On Monday 11 July 2011, the fourth 'Measurement Science in Chemistry' International Summer School started in Poznań, Poland. In this edition, 43 students from thirteen countries participated from Bulgaria, Estonia, Finland, France, Latvia, Poland, Portugal, Serbia, Slovenia, Spain, Turkey, Uganda and Ukraine.
The 'Measurement Science in Chemistry' degree is a harmonised Master's degree offered by a consortium of nine universities located in seven different European countries. The degree was developed from a training programme initiated in 2001 by JRC-IRMM. The JRC-IRMM was instrumental in setting up the consortium, and it currently follows its activities in a mentoring capacity.
During the summer school, the students learn about quality in analytical chemistry in the context of ISO/IEC-17025 - not only the theory (traceability, uncertainty, statistics, validation, use of reference materials), but also in practice. In a role-playing game, the students create their own company to perform analysis and they compete amongst themselves! They learn and exercise how to interact with clients. For one day, they become an accreditation technical assessor when they visit a real laboratory (the Wodociągi Environmental Laboratory in Poznań). The students will also go out and take their own environmental samples at the Ecology Station of Jeziory.
More information can be found on www.msc-euromaster.eu.