FOOTWAYS for researchers

The creation of the FOOTWAYS start-up company is a direct follow-up of the success of the FOOTPRINT project which was funded by the European Commission as part of its 6th Framework Programme for Research and Development. The FOOTWAYS methodology relies on:

1. the detailed characterisation of agricultural locations where pesticides are used in terms of weather, soil hydrology, crop development, land cover and land use, resulting in "agro-environmental scenarios";
2. the modelling of the environmental fate of pesticides in these various agro-environmental scenarios using state-of-the-art models.

The several millions of model runs are undertaken on High Performance Computing infrastructures such as that we've put together at FOOTWAYS.

The three FOOTPRINT tools contain inherent limitations due to the fact that they had to be deployable in the whole of the European Union (e.g. simplifications in the description of pesticides sorption in soil, the need for an extrapolation phase). To address these shortcomings, FOOTWAYS has developed FOOTWAYS Pro, an online modelling platform which can be used by all pesticide stakeholders to undertake advanced pesticide risk assessments. The modelling is done in real time on the FOOTWAYS supercomputer and results are then fed back to the user in various forms.

The flexibility of FOOTWAYS Pro makes it particularly suited to research applications investigating the fate of pollutants in the environment. Access to FOOTWAYS Pro for researchers can be through an annual subscription or as part of collaborative programmes (see below).

We are looking at developing special relationships with research groups to:

1. stimulate research activities in fields that we feel are not well investigated
2. continue to improve the FOOTWAYS tools.

The fields which are currently of strong interest to us are:

• the adaptation of the FOOTWAYS methodology to other pollutants (nitrate, phosphorus, human pharmaceuticals, veterinary medicines, pathogens, biocides)
• the impact of exposure to multiple pesticides and contaminants on aquatic organisms
• the spatial and temporal integration at the catchment scale of edge-of-field time series.

FOOTWAYS is part of the small and medium enterprise category (SME) in research programmes of the European Commission. Given the importance given to the inclusion of SME in consortiums and the fact that the company was created by researchers, FOOTWAYS represents an ideal partner for researchers wishing to answer research calls. Collaboration between research institutes and FOOTWAYS can also provide access to specific lines of funding.

Our staff have contributed to over 40 refereed papers which appeared in international journals, either as lead author or co-author, and to over 100 conference papers. FOOTWAYS scientists are usually former researchers from leading research groups and some of them have coordinated large national and European projects. The scientific curriculum vitae of the FOOTWAYS founder can be found here : www.pfmodels.org/idubus.html.

For further information about FOOTWAYS and discussions of collaboration opportunities, please contact us at .