Environmental Science: Processes & Impacts blog

The 13th International Symposium on Biogeochemistry of Wetlands will take place on March 22-25 2021, at the Hilton Baton Rouge Capitol Center in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, USA.

Join us for this one-day meeting on the Environmental Chemistry of Water, Sediment, Soil and Air for PhD students, postdoctoral researchers, and early career scientists in industry.

You will have the opportunity to share your research in a supportive environment, network with fellow early career scientists, and hear about the career opportunities available to Environmental Chemists.

When and Where

11^th March 2020 09:30-17:30

The Royal Society of Chemistry, Burlington House, Piccadilly, London, W1J 0BA, United Kingdom

Abstract Submission

We invite you to present your latest research as either a platform presentation or as a poster.

A prize will be awarded for the best oral and poster presentation.

Please use the template provided to prepare your abstract and email it to Dr Tom Sizmur (t.sizmur@reading.ac.uk) by 9am on Monday 17^th February 2020

Registration

This event is FREE for RSC members who submit an abstract for a poster or oral presentation before 9am on Monday 17th February 2020 (a code will be provided that enables registration without charge).

Otherwise, registration is £25 for RSC members and £45 for non-members registering before the early bird deadline on Monday 17^th February 2020 (£35 for RSC members and £55 for non-members up to the standard registration deadline on Monday 2^nd March 2020).

Please register here

Keynote Speakers

Dr Laura Carter

Laura Carter is a University Academic Fellow in Soil Science at the University of Leeds. Laura’s research focuses on understanding the fate and uptake of emerging contaminants in the natural environment, with particular focus on soil-plant systems. Laura has recently been awarded a UKRI Future Leaders Fellowship (£1.2M) to investigate the risks of emerging contaminants in agricultural systems, following land application of sludges and wastewater (e.g. pharmaceuticals, microplastics).

Antony Poveda

Antony originally studied Neuroscience at the University of Manchester. This was followed, eventually, by a Masters in Science Communication from UWE. He has been part of the team running the online STEM engagement project I’m a Scientist since 2015. In that time Antony has supported hundreds of scientists in taking part, helping early career researchers engage school students across the country whilst developing their own communication skills.

It seems that everyday we open our newspapers there’s another story on air pollution. In the last few months I’ve seen reports that air pollution is damaging my brain, my eyesight and evenmaking me go bald. It’s not just traffic that’s to blame. I read that the solvents in my home printer are adding to the problem and that there are air pollution problems near airports, on the underground and in train stations.

This December Burlington House, home of the Royal Society of Chemistry, will once again host an air pollution conference that will explore the science behind these issues. It’s not all bad news. Looking beyond the newspaper headlines there’s some positive stories too.

Cities are investigating and introducing new measures to meet legal limits for air pollution and protect their citizens. The demonstrators who are taking to the streets and demanding urgent action to tackle our climate crisis are also demanding clean air.

In 2019 the UK Government launched its new Air Quality Strategy, embracing the science that says that air pollution stems from many sources and that we need to tackle them all. That includes traffic (of course) but also less obviously wood burning and agriculture. Increasing numbers of countries and cities are making long-term commitments to phasing out petrol and diesel cars but that will not end air pollution from transport as more and more evidence is emerging about the particle pollution that comes from tyre, brake and road wear.

Building on the success of this long-running annual event, the 2019 conference will present an update on a range of relevant topics. The presenters will include internationally recognised experts, and there will also be a range of contributed talks and posters, providing a broad and up-to-date survey of the measurement, regulatory and scientific issues affecting air quality.

The conference will again be held in collaboration with Defra’s Air Quality Expert Group (AQEG), with sessions based on the group’s recently-published reports, including those on non-exhaust particle emissions and assessing the effectiveness of interventions intended to improve air quality. Presentations will also be made on topics that AQEG are currently investigating, including developments in vehicle exhaust emissions and non-methane volatile organic compounds. There will also be a session devoted to recent advances in airborne particle measurements, linked to the European AEROMET project.

The conference takes place on 10th and 11th December and spaces are still available see: http://www.rsc.org/events/detail/41198/air-quality-responding-to-new-challenges to book your place.

Gary Fuller

Gary Fuller is an air pollution scientist at King’s College London. His book, The Invisible Killer is published by Melville House and explores the past, present and future of air pollution.

