Executive Committee

Asif Qureshi works on on understanding the occurrence and impacts of chemical pollution. Works have focused on the presence of organic chemicals and potentially toxic trace elements such as mercury, in the environment and/or humans. His research group employs a combination of experimental and theoretical modelling tools to achieve our study-specific goals.

AQ is an Associate Professor in Environmental Science, Department of Civil Engineering at the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Hyderabad. He has a B.Tech. in Civil Engineering from IIT Kanpur, M.A.Sc. in Environmental Engineering from the University of British Columbia, and a D.Sc. in Environmental Science from ETH Zürich. Prior to joining IIT Hyderabad he was a postdoctoral fellow at Harvard University.

Casper Labuschagne is a senior researching scientist at the South African Weather Service’s Global Atmosphere Watch (SAWS GAW) station at Cape Point. He studied at the Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University where he developed a keen interest for atmospheric related sciences. During his 25 year tenure at SAWS, he has been responsible for inter alia the establishment of the Cape Point Mercury monitoring programme, the success of which has resulted in its inclusion into the European Union’s FP7 project Global Mercury Observation System (GMOS). Casper’s author and co-author list consists of 126+ peer reviewed articles, book chapters, conference proceedings and article reviews. His scientific interests are wide ranged, focussing mainly on the fate and transport of environmentally significant pollutants (such as mercury) as well as a strong focus on greenhouse gasses. During the past 10 years alone, Casper has served on various scientific steering and advisory committees such as the South African Society for Atmospheric Sciences (5 years), the SOLAS / IMBER (Surface Ocean Lower Atmosphere Study / Integrated Marine Biogeochemistry and Ecosystem Research) group. In 2017 he was a member of the Scientific Advisory committee of the GGMT-2017 (19th WMO/IAEA Meeting on Carbon Dioxide, Other Greenhouse Gases and Related Measurement Techniques). In 2020 he was a member of the Scientific Steering Committee for the 2021 International Conference on Mercury as a Global Pollutant (ICMGP), to be held in Cape Town. Presently he is a member of the International Global Atmospheric Chemistry (IGAC) – Southern Hemisphere working group as well as a Scientific Steering Committee member of South African Mercury Observation Network (SAMNET). What drives him to get out of bed every morning? – A great passion for his work and the prospects of advancing atmospheric science every day.

Dr. Joy Leaner is currently Director of Air Quality Management in the Western Cape Government, South Africa. She completed her PhD in Environmental Geochemistry in 2001 at the University of Maryland, College Park USA. Her research focused on methylmercury and total mercury in water, sediment and aquatic organisms. Her research has ranged from understanding the sources, fate, transport and bioaccumulation of Hg in the environment, to that of developing strategies on Hg storage and handling in government institutions, as well as Hg emissions inventories, particularly for the Western Cape and South Africa. In 2006, she initiated the South African Mercury Assessment Programme, through which she coordinated and managed partnerships for Hg research in South Africa, as part of the multi-stakeholder initiative that involved Government, scientists (international and national) and industry. Through this Programme, Hg research in South Africa grew exponentially over the years, with research collaborations initiated with international organisations and academia in Europe and the USA. She has represented the research contribution made by South Africans in Hg research on the UNEP Global Mercury Partnership on Mercury Fate and Transport, and was part of the UNEP Research Advisory Group on Mercury who advised UNEP on mercury fate and transport in the environment. Further, she was an advisory member of the GESAMP/UNIDO Working Group 37 on the Expanded Review of Mercury and its Compounds and Threats to the Marine Environment. Aside from publishing in the field of Hg from both her doctoral research and further research work in South Africa, she has contributed to the UNEP report on global Hg emissions to the atmosphere in 2009. She has presented her work at various national and international conferences in the field. Currently, her interests have expanded to include policy development, air quality governance, monitoring, modelling and the impacts of air quality on human health and the environment.

Dr Lynwill Martin joined the SA Weather Service Cape Point Global Atmosphere Watch unit in November 2013. His research centres on long-term monitoring of greenhouse gases and atmospheric pollutants, including mercury. His work combines atmospheric models and measurements with the overarching goal of increasing fundamental understanding of the impacts of human activity and natural processes on the atmosphere.

Currently he is a Lead Scientist within the research department and the principal investigator for the SA Mercury Network (SAMNet) where he oversees all aspects of atmospheric mercury monitoring in SA. SAMNet forms part of the Global Observation System for Mercury (GOS4M) a GEO flagship program. He is a NRF Y-Rated researcher (2019- 2024) and also holds a position within the Department of Chemistry at the North West University as an Extraordinary Senior Lecturer. He serves on various international bodies where he is the African Focal point as well as Co-Chair for GOS4M, was chairperson for the 15th ICMGP held virtually in July 2022 and is South Africa’s expert for the Open Ended Scientific Group (OESG) for the Minamata Convention. He received the prestige’s GEO Individual Excellence Award in 2022 for his work on promoting mercury monitoring in SA and Africa through SAMNet.

