ENVIRONSUMMIT2024 | Environmental Science and Engineering Conference

Dr. Umberto Berardi

Toronto Metropolitan University, Canada

Title: Will update

Dr. Berardi is Canada Research Chair in Building Science, Full Professor, and Director of the BeTOP center at Toronto Metropolitan University in Toronto, Canada. His main research interests are related to the study of innovative solutions and new materials for improving performance within the built environment. Dr. Berardi has an extensive publication record, including 170 peer-reviewed journals, 150 international conference papers, and five books. His awards include (among others): the 10th Canada's Clean16 award and Clean50 winner (list category: R&D), 2021; the 2020 European Thermophysical Properties ECTP-NETZSCH AWARD; the Young Researcher Award by the AIGE in 2019; Early Research Career Excellence Award, Ryerson University, 2018; the Best Italian Engineer in North America award by the ISSNAF (Italian Scientists and Scholars in North America Foundation) in Washington in October 2016; among others.

Dr. Berardi has a body of funded research comprising over $2.5M in government and private-sector sponsored research. He has been awarded a CFI-JELF; NSERC Discovery Grant; Early Research Award from the MRI - Ontario; Building Excellence Research and Education Grants from the BC Housing - Homeowner Protection Office; OCE-VIP projects; Ryerson Research Fund for Tools and for Undergraduate Research Experience and several NSERC Engages.

Prof. Huu Hao Ngo

University of Technology, Australia

Title: Will update

Ngo, Huu Hao (Hao) is currently a Distinguished Professor of Environmental Engineering and being Deputy Director, Centre for Technology in Water and Wastewater, and Co-Director, Joint Research Centre for Environmental Green Bioprocess, School of Civil and Environmental Engineering, FEIT, University of Technology Sydney (UTS), Australia. He has been elected as Chairman, International Bioprocessing Association, Distinguished Fellow of International Bioprocessing Association, and Fellow of International Water Association. He is also a Founder and Executive Coordinator of a newly established Society namely “Australasia Practical Zero Emissions Society”. Hao’s expertise and practical experience include advanced biological wastewater/waste treatment technologies (e.g., membrane bioreactor, specific attached and/or suspended growth bioreactors, anaerobic digesters, wetland, and bio-sorption). His expertise spans green and sustainable bioprocessing technologies, biogas/biohydrogen production, greenhouse gas emission control/climate change mitigation, resource recovery, renewable resources, water management, environmental impact assessment and solid waste management. Hao is Clarivate Analytics, Web of Science Highly Cited Researcher since 2019 and currently published more than 700 publications including 16 books and 46 books chapters (citation number > 42,000, Google Scholar h-index = 99, April 2023).

He has been invited for giving numerous plenary/keynote talks, seminars, and lectures in numerous international conferences as well as the universities/research institutions. He has also been Honorary International Guest/ Chair professor, Visiting Research Fellow in France, China, India, Korea, Japan, Taiwan, Thailand, and Vietnam etc. while being Conference Chair, Section Chair, and Advisory/Organizing/Scientific committee member in several international conferences.

Hao has been appointed as Editor of Bioresource Technology, Elsevier; Editor of Chemical Engineering Journal; Associate Editor of Science of the Total Environment, Elsevier; Journal of Water Process Engineering, Elsevier, Associate Editor of Heliyon Journal, Elsevier etc. and being an editorial board member for numerous international journals.

Prof. André P.C. Faaij

Utrecht University, Netherlands

Title: Diving below zero GHG emissions: how the energy transition and industrial transformation can deliver on climate targets, circularity and sound economics

Prof. Dr. André P.C. Faaij: Director of Science, TNO Energy & Material Transition, The Netherlands largest energy research organization with some 900 co-workers. Combined with a part time chair as Professor Energy System Analysis at Utrecht University and University of Groningen (RUG).

Ongoing research covers energy system integration questions, model development, transition processes towards low carbon energy systems and related innovation and policy questions.

Member of a variety of expert groups in energy policy bio-energy, research and strategic planning. Advisor for governments, international bodies, the energy sector & industry, strategic consultancy, NGO’s, etc.