Meeting organised by the Environmental Chemistry Group of the Royal Society of Chemistry

15 October 2019, The Royal Society of Chemistry, Burlington House, Piccadilly, London, W1J 0BA, United Kingdom

Join us for #EnvChem2019: Advances in Environmental Chemistry.  #EnvChem2019 aims to provide a forum for early career and established researchers and environmental practitioners working in environmental chemistry and engineering to share their latest research findings.

The meeting will include presentations from keynote speakers coupled with the opportunity to share your research either as a platform or poster presentation
The themes of the meeting include:

• Environmental Processes and Chemical Fate;
• Environmental Analysis and Investigation;
• Emerging Contaminants;
• Toxicology and Risk Assessment;
• Environmental Management and Sustainability.

Abstract Submission
We invite you to present your latest research either as a platform or a poster presentation. Abstracts should be saved as a Microsoft Word document and should be no longer than one A4 page in portrait layout. A template is  provided on the event web-page and send the completed abstract to Prof Steve Leharne (S.A.Leharne@greenwich.ac.uk). Please indicate whether you intend to make an oral or poster presentation.

Registration
Registration is now open. Registration is £55 for RSC members and £65 for non-members. In addition for student members of the RSC registration is £30 and for non-member students £40.

Keynote Speakers
Dr Cecilia Macleod is currently Programme Leader in “Water, Wastewater and Environmental Engineering” at the University of Greenwich. Cecilia was formerly a director at the WYG Group. She is an environmental geochemist with over 25 years of experience in site investigation, risk assessment and remediation.

Dr Mike Rivett is currently a research fellow at the University of Strathclyde and founding director of GroundH2O plus Ltd. Mike was formerly senior lecturer at Birmingham University and spent nearly five years at the University of Waterloo in Canada. He has extensive experience in contaminant hydrogeology

We are delighted to announce that the Environmental Science: Processes & Impacts Editors’ Symposium will be taking place at MIT in Cambridge, MA, USA later this month. We warmly invite you to join us on 24^th June for this exciting Symposium, which will feature talks from several of Environmental Science: Processes & Impacts’ international Editorial Board members.

Symposium details

When: Monday 24^th June 2019, 1:00 PM

Where: 1-190 @ MIT, 33 Mass Ave, Cambridge, MA, USA

Speakers and talk titles:

Kris McNeill, ETH Zurich

The unexpectedly large role of photochemistry in the S cycle

 Helen Hsu-Kim, Duke University

Managing aquatic mercury pollution: Modern approaches for a legacy contaminant

 Ed Kolodziej, University of Washington

Impacts of vehicles and roads on urban water quality

If you’d like further information please contact us at espi-rsc@rsc.org.

We hope that you will be able to join us at this exciting session, and please do pass this information on to any colleagues that may be interested to attend.

The 6th European Conference on Environmental Applications of Advanced Oxidation Processes will take place in Portorož, Slovenia from 26th – 28th June 2019. The conference will bring together scientists, engineers and other environmental professionals to present their findings and discuss future trends and directions concerning various environmental applications of advanced oxidation processes (AOPs). The contributions will focus on the scientific and technological advances of AOPs for the remediation of water, air and soil contaminated with various recalcitrant compounds, either alone or in combination with other processes.

Registration is required for all participants and accompanying guests. Please complete and submit on-line the Registration Form  to the EAAOP-6 Secretariat. Use a separate form for each participant and accompanying guest. Register here. 

Early bird registration deadline: To take advantage of the reduced conference registration fees, register before or on 15 April 2019. Higher fees apply after 15 April 2019.

Plenary speakers 

Prof. Dr. Angelika Brückner

Prof. Dr. Kazunari Domen

Dr. Wolfgang Gernjak

Prof. Dr. Gianluca Li Puma

Keynote speakers

Dr. Isabel Oller Alberola

Dr Fernando Fresno

Prof. Dr. Josef Krýsa

Prof. Dr. Urška Lavrenčič Štangar

For more information about the conference, check out the event website here http://eaaop6.ki.si/ 

Pernilla Carlsson, NIVA, Norway; Dana W.Kolpin, USGS, USA; Bjarne W. Strobel, University of Copenhagen, Denmark; Edward T. Furlong, USGS, USA; Thomas Borch, Colorado State University, USA; Rai Kookana, CSIRO, Australia; Edward P. Kolodziej, Washington State University, USA; Elisabeth Lie, NIVA, Norway; Bert van Bavel, NIVA, Norway; Kevin Thomas, NIVA, Norway and University of Queensland, Australia.

