Figure 5.

The diagram identifies the components required for the development of a grouping/ranking approach for NMs. Hexagon colours relate to PC ID (blue), Exposure (brown), Hazard (green), Cross-cutting issues, implementation into a RA framework (grey) and the final goal of the ITS (white). The diagram is intended to start on the left (NM) and finish on the right, but there is no strict order of passage between the hexagons to achieve the final goal. The research priorities are graded across the diagram, with hexagons to the left being of short term-priority (< 5 years) stretching to longer term and distant priorities on the right (> 15 years). It is important to note that contrary to similar representations in preceding chapters, the hexagons for grouping/ranking are not necessarily intrinsically linked, but contribute to overall progress towards grouping and/or ranking of NMs as well as modelling. This example is dominated by hazard, but in other scenarios the exposure or physicochemical priorities may be more dominant.