Listed as ‘highly cited researcher’ by Clarivate Web of Science Group (previously Thomson Reuters); top 1% of research field. As IPCC member, awarded with the Nobel Peace Prize for the IPCC in 2007.

Awarded the Linneborn Prize; for outstanding contributions to the development of energy from biomass. Listed at Research.com at # 115 globally for Environmental Sciences and # 71 globally for Engineering en Technology. For the Netherlands #4 and #3 respectively (2022).

Prof. Raf Dewil

KU Leuven (University of Leuven), Belgium and University of Oxford, United Kingdom

Title: Exploring novel advanced catalytic techniques for the degradation of emerging pollutants in water

Raf Dewil is currently a full professor in the Department of Chemical Engineering of KU Leuven and also serves as visiting professor in the Engineering Science Department at the University of Oxford. His research interests focus primarily on resource recovery and the degradation of hazardous organic components from water and wastewater. In (waste) water treatment, he places particular emphasis on the application of photochemical and electrochemical advanced oxidation processes (AOPs), including the application of novel photo- and electrocatalytic materials.

Prof. Dewil has co-authored more than 200 papers in well-respected international journals (Web of Science Core Collection). His contributions to the field have garnered over 15,000 citations and his h-index is currently at 51, according to Google Scholar as of April 2023. He serves as Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Environmental Management and is a member of the editorial board for various other prestigious international journals such as Chemical Engineering Journal and Renewable Energy.

Prof. Jörg Rinklebe

University of Wuppertal, Germany

Title: Environmental Pollution: Prevention and control: A global challenge

Dr. Jörg Rinklebe is Professor for Soil- and Groundwater-Management at the University of Wuppertal, Germany. He has been selected as ISI Web of Science Highly Cited Researcher in 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022. Prof. Rinklebe is President of the International Society of Trace Element Biogeochemistry (ISTEB). His academic background covers environmental science, bioavailability of emerging contaminants, and remediation of contaminated soils. His main research is on soils, sediments, waters, plants, and their pollutions (trace elements and nutrients) and linked biogeochemical issues with a special focus in redox chemistry. He also has a certain expertise in soil microbiology. Prof. Rinklebe published plenty of scientific papers in leading international and national journals. According to SCOPUS data base (12.05.2023), he published 477 research papers, which have been cited 24,055.0 times with h-index = 80. Also, he published four books entitled "Trace Elements in Waterlogged Soils and Sediments” (2016), “Nickel in Soils and Plants” (2018), “Soil and Groundwater Remediation Technologies” (2020), “Vanadium in soils and plants” (2022), as well as numerous book chapters. He is serving as Editor in Chief for Environmental Pollution, and as Editor of the Journal of Hazardous Materials; Co-Editor in Chief of the international journal Critical Reviews in Environmental Science and Technology (CREST) and as guest editor of the international journals Environment International, Chemical Engineering Journal, Science of the Total Environment, Chemosphere, Journal of Environmental Management, Applied Geochemistry, and Environmental Geochemistry and Health. Also, he is member on several editorial boards (Ecotoxicology, Geoderma, Water, Air, & Soil Pollution, Archive of Agronomy and Soil Science). He is the chair of the first joint international conferences of Biogeochemistry of Trace Elements” (ICOBTE) and “International Conference on Heavy Metals in the Environment” (ICHMET), which will be organized at Wuppertal University in September 2023. He was an invited speaker (plenary and keynote) at many international conferences. In 2016 he got an appointment as Honorable Ambassador for Gangwon Province, South-Korea which was renewed in June-2018. Also, he got an appointment as Adjunct Professor at the University of Southern Queensland, Australia, Visiting Professor at the Sejong University, Seoul, South Korea and Guest Professor at the China Jiliang University, Hangzhou, Zhejiang, China.

Dr. Martin Kerner

SSC Strategic Science Consult GmbH, Germany

Title: Advanced concepts and technologies which follow the water, energy, and food nexus approach at buildings

Dr. habil. Martin Kerner: Founder and Managing Director of the SSC GmbH and Technical director of cellparc GmbH, Germany.

