One of the main items of business at the 2022 Eurachem General Assembly was the appointment of officers, including the new Chair, Vice Chair, and Secretary, following completion of the 2020-22 Chair's two year term. Meet the new line-up below!

Isabelle Vercruysse - Eurachem Chair 2022-24

After graduating as a Pharmacist from the Vrije Universiteit Brussel (B) in 1989, Isabelle obtained her PhD degree in Pharmaceutical Science in 1995 at the department of Prof D.L. Massart (Analytical Chemistry) and Prof A. Dupont (Pharmacology). She worked in a private accredited ISO17025 lab LMI in Kortrijk(B) as quality manager and technical director from 1995 till mid 2020. The lab main activities lay in the bacteriological and chemical control of water of public swimming pools, water from food companies and hospitals in accordance with the Flemish and Federal legislation.
As of July 2022, Isabelle works as quality manager at APB-DGO/SCM (Association of Pharmacists in Belgium-drug testing department) in Brussels. The private independent lab is ISO 17025 accredited by BELAC, officially recognised by the FAMHP (Federal Agency for Medicines and Health Products) and WHO certified. The lab is specialized in auto control of commercial drugs (risk-based) including product complaints, auto control of magistral preparations, analyses for third parties (Phasius) and withdrawals in Belgium and GD Luxembourg (GDP regulation).

Since 2012, Isabelle has been president of BELAB, the association of Belgian laboratories. This organisation comprises laboratories from public, university and private organizations, and is active in various sectors. The association aims to unite Belgian laboratories in dealing with the common problems related to analyses and accreditation in measuring, testing, calibration and research. BELAB has liaisons with Belac, the Belgian accreditation authority through the National Board and Commission of Coordination of Belac and with the Flemish government as advisory board at the level of education, health and environment.

In 2006, Isabelle joined Eurachem as the representative of Belgium. She contributes to the Eurachem Working group Method validation. She was elected to the Executive Committee in 2015. In 2016 she organized, together with BELAB, the Eurachem week in Gent (B) with the workshop on “Method validation in analytical science” and worked on several Eurachem guides.

Isabelle said:

"It is a great honour and a great challenge for me to chair Eurachem for the next two years and to work active together with Eugenia the new vice chair and Vicky, the past chair, and together with all members and liaisons of the Eurachem family. I am also happy to count on the support of Philippe Maesen as Eurachem Secretariat in the role as chair of Eurachem.

On this moment the world of analytical chemistry, metrology and analytical laboratories are dealing with a number of important and interesting challenges. A world in change, where innovation and new techniques, but also new standards and regulations are coming our way. It is our responsibility, in this fast-changing world, to keep pushing our limits and meeting the challenges. It is important to keep questioning ourselves, to keep cooperating with academics and laboratories in a positive way and to keep the dialogue open."

Eugenia Totu - Eurachem Vice-Chair 2022-24

Eugenia Eftimie Totu is the new Vice-chair of Eurachem, and the chair-elect for 2024-6. She started her University career immediately after graduating with the highest honours from the Faculty of Chemistry, University of Bucharest, Romania. She also worked as a scientific researcher in electronic device manufacturing, focusing on the quality control of the circuits. Her keen interest in developing new intelligent devices for usage in clinical and environmental areas encouraged her to follow a one-year research program at the University of Newcastle upon Tyne, UK, where she consequently returned as Visiting Professor for some years. The studies dedicated to the sensitive microdevices: manufacturing, characteristics, and determinations’ accuracy, were concluded in her Ph.D. thesis dedicated to the ion-selective sensors with analytical applications.

Following her continuous university path, from 2004 on, she is a Professor at the University Politehnica of Bucharest, Romania, teaching Analytical Chemistry and Instrumental Analysis, Optimization of Analytical Processes, as well as Quality Control Assurance in the Food Industry and Quality Control of Inorganic Products. Meanwhile, she received the Project Management Certificate from CODECS, Romania, and other professional certificates obtained within the Continuous Education Program, US. Applying the acquired management knowledge, she was the national representative and Project Manager for local investments of Japanese companies such as Nissho Iwai, Sojitz, and Taiyo Kogyo Corporations for nine years.

Her scientific activity was presented during over 60 communications in the last five years and within over 100 papers (71 ISI papers), 11 books/ chapters published, and two patents. Also, she was involved in 29 research projects, leading as Project Director 7 projects, of which three were international. Some of these projects were dedicated to the accreditation of a testing laboratory, the development of human resources, and the integrated management systems for education and research. She is affiliated with several national and international scientific organizations. She was awarded 2019 the “Petru Spacu” Medal of the Romanian Society of Chemistry for her outstanding professional activity in chemistry. Since 2009, she has been a member of the Executive Committee of Eurachem and the Education and Training and Qualitative Analysis Working Groups. At present, she is also the President of the Eurachem-Romania professional Association.

