What's New?
PANDA Report on current best diagnostic methods - Added: 13/06/2008
A published colour version of the PANDA project WP4 report on current best methods for rapid and accurate detection of the main diseases hazards in aquaculture is now available. To view the report, please click here. To download the report, right click on the link and click 'Save Target As…' It's a 4Mb .pdf file so it may take a while to open.
Alternatively, for a hard copy contact Olga Haenen directly at Olga.Haenen@wur.nl
PANDA final reports accepted by EC - Added: 14/02/2008
Cefas has now received the formal acceptance by the Commission (DG Research) of the PANDA final reports. The Final Activity Report, containing all the scientific deliverables, received the following praise from the Commission’s Scientific Officer for the PANDA project:
“PANDA has been a very successful project under your coordination. I would like to congratulate you and your partners for the enthusiasm, dedication and the achievements made. Certainly, the outputs of PANDA will be very relevant for policy makers and industry, Intense dissemination activities have been undertaken at European and international level in meetings and through the [PANDA] website. The envisaged free-access peer-reviewed electronic journal can be very valuable. The Commission encourages maximum use and dissemination of results emanating from EU supported projects”.
To see the reports and all the deliverables, click here. Links to all the deliverables are provided on the main report’s contents pages.
On behalf of the Steering Group (myself, Ellen Ariel and Isabelle Arzul/Franck Berthe), I would like to give sincere thanks to the other partners in the project consortium (Chris Rodgers, Edgar Brun, Olga Haenen, Panos Christofilogiannis and Maura Hiney) for their enormous contribution, and to all the volunteer members of the different task forces that contributed so much of their time to ensuring the delivery of the various Work Package outputs. It was a pleasure to work with you all. Thanks also to Alastair Cook who provided the scientific secretarial support throughout the project and was instrumental in getting the reports into the excellent final standard submitted to the Commission.
And finally, I am pleased to say that PANDA has not become extinct! The network continues to operate with the 358 experts now registered in the database. The forums are still active and are there to be used by all network members, collaborating scientific associations and partner organisations. Determined efforts are going into finding financial resources to ensure that PANDA can sustain its permanency (more news on this in due course). The aim is to continue providing a mechanism for the exchange of scientific information and opinion within the network and to provide analysis and advice to policy makers in the EU on aquatic animal health issues.
Barry Hill
PANDA Project Co-ordinator
Cefas
14 February 2008
PANDA is in Parliament again !! - Added: 26/10/2007
Another article about the PANDA project has been published in the influential Parliament Magazine (see posting of 16/03/2007 below for details) providing an update of progress to the end of the project. To view the article, published in issue 252 on 24 September 2007, click here.
PANDA Final Workshop report - Added: 26/10/2007
To see summaries of the presentations at the workshop and synopses of the discussion after each, click here.
PANDA Final Workshop - Added: 03/04/2007
The final workshop of the PANDA project was held at Cefas Weymouth Laboratory, UK, 20-21 March 2007, to review the progress made to date and to look at future options for maintaining the network after this FP6 project finishes. In addition to the project consortium of partners and several of their task force members, there were participants from the European Commission and the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA), as well as representatives of PANDA-associated organizations, namely:
• World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE)
• Food and Agricultural Organisation of the United Nations (FAO)
• Network of Aquaculture Centres in Asia Pacific (NACA)
• Network of Aquaculture Centres in Eastern Europe (NACEE)
• Federation of European Aquaculture Producers (FEAP)
• European Association of Fish Pathologists (EAFP)
• International Council for Exploration of the Sea (ICES)
• International Society for Aquatic Animal Epidemiology (ISAAE)
• EU Community Reference Laboratory for Fish Diseases
• EU Community Reference Laboratory for Mollusc Diseases
To view the programme, abstracts, individual Powerpoint presentations and the list of participants, click here.
A report of the meeting, including synopses of the discussions, will be posted on the PANDA website in the near future.
PANDA appears in Parliament - Added: 16/03/2007
A feature article on PANDA appears in the current edition of The Parliament Magazine. Published every 2 weeks, the Parliament Magazine reflects and reports on the work of the European Parliament, the European Commission, the Council as well as broader European issues, providing insight and analysis into European politics and policy.
'New look' PANDA website - Added: 18/01/2007
The PANDA website has undergone a significant revamp. New features include:
- new and improved graphic design
- new and improved forum facilties including email notifications of new posts, document uploads, and much, much more...
- improved security
- improved navigation techniques
- single login for the website
- email alerts to members of news and developments
Please visit the new forums and express your opinions and interest in the topics there to receive email updates as the discussions develop.