On 4 November 2025, the WORM Project held its Final Event, “Field-Based Solutions for Managing Medical Waste“, at the Hanken School of Economics in Helsinki, Finland. This event was an opportunity to showcase WORM’s key results and celebrate its collective achievements.
Over three hours, participants explored WORM’s main findings: from trade-offs and causal loops of bio-based products in field hospitals to new standard operating procedures for Emergency Medical Teams and field hospitals. The event gathered researchers, practitioners, and policy experts to discuss innovative approaches for safe and sustainable medical waste management, featuring field-based technologies, stakeholder engagement strategies, and pathways for real-world implementation.
A rich and engaging agenda with high-level speakers
- “Two years of WORM – An overview of our goals, activities, results, and an introduction to our sister project” | presented by Gyöngyi Kovács, WORM Coordinator from the Hanken School of Economics.
- “Standard operating procedures for Emergency Medical Teams and field hospitals” | presented by Virva Tuomala (Hanken), Seng Kiong Kok and Duc Trinh Tran (RMIT Vietnam).
- “Causal loop diagrams of trade-offs in bio-based materials” | presented by Sarah Joseph (Kühne Logistics University) and Therese Marie Uppstrøm Pankratov (Innovasjon Norge)
We were also honoured to welcome our keynote speakers, Johan von Schreeb, Professor at Global Disaster Medicine (Karolinska Institutet) and CC, from Global WASH Advisor at International Medical Corps. Their insightful contributions brought valuable and complementary perspectives to the project’s results. We are very grateful for their participation and for travelling such distances to share their expertise with us.
Finally, we were pleased to welcome Mr. Giulio Pattanaro, WORM Project Officer, to the event. We are delighted that he considers the project a success, a recognition of the strong collaboration, dedication, and teamwork that have defined WORM over the past two years.
Clustering session with our sister project
The final event also provided an opportunity to introduce our sister project, Bio4HUMAN. Julien Lugwarha, from Climate Resilience Coordinator at People in Need in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), presented the project’s latest findings and shared insights from the community engagement and feasibility assessments he conducted in the DRC.
This clustering session was very enriching. It enabled us to highlight the impact of the two sister projects in real-world contexts, emphasising local perspectives and challenges, as well as the potential for sustainable impact.
Panel discussion
The event concluded with a panel discussion featuring representatives from Pamela Steele Associates, Solvoz, the Finnish Red Cross, and Euronovia. This interactive session provided a space to reflect on WORM’s major achievements through the lens of four different partners, showcasing the project’s multidisciplinary nature and the importance of collaborative expertise in achieving sustainable results.
We would like to warmly thank all participants for their presence, engagement, and insightful contributions throughout the event. If you want to learn more about the project, we encourage you to read our Final Brochure, a key milestone exploring the project’s key figures, policy briefs, and the highlighting our local awareness campaigns in Kenya and Vietnam.