In ARISTO (the European Industry - Academia Network for RevIsing and Advancing the Assessment of the Soil Microbial TOxicity of Pesticides), leading universities and industrial partners join forces to perform a cutting edge research and doctorate training programme tackling the global challenge of minimising the environmental off-target effects of pesticides. The multi-sectoral approach of ARISTO, interlinking disciplines from soil microbiology, microbial ecology, environmental chemistry and risk assessment, will generate the new generation of Microbial Ecotoxicologists specialized in pesticides-soil microbes interactions. The research challenge of ARISTO is to produce benchmarking knowledge supporting the development of advanced tools and procedures, based on the response of key microbial indicator groups like ammonia-oxidizing microorganisms (AOM) and arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF), for the comprehensive assessment of the toxicity of pesticides on soil microorganisms. ARISTO offers doctorate fellows a challenging training programme build along 5 research objectives: (1) to develop pioneering in vitro tests, as a first conservative step, to assess the toxicity of pesticides on distinct AOM (ESR1) and AMF (ESR2) strains (2) to develop advanced experimental lab and field tests to assess the toxicity of pesticides on natural soil assemblages of AOM (ESR3) and AMF (ESR4), as a more realistic toxicity assessment step (3) to develop an ecosystem-level toxicity assessment: identify the response of soil microbial networks to pesticides (ESR5) and explore the impact of pesticides on microorganisms from different trophic-levels within the soil food-web (predator - prey) (ESR6) (4) to develop novel tools and procedures to determine the soil microbial toxicity of pesticide mixtures (ESR7) and biopesticides (ESR8) (5) to develop & validate advanced in silico tools for prioritizing transformation products (TPs) of pesticides with potential toxicity to soil microbes (ESR9)

Low risk pesticides (LRP) including (i) plant extracts (ii) semiochemicals like pheromones and allelochemicals, (iii) microbial pesticides, are gaining ground in the global market, as substitutes of synthetic pesticides. In addition, new microbial solutions (phages, protists, microbial consortia) and ds-RNA pesticides are emerging, low-risk solutions expect to reach the market in coming years. Despite on-going regulatory efforts by the European Commission, we are still lacking a concrete risk assessment (RA) scheme relevant to LRPs, a point which blocks LRPs reaching the EU market. RATION timely comes to address these regulatory constraints and aims to develop a novel RA scheme, supported by the necessary guidance on methods and tools, tailored to the specific characteristics of established and emerging LRP solutions. This main goal will be achieved through a series of interrelated WPs aiming (i) to map the current status of LRPs in Europe and identify main regulatory constraints (WP1). In this quest it will be supported by a stakeholders forum composed of all relevant actors (industry, regulators, academics, famers, general public); (ii) to develop and validate, through a proof-of-concept exercise, innovative RA (and associated tools) for microbials (WP2), plant extracts, semiochemicals, pheromones (WP3) and, ds-RNA (WP4); and from there (iii) build a harmonized RA for all LRP and determine its socioeconomic impact (WP5), (iv) to effectively communicate and disseminate the new RA knowledge and its associated tools developed by RATION to relevant actors ensuring sustainability beyond project duration (WP6). RATION will benchmark EU regulatory science, uplift blockers holding back LRP uptake by the EU market and motivate research innovation in plant protection. To achieve these goals 22 partners from academia, industry and regulatory bodies, representing 10 member states and 2 non-EU member states, will join forces in a multi-sectoral and multi-disciplinary effort.