During his academic career, Dr. Kerner conducted basic environmental research in estuaries (ecosystem research). In 2002, he founded his own biotechnology company and became CEO. In this position, he promoted applied biotechnology research. In doing so, he managed and coordinated more than 50 national and international research and development projects involving both universities and industrial companies from various technical and economic fields. As a result of this interdisciplinary and cross-sector research work, new concepts and technologies were developed to make buildings more sustainable. Together with large-scale industry, these were tested and further developed for marketing. Ready technologies are now marketed by cellparc Ltd. founded by Dr. Kerner in 2019.

• Inventor of the bioenergy façade
• Developer of the BIQ The Algae House
• Winner of IBA- Excellence 2013 for Smart Material Houses

Prof. Om Parkash Dhankher

University of Massachusetts, Amherst, USA

Title: Strategies for Arsenic Phytoremediation and Limiting Arsenic Accumulation in Crops for Food Safety

Om Parkash Dhankher is a Professor at the Stockbridge School of Agriculture, University of Massachusetts Amherst. He received his Ph.D. from Durham University, United Kingdom, and the postdoctoral research training at the University of Georgia, Athens. His research focus is multidisciplinary, including developing climate-resilient crops, environmental remediation of toxic metals and reducing toxic metals uptake in food crops for food safety, metabolic engineering for biofuels production, and sustainable nanobiotechnology. He has published over 125 refereed papers, 5 edited books, and 6 international patents, and mentored numerous new generation scientists. He provides leadership at the international, national, and regional levels. He is active in the Crop Science Society of America, American Society of Agronomy, American Society of Plant Biologists, International Phytotechnology Society (IPS), etc. Om has been awarded many outstanding and notable awards including the Award of Excellence for outstanding Research, an elected vice president of the IPS, Fellow of the Crop Science Society of America, Fellow of the American Society of Agronomy, Fellow of the Indian Society of Plant Physiology, Fellow of the International Society of Environmental Botanists, etc. He is Co-Editor-in-Chief of Plant Physiology Reports, senior Associate Editor for the International Journal of Phytoremediation, an Associate Editor for Food & Energy Security, the Crop Science, The Plant Genome, the Plant Cell Reports and on the editorial board of several other scientific journals.

Prof. Chung-Kwang Chou

C-K. Chou Consulting, CA, USA

Title: Controversy in Electromagnetic Safety

CHUNG-KWANG CHOU received the B.S. degree from National Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan, in 1968, the M.S. degree from Washington University, St. Louis, MO, USA, in 1971, and the Ph.D. degree from the University of Washington, Seattle, WA, USA, in 1975, all in electrical engineering. After spending a year as a National Institutes of Health Post-Doctoral Fellow with the Department of Physiology and Biophysics, Regional Primate Research Center, University of Washington, he became a faculty member with the Department of Rehabilitation Medicine and the Center for Bioengineering, University of Washington, 1977 to 1985. From 1985 to 1998, he was a Research Scientist and the Director of the Department of Radiation Research with the City of Hope National Medical Center, Duarte, CA, USA. In 1998, he joined Motorola, and became the Director of the Corporate EME Research Laboratory. He was the Chief EME Scientist with Motorola and Motorola Solutions from 2001 to 2013, where he was responsible for radio frequency (RF) product safety. He retired from Motorola Solutions at the end of 2013, and is currently an Independent Consultant on EMF safety issues.

