Speciation Analysis is meanwhile well accepted by both scientist in many disciplines due to the obvious fact that biological, chemical and physical properties are related to the chemical species present and also due to the increasing aawarness of political decision makers. The most important manufacturers of analytical instruments do now offer commercial instrumentation providing solutions for speciation analytical problems. The interface platform EVISA - the European Virtual Institute for Speciation Analysis has been established just in time to fill the gap between the researchers with their special developments and the instrument manufacturers on the one hand and all the customers on the other hand who are seeking information and analytical-technical solutions for their respective industrial or other analytical application.
EVISA started publishing a regular monthly Speciation Newsletter already in December 2004, still during the set-up phase of the
virtual institute. Since then a continuously growing group of registered subscribers has benefited from our free service, providing weekly news on all aspects of speciation analysis, events and vacant positions.
Laboratories up to the very North (Greenland) and the South of Europe (Crete) have found their competent new staff members via the EVISA announcement of
open positions. Instrument manufacturers were enabled to reach a global community announcing their new instrumentation, new applications or events. Event organizers have used the possibility to inform an international community about speciation related
conferences, symposia or workshops. While EVISA has started as a project funded by the European Union, it has a global approach not limited in any respect to Europe. We are very glad that our users come from all over the globe creating a flat EVISA server activity curve over 24 hours.
EVISA News - Speciation NewsletterEVISA News inform about "hot topics" with respect to elemental speciation from the different viewpoints of research, politics, legislation and last but not least new products and applications supporting the field. All news are given with links to important background documents, cited publications, topical application notes and highly recognized external web sites providing further valuable information and are continuously updated with respect to ongoing discussions, changes or new viewpoints.
The average occurrence of News during this second year of service was kept at about one per week. We are sending out our Speciation Newsletter once a month so that every Newsletter has about 4 News.
Web site developmentWe have continuously worked on the content provided by the EVISA web site both with respect to coverage and quality of information. As can be seen from the figure below, we have quadrupled the number of pages during the last year of operation surpassing 9000 pages this month and we regularly updated the information on already existing pages.
We also extended the features of the site according to our development plan. As new features during this last year we have enhanced our database system with new databases on
Companies (~1200),
Materials (~ 325),
Instruments (~2300),
Components (~150) and
Journals (~2700). Together with the already existing databases on
External Links and
Scientists this database system informs about all the different aspects related to trace element and speciation analysis. This unique set of databases is efficiently interlinked so that the user is enabled to find the most relevant information in the most effective way. To reach the manufacturer of an instrument, producer of a reference material, publisher of a journal, or the author of a publication is the matter of a few mouse "clicks" only.
Coming featuresThe next step with respect to EVISA's database system is the launching of the
Literature Database. This huge literature database system is not just "another" database but a unique system providing high value information that cannot easily be found elsewhere. This database will create a quantum jump with respect to the content of the EVISA server both with respect to quality and quantity. The EVISA literature database will contain not only information about publications published in refereed journals but also from conference proceedings, books, reports, patents and other so called "grey" literature. Many thanks to our colleagues from all over the globe, who have supported this ambitious project by sending us their papers and bibliographies in order to make this database the most informative system with respect to speciation analysis! Again, this database will be linked to all other already existing databases (Scientists, Journals, Instruments, Materials, Components and Companies/Organizations) creating a sophisticated search tool that enables the user to find information on all aspects of trace element determinations and speciation analysis in the most efficient way.
For the future we have some ideas about further useful features of our website but are still pondering over the priorities to bring them on-line:
- Audio/Visual help files, describing certain aspects of speciation analysis (e.g. GC-ICP-MS or LC-ICP-MS coupling)
- Short summary reports about special topics in speciation analysis (hexavalent chromium in cement or coloured leather, methylmercury in fish, tributyltin in sediment, etc.)
- A database on analytical methods
- A database on analytical hints for trouble-shooting
- The development of the "Speciation Newsletter" to an open source journal
- Changing the discussion forum into a list server
Other activitiesEVISA was present at many conferences, trade shows and workshops with presentations, information booths or discussion fora. To name only the highlights of the year, EVISA Managing Director Michael Sperling chaired the discussion forum on open questions related to speciation analysis at the Winter Conference on Plasma Spectrochemistry in Tucson, Arizona, January 9-13, gave a PittCon Invited Lecture (Pittsburgh, PA, February 2-3) and an invited presentation at the 22nd National Environmental Monitoring Conference (NEMC) held August 28-31, Arlington, Virginia. Further presentations were given at the Mercury Workshop in Umea (Sweden, March 27-28) and the Nordic Plasma Conference (Loen, Norway, June 11-14), where scientist from all over the globe discussed the current great recognition of speciation analysis worldwide and the necessary steps to satisfy the continuously increasing demands. EVISA was also present with an information booth at the PittCon (Orlando, March 12-17) and the Analytica (Munich, April 24-28) and organized with great response a Lunch-briefing for industry representatives mainly located in Brussels (Belgium, February 14). Another highlight was the very successful Mercury Workshop in Umea (Sweden, March 27-28) that was highly rated by an overwhelming majority of the international participants. EVISA had initiated this workshop that finally turned out to be well suited to satisfy the demands from both the the group of industrial and academic participants. The Virtual Institute was also represented at all major conferences, symposia and workshops related to speciation analysis during the year by at least one of its active members.
Future activitiesTogether with the University of Muenster and the International Association of Environmental Analytical Chemistry (IAEAC), EVISA is organizing an international workshop on speciation analysis (TraceSpec 2007) that will be held September 4-7 in Muenster, Germany. This internationally recognized event aims to bring together the scientists from different fields working with the tools of speciation analysis. This is one of the very few meetings during the year focused on speciation analysis. Please note this event in your calendar as an "event not to miss".
EVISA: Your primary source of support for all questions related to speciationEVISA's aim is to provide the most efficient and competent
services towards its different user groups coming from industry, research, analytical services and education. This is only possible thanks to the combined expertise of its
consortium of members coming from Universities, research institutions, industry and service laboratories. Many thanks to all active partners that contributed to the services provided by EVISA. In order to further improve interaction with industry in Germany, EVISA is opening a German office in Muenster at the beginning of the new year.
With all the already established features and future developments we hope to answer the demands of our different user groups. In case that you could not get the information or service you looked for, please do not hesitate to contact EVISA via the contact form available at our homepage. We appreciate also any feedback enabling us to improve our services with respect to your demands.
We hope that you are convinced that EVISA is the primary information site for all those interested in speciation analysis, today and tomorrow.
Related EVISA News (newest first)
last time modified: March 8, 2024