Robert (Rob) Mason is a professor in the Department of Marine Sciences at the University of Connecticut (UConn). He has been working on mercury related research for 35 years since beginning his PhD at UConn in 1987. Rob arrived at UConn after working at the Sea Fisheries Research Institute in Cape Town for four years as a research scientist. He completed his MS degree at the University of Cape Town in 1983, and his BS at the University of Natal in 1977. After completing his PhD, Rob was a post-doc at MIT and a professor at the Chesapeake Biological Laboratory, part of the University of Maryland, for 11 years before returning to UConn in 2005. His mercury research is focused on the transport and fate of mercury species in the atmosphere and ocean, and the factors controlling the exchange of mercury at the air-sea interface, the transformations between inorganic and methylated mercury, as well as the bioaccumulation of methylmercury at the base of the aquatic food chain. He has worked on both the coastal and open ocean, as well as in freshwater environments. He has published more than 200 papers and book chapters related to his mercury studies and has graduated 15 PhD and 8 MS students during his academic career. These students have ben from many countries and predominantly women. He has done research in Africa and all over the globe and has collaborated internationally with other scientists. Rob was the recipient of the Kathryn Mahaffey Lifetime Achievement Award at the 2022 ICMGP that was held remotely. He was also a member of the executive committee for this meeting as well as the 2017 meeting in Providence.

Control Environmental Officer, Directorate: Air Quality Management, DEA&DP, Western Cape Government.

Sally holds a Master’s degree in Chemistry from the University of Cape Town. She started her career working on the mines in Mpumalanga and Gauteng, South Africa, holding various positions at the chrome mines to heading the Research and Development laboratory at Impala Platinum Refineries’ Nickel Copper Laboratory, and later, she joined Thermo AR Labs (PTY) Ltd as a consultant Chemist. Here, she was responsible for assisting laboratories to develop methods to determine low detection levels for analysing impurities in samples, such as Hg in drinking water.

After her stint in consulting, Sally joined the City of Cape Town’s Air Quality Monitoring laboratory, where she assisted with managing the air quality monitoring stations in the greater Cape Town. In 2013, she joined the Western Cape Government’s Department of Environmental Affairs and Development Planning (DEA&DP) in the Directorate Air Quality Management. Here, Sally and her team currently ensures that the actions of the Western Cape’s Air Quality Management Plan (AQMP) are implemented and tracked, whilst also working closely with Municipalities to ensure that their Municipal AQMPs are implemented. Accordingly, much of her involvement has been to assist with the successful roll-out of the Western Cape AQMP and the adoption and implementation of the Municipal AQMP’s in the Province.
In terms of her work in air quality, Sally is the recipient of the prestigious National Association for Clean Air Annual Award for her research work done on “Physical and Chemical Characteristics of Airborne Particulate Matter in Khayelitsha, Cape Town”. Apart from her academic credentials and duties, she loves working with people and aspire to always see the positive side of life!

Prof Vernon Somerset completed his doctoral degree in Electrochemical and Analytical Chemistry in 2007 from the University of the Western Cape (UWC, Bellville, South Africa). With more than 20 years of experience in Environmental Chemistry research, he has worked on various projects focussing on the sources, transport pathways and fate of inorganic and organic pollutants in the environment. In his research activities, he has further focussed on various aspects of improving the analytical techniques for the quantification of the different pollutants in environmental samples. This has been done by employing Electrochemical, Analytical, Separation and Spectroscopic methodologies for the detection and quantification of certain pollutants in environmental matrices.

Vernon Somerset is part of a very active regional research network, collaborating with regional Academic and Research Institutions and is involved in the supervision of postgraduate students, including the mentoring of young researchers.

Vernon Somerset has made more than 60 conference presentations (both oral and poster) since 2003, of his research output and that of his students and colleagues at various conferences, both national and international. This included opportunities as an invited speaker to the ANALITIKA 2010 International Conference (Stellenbosch, South Africa) and the SETAC Mercury Science and Policy Symposium 2013 (Prefectural University of Kumamoto, Kumamoto, Japan). A plenary lecture was delivered at the 6th International Symposium on Electrochemistry, organised by SACI from 3-6 April 2023 and held at the University of Johannesburg, Johannesburg, South Africa.

Furthermore, Vernon Somerset has also gained experience as a part of conference organising team for the 3rd International Conference on Electrochemistry (MAPET15), which was held at the University of the Western Cape, Bellville, South Africa, May 2015. The next opportunity was offered as a member of the Scientific Committee of the 7th SETAC Africa Conference and Horizon Scanning Project Workshop (Langebaan, South Africa, October 2015). Vernon Somerset was part of the executive committee that organised the first virtual ICMGP conference that was held from 25 – 29 July 2022.