The 6th International conference on Emerging Contaminants (EmCon 2018) was held in Oslo, Norway in June 2018. This topical conference on emerging contaminants (ECs) was highly successful with around 140 participants including scientists, management, regulators, students, and industry attending the conference. Twenty-seven countries were represented at the conference, covering all continents except Africa and Antarctica with participants contributing 33 platform and 57 poster presentations of high quality during the event.

This single-track conference (i.e. all sessions were plenary) was organized with themes covering all aspects of emerging contaminant research, such as the occurrence of microplastics in the Artic and the removal of ECs during water treatment. For example, at one of the three keynote addresses, Katrin Vorkamp (University of Aarhus) shared a success story on how collaboration within the Arctic region on polychlorinated naphthalene’s led to their addition to the Stockholm Convention list. Other researchers at the meeting also discussed the presence of new contaminants in the Arctic, such as microplastics and personal care products, demonstrating the global transport of contaminants as well as contribution from local settlements and the need to include the Arctic when screening for ECs.

Environmental microplastics is clearly a popular and hot topic globally that was reflected in the number of talks and posters presented on these contaminants. During the meeting, we learned about the latest ideas and work on standardization of methods for monitoring microplastics and research across international borders. Inger Lise Nerland Bråte (Norwegian Institute for Water Research; NIVA) presented research on how the monitoring of blue mussels (Mytilus edulis) for microplastics can be used for sampling and can provide a standard comparison between different localities where present. Another researcher (Rachel Hurley; NIVA) presented a new project where the impact and uptake of microplastics from the use of biosolids in agriculture was under the spotlight. A poster by Bettina Liebmann (Environment Agency Austria) presented research documenting for the first time the presence of microplastics in human stool samples. This research went on to receive global media coverage later in 2018.

A keynote by Edward Kolodziej (Washington State University) brought to the audience’s attention the issue of Urban Stormwater Mortality Syndrome in Coho Salmon in the Western USA. Edward and his team used high-resolution mass spectrometry to identify a number of contaminants found in tire wear leachates as potentially responsible for the deleterious effects observed in these salmon. This was followed by additional informative presentations on the most recent developments in non-target analysis, demonstrating optimism within the EmCon community that this approach will be a crucial tool for identifying ECs in future research. For example, Marja Lamoree (Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam) utilized a non-target approach as part of a high-throughput effects-directed analysis approach to identify endocrine disrupters in Dutch surface waters.

While on one hand, per- and poly-fluorinated alkylated substances (PFASs) may no longer be considered as «emerging» contaminants. There has been a resurgence in PFASs research as the number of known PFAS and replacement compounds have increased (currently approaching 5,000 different compounds).  At the same time, we better understand the true prevalence of environmental exposures to PFASs, and mounting evidence show an ever-increasing number of potential environmental and human health effects. Paul Leahy (Environment Protection Authority Victoria) presented on the issue from a management and regulator’s perspective and how national environmental management plans are developed and used for regulation and also highlighted the importance of QA/QC work for high quality research and effective management. There were many excellent presentations at EmCon2018 focusing on the relation between sources and compound patterns and how regulation impacts compound profiles found in environmental samples. This is clearly documenting that PFAS is of high interest for researchers and regulators alike.

The list of ECs is continually evolving with new contaminants on the horizon with others having been previously identified but gaining ever greater environmental interest. One such example are salmon lice pesticides, where Steven J. Brooks (NIVA) discussed the bioaccumulation of teflubenzuron and emamectin benzoate in blue mussels. Sarah Hale (Norwegian Geotechnical Institute) talked about REACH registered compounds that are emerging as hazardous ECs in drinking water. The persistence, bioaccumulative and toxic (PBT) perspective may not always be efficient enough on targeting hazardous compounds in water. Sarah showed how a mobility criteria in addition to the set PBT criteria may help for further regulation and prioritization of drinking water contaminants. Summer time equates to higher use of UV-filter compounds in certain countries. An Australian study by Elissa O’Malley (University of Queensland) reported the global occurrence of UV compounds in surface waters. As UV compounds are, in general, directly related to sunscreen usage. Elissa reported that weather and latitude can be used as predictors for UV-filter compounds in the environment.