Vicki Barwick - Eurachem Past Chair

Vicki Barwick steps back from the Chair to take Eurachem's third senior post - that of outgoing Eurachem Chair - for a further two-year term.

After graduating with a degree in Chemistry from the University of Nottingham (UK) in 1990, Vicki joined LGC (then known as the Laboratory of the Government Chemist) as an analytical chemist. In this role she was responsible for the chemical analysis of consumer goods (including cosmetics, toys and childcare items) to ensure product safety. In 1995 she joined a team working on the government-sponsored Valid Analytical Measurement programme. A particular interest around that time was the development of approaches for evaluating measurement uncertainty in chemical measurement. One of the outputs of this work was a training course on uncertainty estimation, targeted at analytical chemists. This led to the development of a programme of courses on analytical quality which has been running for 25 years. Vicki is currently the head of the Knowledge and Skills Exchange team at LGC and is responsible for the management, development and delivery of training courses and other training resources on analytical quality assurance.

Vicki has been actively involved with Eurachem since 2005. In addition to serving as Vice-Chair from 2018-2020 and Chair from 2020-2022, she was Chair of the Education and Training Working Group from 2010-2020 and has been a member of the Method Validation Working Group since 2012.

Vicki said “It has been an honour to be the Chair of Eurachem over the past two years. I did not expect to be chairing a virtual network but I am very happy with how Eurachem has adapted to working remotely. The work programme is still on track and a huge amount has been achieved. I would like to thank Elena Sanchez for all her hard work and support during her time as Eurachem Secretary and Treasurer. I am also grateful for the support I have received from the Executive Committee and General Assembly members. Eurachem really is a team effort! I know that the network is in safe hands with Isabelle and Philippe and I look forward to working with them over the next two years.”

Philippe Maesen - Eurachem Secretary 2022-24

Philippe Maesen takes over as Eurachem Secretary from May 2022. Philippe says:

"My professional career is firmly anchored in Gembloux Agro-Bio Tech, our Faculty of Agronomic Sciences in Gembloux and is fundamentally linked to the development of the BEAGx laboratory. I graduated in 1992 as a Chemical and Agricultural Engineer and Teaching, and started my career in the Analytical Chemistry and Phytopharmacy Department as a teaching assistant, supervising students in practical work, qualitative and quantitative analytical chemistry (application and engineering years). Financed by the Walloon Region, I carried out research into the surplus of phytosanitary products after spraying, their daily management and their purification using a physico-chemical system and active carbons, with the development of chromatographic analysis techniques for pesticides in formulated products and waste water.

At the same time, I also participated, as a quality assurance assistant, in the implementation of the Good Laboratory Practice (GLP) quality system within the Analytical Chemistry and Phytopharmacy Departments and the BEAGx laboratory, a certificate first obtained in 1996. The two and a half years during which I was employed by a multi-national company specialising in plant protection products enabled me to acquire and/or develop fundamental field knowledge in the field of plant protection in field crops but also in "niche" products. My involvement in the Bureau Environnement et Analyses de Gembloux (BEAGx) in 1997 gave me the opportunity to put my knowledge of applied experimental chemistry, gas and liquid chromatography and atomic absorption spectrophotometry to good use. The responsibility for managing the radioactive waste liabilities on the Gembloux site led me to follow the Expert class 2 course in Radiation Protection in 2008. I also took over the management of the laboratory BEAGx in 2008. It is self-financed and currently has a staff of 14 people. It has been approved by the Walloon Region for the analysis of waste and toxic waste since 1991, and since 1996 has also been recognised by OECD member countries as GLP (Good Laboratory Practice) certified. In parallel, we are currently developing ISO 17025 accreditation for testing laboratories. Recognitions (approvals, certifications, EIL, etc.) enable the laboratory to develop our expertise in various fields directly or indirectly linked to agronomy in the broadest sense. This ranges from quality control of products that can be used in agriculture as amendments (sludges from wastewater treatment plants, composts, digestates of biomethanization, ashes, fertilizers, etc.) to the development, under GLP, of methods for analysing residues of phytopharmaceutical products in foodstuffs or formulations, including involvement in the establishment of legal decrees (e.g., management of sediments in waterways or elsewhere). For several private partners, we are recognised as a reference laboratory for the analysis of fertilisers and crop amendments. Finally, we develop waste analysis techniques on an almost daily basis due to the variability and heterogeneity of this type of complex matrix.

I am an Analytical chemistry Teacher, Vice-Chair of BELAB (Belgian certified laboratories association), and I am proud to assist Isabelle Vercruysse (new Chair of EURACHEM) as Secretary for 2022-2024."

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Published: Tuesday, 19 July 2022 02:32

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