The Nano and Microplastics Research Consortium (NMRC)—a national network established by Flinders University, Australia, in November 2023—held the first of four partner workshops, hosted by AIMS, on 7 August 2025 in Townsville, Australia. The workshop sought to explore shared challenges and opportunities in microplastics monitoring across environments as well as define collaborative roles and transnational contributions. In turn, these workshops will inform the development of an Australian Research Council Industrial Transformation Training Centre (ARC ITTC) focused on detection, monitoring, risk assessment, and mitigation.
The workshop was led by IMDOS Steering Committee Member, Cherie Motti (AIMS), who provided insight into the national landscape of microplastic monitoring in Australia. IMDOS Steering Committee Co-Chair, Alex Turra, was also present and provided global perspective on trends and challenges in monitoring microplastics.
The work presented and discussed in these workshops further strengthens IMDOS’ work on standardisation and international collaboration and showcase the expertise of the committee members driving our mission.