How we monitor the complexity of exposures to ECs in urban environments was the focus of a keynote by Alistair Boxall. A range of novel tools were presented that allow for the comprehensive monitoring of a multitude of exposures in urban environments in the future. A complementary approach worthy of consideration when assessing the exposure of populations is wastewater-based epidemiology. The approach was highlighted by Erik Emke (KWR Water Research) who estimated the quantity of illicit drugs consumed by festival visitors through measuring the levels of drug specific biomarkers in wastewater.

It has been challenging to select the highlights from such an exciting week and the EmCon2018 organizing committee were very pleased with the wide range of presentations, the high level of international representation of delegates and high quality of the science presented. We are very thankful to all of our sponsors, and especially our main sponsor Wellington and Norwegian Research Council. The EmCon 2018 conference would not have been possible without their support. ESPI has also kindly sponsored EmCon 2018.

We are already looking forward to the next EmCon conference, which is planned for the 21^st-24^th June 2021 in Seattle, USA. Welcome!

EmCon 2018 participants gathered in the conference venue

The CEST biennial series was launched in 1989 and it has become one of the leading environmental events worldwide where experts, scientists, entrepreneurs and representatives of public administration & social initiatives present state-of-the-art research and address current and emerging environmental key issues. All the papers selected for either oral or poster presentation undergo a rigorous review process with the conference proceedings included in databases, such as, the Science Citation Index (ISI) and SRCosmos. Since 2015, all papers presented in CEST are submitted to cooperating journals for review and publication in special issues.

The conference is hosted by the University of the Aegean in Greece in collaboration with the Region of South Aegean (Greece), the University of Salerno (Italy) and the Imperial College London (UK). It is also supported by UNESCO’s World Water Assessment Programme. The main organiser is Global NEST (Network of Environmental Science and Technology). With members from over 60 countries, Global Nest is a multi-disciplinary, international scientific movement which focuses on innovative environmental issues. CEST2019 coincides with the celebration of the 30-year anniversary of the series.

CEST biennial series has become one of the worldwide leading environmental event gathering experts, scientists, entrepreneurs as well as representatives of public administration and social initiatives presenting state-of-the-art research and addressing emerging environmental issues. The previous event, CEST2017, was the most successful event since the series was initially launched in 1989, with 460 participants from 75 countries originating from 6 continents (Europe, Asia, Africa, North America, South America and Australia). The programme included 415 oral and 253 poster presentations from 25 unique research areas. Participants also benefited from the interaction with 15 distinguished scientists that were invited and delivered keynote and plenary talks.

All the papers that are selected for either oral or poster presentation undergo a review process. As a result of the improving quality of the papers in previous conferences, their proceedings have been included in databases, such as Science Citation Index (ISI) and SRCosmos. Since 2015, the papers that are presented in CEST, are submitted to cooperating journals for review and publication in special issues.

CEST2019, coincides with the celebration of the 30 years anniversary (1989-2019) of CEST series and we are aiming to make it a memorable event.

During CEST2019 you will have the opportunity to:

• present and discuss your research with scientists from around the world
• expand your network
• attend presentations covering all the latest trends and innovations in the field of environmental science and technology
• meet with our prestigious invited speakers (to be announced)
• enjoy the island of Rhodes, one of the most famous Greek touristic attractions!

WHO SHOULD ATTEND:
Policy and decision makers, Academics, Researchers, Thought leaders, Government officials, CEOs, VPs, Directors, GMs, Engineers and scientists, Entrepreneurs and business owners, Students.

CONFERENCE SPONSORSHIP:
Email: cest2019@aegean.gr  and tel: +30 210 6492452

CONFERENCE SECRETARIAT
Email: cest@gnest.org and tel: +30 210 6492451

VENUE
85100 Rhodes, Greece

REGISTRATION:
Early Bird Discount (Ends 5 June 2019): Pass for Scientific Committee Members (500€ per delegate), Standard Registration (550€ per delegate), Student Pass (350€ per delegate) and Corporate Pass (600€ per delegate)

Registration (From 6 June 2019): Pass for Scientific Committee Members (550€ per delegate), Standard Registration (600€ per delegate), Student Pass (400€ per delegate) and Corporate Pass (650€ per delegate)

On Site Registration (4-7 September 2019): Pass for Scientific Committee Members (600€ per delegate), Standard Registration (700€ per delegate), Student Pass (400€ per delegate) and Corporate Pass (750€ per delegate)

The deadline for paper submission is 8 May 2019. More info as well as registration and submission of papers are available at http://cest.gnest.org.

