicals and advanced materials. Led by Prof. Lang Tran, the IOM team contributes to the development of the CHIASMA Knowledge Infrastructure, chemocentric and multi-layer modelling and read-across approaches, physiologically based kinetic (PBK) models, and computational methods for deriving pathway and Adverse Outcome Pathway (AOP) based Points of Departure. By integrating in vitro and toxicogenomics data into these modelling approaches, IOM helps connect experimental New Approach Methodologies (NAMs) with computational tools and supports the development of Next Generation Risk Assessment (NGRA) approaches.
IOM also leads the integration and FAIRification of CHIASMA data, models and software, with a strong focus on ensuring that research outputs are FAIR and computer-actionable. This includes developing and applying FAIR Implementation Profiles that translate data-management principles into practical, executable workflows and promote interoperability with other Safe and Sustainable by Design (SSbD) initiatives and European research ecosystems. IOM also contributes to the CHIASMA SSbD Assessment Software Interface, helping make data, models, IATAs and assessment results accessible and reusable.
In addition, IOM contributes to translating CHIASMA’s scientific and computational developments into an integrated SSbD assessment framework. Its activities include applying NGSA-IATA approaches to demonstration cases, supporting the integration of in vitro and in silico evidence into Life Cycle Impact Assessment and USEtox, and contributing to absolute sustainability assessment approaches informed by concepts such as Planetary Boundaries. IOM is also involved in the validation and transferability of NAMs, stakeholder engagement and activities supporting the regulatory relevance and uptake of CHIASMA approaches. Overall, IOM helps bridge experimental evidence, computational modelling, FAIR data integration, NGRA and sustainability assessment, supporting the development of accessible, interoperable and reusable tools for chemical and material safety assessment.
CHIASMA gives IOM the opportunity to work closely with leading European partners across toxicology, computational modelling, data science, sustainability and regulatory science. This multidisciplinary collaboration enables us to connect our expertise in occupational and environmental health and risk assessment with cutting-edge NAMs, computational tools and FAIR data approaches in ways that would be difficult to achieve independently.
[Prof. Lang Tran, Principal Computational Toxicologist]
IOM’s innovation interest is in integrating experimental and computational evidence into practical Next Generation Risk Assessment (NGRA) and Safe and Sustainable by Design (SSbD) approaches. A key challenge is making diverse data, models and software interoperable, FAIR and computer-actionable so that they can be combined effectively for chemical and advanced-material safety assessment. We aim to deliver robust FAIR data and modelling workflows, advance PBK and NGRA approaches, and help integrate these tools into an accessible SSbD assessment framework. Ultimately, we want CHIASMA’s methods and data to be reusable, interoperable and relevant to researchers, industry and regulatory communities.
