Society for Environmental Geochemistry and Health

SEGH Membership Secretary & Treasurer

I worked at the British Geological Survey from 1989 on the Geochemical Survey Programme in Wales; then I managed BGS Enquiries until retirement. I joined SEGH in 1990 and with my late husband, Malcolm, organised SEGH1994 conference at BGS, Keyworth and we were heavily involved in SEGH1997 along with Pat O’Connor at the Geological Survey of Ireland in Dublin. I have enjoyed many SEGH conferences since then especially Zambia in 2018.

Dr Munir Zia, elected SEGH Board Member from Pakistan for the second time is affiliated as R&D Coordinator with Fauji Fertilizer Company Pvt Ltd., Pakistan since 2001. Dr Zia has also worked at University of South Australia; University of Adelaide, Australia; USDA-ARS; and BGS-UoN Centre for Environmental Geochemistry in different roles since 2009. Dr Zia also holds FAO (UN) Chair for Asian Soil Partnership - Pillar 2 for Asia"

Associate Professor of Hydrogeochemistry and Environmental Geochemistry (2006-Present), at Dep. Earth Sciences, Sapienza University of Rome (Italy).

Environmental Advisor (Soil and Water Quality) for many international projects, I study the anthropogenic processes that have significantly influenced the geochemistry of water and soil quality in many regions. 

Potentially toxic element (PTE) contaminations are considered too hazardous because of toxicity, persistence, bioaccumulative behaviour and the risk they pose to human health. Many areas all over the world are data-poor and have poor accessibility. Share these results improved our knowledge of the occurrence of trace elements in soil and in drinking water in all area where water resources play a fundamental role—because of their scarcity—and where the climate is harsh. 

Try to examine the human health risk assessment for the PTEs in drinking water is a challenger even for the European country.

Michael Watts is Head of Inorganic Geochemistry at the British Geological Survey and is an Associate Professor with the University of Nottingham through the joint Centre for Environmental Geochemistry. His research interests on geochemistry and ‘health’ interactions employs analytical chemistry for research on pollution pathways via ‘natural’ or anthropogenic geochemical sources and mineral nutrient dynamics in soil-crop-human/animal systems. Increasingly the research is multidisciplinary with greater emphasis towards challenges and partnerships in developing countries. Michael is currently the President for SEGH.

https://www.bgs.ac.uk/staff/profiles/4583.html

 Dr. Chaosheng Zhang works at National University of Ireland, Galway. His research focuses on spatial analyses of environmental variables, especially metals and nutrients in soils and soil organic carbon, using GIS, geostatistics and other spatial statistical techniques, to identify hotspots and quantify spatial variation, providing scientific bases for environmental management and precision agriculture.

 I am an elemental ecologist with broad interests in examining fluxes of elements through biological systems, ranging from molecular up through biogeochemical scales. My work combines controlled experimentation with ecosystem-level observations to examine the effects of supplies of essential and trace elements (termed the ionome) on organismal physiology and life-history, and to see how these responses, in turn, control the cycling of these elements through the biosphere. I am primarily a limnologist interested in connections between water and the land who bridges organismal and ecosystem-level studies using mass balance approaches. I have worked across riverine, pond, lake, and wetland ecosystems and am currently synthesizing work from my first postdoctoral position studying the effects of climate induced changes in ice sheet melt, sediment generation and wind-transport/deposition on lake geochemistry and biological responses in SW Greenland. In my current position, I am studying chemical “Rules of Life,” determining the effects of environmental elemental supplies on the ecology and evolution of a diverse range of aquatic organisms. I have over a decade of experience in measuring nutrient chemistry in aquatic ecosystems and specialize in generating and analyzing multi-elemental data in organisms from microbes up to vertebrates.

Sanja Potgieter-Vermaak is a Senior Lecturer in Analytical Chemistry at Manchester Metropolitan University in Manchester, UK. She heads the environmental change research group in the Ecology and Environmental Research Centre at MMU. Her research focus is on the health effects of air pollution (using various in-vitro techniques) and she has expertise in the monitoring and chemical characterisation of airborne particles for different geochemical origins, as well as indoor environments. The emphasis is specifically on the inhalable size fraction (using novel techniques e.g. InSEM-Raman) and source apportionment of transition metals. Dr. Potgieter-Vermaak published 91 papers in prestigious journals for e.g. STOTEN, Atmospheric Environment and Environment International. She has been the lead researcher in air pollution monitoring and characterisation projects in Belgium and produced several reports on the findings.

Gillian is an Environmental Scientist working in the wider arena of impact assessment and sustainability, both locally in the UK, and internationally. She is a registered environmental auditor, as well as being a highly respected trainer. Gillian has run her own consultancy and training company for eighteen years, following thirty years work in the public and private sectors, as well as the education sector.

Dr. Akinade Shadrach OLATUNJI obtained a Bachelor of Science (Hons) from the University of Ilorin in Geology and Mineral Science in 1995, Master of Science in Mineral Exploration (Geochemistry Option) in 2000 and Doctor of Philosophy in Applied Geochemistry from the University of Ibadan in 2006.My research focuses on geochemical mapping of the distribution of elemental constituents of environmental and geologic media such as rocks, soils, sediments, road dusts, particulate matter and vegetation in Nigerian cities and urban centres. This has led to the generation of baseline geochemical maps for these several urban centres in Nigeria. The generated maps have become a veritable tool for planning and development of mitigation procedures where contaminations and pollutions have been identified. In addition, an assessment of the suitability of the urban soils and sediments for urban agricultural and gardening is ongoing Dr. Olatunji is a fellow of the Nigerian Association of Hydrogeologists (NAH), where he is serving as the 2nd Vice President, a fellow of the Nigerian Mining and Geosciences Society (NMGS), where he is a member of Council and the Society’s current General Secretary. He is a registered Geoscientist by the Council of Mining Engineers and Geoscientists. He is currently the General Assembly Chair of the International Medical Geologists Association, Nigeria (IMGA-Nigeria) and a Counselor in the Executive Committee of the International Medical Geology Association.