KEY THEMES

1 – WATER AND WASTEWATER TREATMENT AND REUSE
1.1 – Water treatment
1.2 – Wastewater treatment
1.3 – Advanced oxidation processes
1.4 – Water and wastewater reuse
1.5 – Desalination

2 – HYDROLOGY AND WATER RESOURCES
2.1 – Process understanding through innovative sensors and remote sensing
2.2 – Model hypothesis testing, diagnostics and causality
2.3 – River systems in diverse climates and environments
2.4 – Estimation and prediction under past and future conditions (climate, population, land use change)
2.5 – Prediction in ungauged basins and prediction under uncertainty
2.6 – Operational and impact-based forecasting and data assimilation
2.2 – Floods, droughts and water scarcity
2.8 – Water and climate services-challenges and user-tailored developments
2.9 – Water policy, management and society
2.10 – Water, Energy and/or Food Nexus
2.11 – Hydrological education and cooperative experiments (exchange programmes and virtual labs)

3 – WASTE MANAGEMENT
3.1 – Solid waste management
3.2 – Food waste
3.3 – Hazardous waste management
3.4 – Biowaste
3.5 – Microplastics in the marine environment
3.6 – Electric and electronic waste

4 – ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT AND POLICIES
4.1 – Spatial environmental planning
4.2 – Environmental impacts of tourism and Sustainable tourism development
4.3 – Climate change mitigation and adaptation
4.4 – Disaster risk reduction and management
4.5 – Marine environment and coastal management
4.6 – Water management in arid communities

5 – ENVIRONMENTAL POLLUTION
5.1 – Soil and groundwater contamination and remediation
5.2 – Environmental odour, monitoring and control
5.3 – Air pollution
5.4 – Emerging pollutants
5.5 – Heavy metals in the environment
5.6 – Efficient water resources management in Cr (VI) impacted water bodies

6 – ECOLOGY AND ECOSYSTEM MANAGEMENT
6.1 – Lakes, rivers, estuaries and ecosystem health
6.2 – Agroforestry, Forest and Agricultural Sustainability
6.3 – Wetlands Protection and Restoration

7 – ANALYSIS OF ENVIRONMENTAL SYSTEMS
7.1 – Environmental data analysis and modelling
7.2 – Energy technologies and sustainability
7.3 – Life cycle analysis (LCA)
7.4 – Atmospheric chemistry and physics

8 – ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH
8.1 – Biomonitoring
8.2 – Urban environment and health
8.3 – Pollution control and public health
8.4 – Drinking water safety
8.5 – Antibiotic resistance
8.6 – Environmental exposures and human health
8.7 – The Non-Ionizing radiation from Wireless technology: A 21 Century Revolution or a Global pollution and Health hazard

9 – INNOVATIVE ENVIRONMENTAL SOLUTIONS
9.1 – Green chemistry
9.2 – Circular economy and industrial symbiosis
9.3 – Nanomaterials in the environment: applications and effects
9.4 – Environmental Biotechnology and Bioenergy

Understanding and managing microbial biotransformation of environmental contaminants

TransCon2019 will take place this year from 28. April to 3. May, 2019 at the Congressi Stefano Franscini, Monte Verità, Ascona, Switzerland.

Environmental microbial communities are key in detoxifying the environment from chemical contaminants by degrading them to less active substances, but we still lack a sufficiently mechanistic understanding of microbial biotransformation that is essential to progress in different fields of application, including water treatment and chemical risk assessment. Recently, a number of analytical tools have become available that enable scientists to study microbial biotransformation of contaminants and causal links between specific microorganisms and contaminant removal at the level of complex environmental communities and which thus have revolutionized the field. We expect that TransCon2019 will act as a catalyst in contaminant biotransformation research by gathering the leading scientists in the field to take stake of the progress and consolidate our understanding of the principles underlying contaminant biotransformation in natural and engineered environments.

The conference will be structured along four key topics (click on the topic’s title for more details):

1. Frontiers in analytical and bioinformatics techniques to characterize contaminant biotransformation and microbial community characteristics
2. Linking contaminant biotransformation to influencing factors and microbial community characteristics
3. Adopting new knowledge for the design of next-generation biological water treatment systems
4. Implications for prediction and regulatory assessment of biotransformation

For further information about the event including a full list of confirmed speakers and how to register, please visit the conference website here: https://transcon2019.ch