He was on the Board of Directors of the Bioelectromagnetics Society from 1981 to 1984 and an Associate Editor of the Journal of Bioelectromagnetics from 1987 to 2003, and served as the Chairman of the IEEE/EMBS Committee on Man and Radiation from 1996 to 1997, the Co-Chairman of the IEEE Scientific Coordinating Committee 28, Subcommittee 4 on RF Safety Standard from 1997 to 2005, the Vice Chairman of the Committee 89-5 of the National Council on Radiation Protection and Measurements (NCRP) from 1996 to 1999, and a Council Member of NCRP from 1998 to 2004. He is the Chairman of TC95 of the IEEE International Committee on Electromagnetic Safety, responsible for exposure standards from 0 to 300 GHz (2006- ), Distinguished Lecturer of IEEE Broadcast Technology Society (2016- ) and on the Advisory Panel of Non-Ionizing Radiation of the NCRP (2016-2022). Dr. Chou has authored over 214 peer-reviewed papers and book chapters, and presented 328 conference papers and abstracts, and 249 invited talks. He was a recipient of the First Special Award for the decade (1970-1979) from the International Microwave Power Institute, in 1981, the Outstanding Paper Award from the Journal of Microwave Power in 1985, the Curtis Carl Johnson Memorial Award from the Bioelectromagnetics Society in 1995, the IEEE Standards Medallion Award in 2005, and the Motorola's Global Standard Impact Award and the Highest Honor d'Arsonval Medal from the Bioelectromagnetics Society in 2006. In 2020, he received IEEE Standards Association Lifetime Achievement Award for continued energy, persistence, and dedication to inclusiveness of scientific thought through participation and leadership in the IEEE International Committee on Electromagnetic Safety (ICES) across almost five decades. In addition to IEEE Fellow (1989 and LF 2012), he was elected Fellow of the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering in 1996 and the Electromagnetic Academy in 2007.

Prof. Antoine Guisan

University of Lausanne, Switzerland

Title: Predicting the spatial distribution of species and biodiversity: a key tool in the Anthropocene

Antoine Guisan earned a PhD in plant biogeography from the University of Geneva in 1997, and is now professor and leading the spatial ecology group at the University of Lausanne, Switzerland (http://www.unil.ch/ecospat). His main focus is on spatial predictive modelling of plant and animal distributions. Besides the methodological interest in developing models and approaches, his group applies models to answer various pressing questions, such as understanding what drives species’ ranges, assessing the potential impact of climate change on species and communities, anticipating biological invasions and prioritizing biodiversity conservation.

His numerous papers and book in the field are well recognized and made him remaining a highly cited researcher since 2014. He published >300 papers in major journals, totalizing ~ 48’000 WoS citations (and 78’000 in G-scholar), with an h-index of 83 (and of 99 in G-scholar). He became the 2nd most cited researcher in ‘Ecology/Environment’ in 2015. He gave >150 talks in the last 20 years and contributed many additional ones. In the last 20 years, he supervised 25 Postdocs, 28 PhD students and >100 Master and Bachelor students. His lab also developed or contributed several important analytical and predictive tools in the field of spatial ecology.

Prof. Alice C. Hughes

The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong

Title: Will update soon

My work focuses on the interface between conservation ecology and conservation action, gaining recognition both within academia and in various governmental and intergovernmental bodies. I am currently Chair for the International Association for Ecology, previously chaired the Asian Section of the Association for Tropical Biology and Conservation, am Chief Editor for Climate change ecology, Deputy Secretary general for the NGO CBCGDF, and in various working groups for Chinese and Asia-Pacific conservation and research policy including CCICED and APBON. In addition, I sit on multiple boards and committees to facilitate the better translation of conservation science into policy and practice, and this has included advising various governments on various elements of policy, especially around wildlife trade. I am the author of over 178 peer-reviewed papers, as well as a book and various book chapters and governmental reports.

Some of my primary research on the distribution of species, drivers of loss, and the development of mechanisms to reduce biodiversity loss, reduce spillover risk through OneHealth approaches, and the development of frameworks to manage landscapes and species to enable a more sustainable future. This research has been of pivotal importance in understanding the origins of Covid, and will hopefully facilitate better policy to minimise fugure risks. I and my team utilise diverse data to enable the development of new approaches, then integrate this into policy and practice through my roles on various NGOs, IGOs and through UN meetings such as the CBD and CITES where our data has enabled the uplisting of various species for more effective conservation, such as the uplisting of Glassfrogs onto a CITES appendix in 2022. By providing a bridge between science and filling key data gaps we hope to enable a transition to a more sustainable, and biosecure future.

Plenary Speakers