In the coming days, Fondazione Edmund Mach (FEM) will host two international workshops featuring researchers from around the world. These events, focused on isotopic analysis and forest ecology, highlight ongoing research and collaborations in these fields.

From January 21 to 23, the San Michele all’Adige campus will be the venue for the FORESFA project workshop (Forensic Epidemiology and the Impact of Substandard and Falsified Antimicrobials on Public Health). Funded by the Wellcome Collaborative Award, the project will bring together researchers from Oxford, Edinburgh, London, and Vienna to explore forensic techniques for analyzing falsified medicines.
During the workshop, FEM laboratories will conduct isotopic ratio mass spectrometry (IRMS) analyses on drug samples produced in Huddersfield and Bangkok. Experts will integrate genomic, chemical, and isotopic data to identify trade routes and sources of these products, tackling a critical global challenge for public health.

Following this, on January 28-29, the international workshop for the MARGISTAR project will take place. This multidisciplinary project, involving FEM, Eurac, and the Free University of Bozen-Bolzano, is part of the European COST program. MARGISTAR aims to revitalize marginalized mountain areas, often marked by socio-economic disparities, weak territorial cohesion, and imbalanced use and conservation of ecosystem services. These areas, however, hold untapped natural resources that can be leveraged through innovative strategies promoting sustainability, responsible tourism, and the enhancement of natural assets.
The workshop will showcase the outcomes of the project’s working groups and outline practical development paths aligned with the European Green Deal. The event will address critical research questions, future challenges, and provide new tools, data, models, and successful practices.

In both workshops, FEM will play a central role, leveraging its scientific and technological expertise to tackle globally significant issues.