Scientific Steering Committee

Ashu Dastoor is a Senior Research Scientist at Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC). She leads the development and application of mechanistic environmental models at ECCC, specializing in the physicochemical evolution of atmospheric mercury and aerosols on global to urban scales, including the Arctic. Constraining and explaining processes, mass balance, and spatiotemporal variability in observations of chemicals of concern to support decision-making are a focus of her research; she has coordinated multiple multi-model ensemble contributions to Global (United Nations Environment Programme) and Arctic (Arctic Monitoring and Assessment Programme) mercury assessments. Currently, she is leading an international initiative on integrated multi-model analysis of environmental mercury cycling to inform the Minamata Convention on Mercury and the Heavy Metals Protocol of the Convention on Long-range Transboundary Air Pollution.

A Distinguished Professor of Environmental Chemistry; holds a PhD Ibadan (1979) and extended postdoctoral work at the University of Waterloo, Ontario, Canada. He is an internationally acknowledged expert in Sustainability & Environmental management issues especially in developing countries. Over 25 years’ experience in international negotiations of global instruments for sustainable development including representing Nigeria as Technical Adviser on numerous delegations to global meetings on the environment including BRS, SAICM issues and all the negotiations for the Minamata Convention on Mercury. He has served as African Regional Expert/Adviser to the African Delegations to United Nations Environment Assembly (UNEA 4): Expert on Science Policy Interface in International Chemicals Governance. Served as Chair/Co-Chair/Lead for many United Nations (UNEP and UNIDO) international Expert Committees, ad-hoc negotiating groups, meetings etc

Formerly Centre Director and presently Chair, University of Lagos Centre for Environmental Human Resources Development.
Former Deputy Vice Chancellor (Academics & Research) at the University of Lagos;

Celia Chen is a Research Professor of Biology at Dartmouth College and is an aquatic ecologist working in the area of contaminants in aquatic food webs. Over the last 28 years, her research has focused on the bioaccumulation and fate of metals, and mercury, in particular, in aquatic ecosystems including lakes and ponds, reservoirs, streams and rivers, and estuaries. She also communicates and facilitates the application of the research findings to policy makers, stakeholder groups, and the public at the state, national, and international levels. She serves on committees and partnerships of the United Nations Environment Programme related to the Minamata Convention, co-Chaired the 2017 ICMGP in Providence RI, and has led multiple synthesis efforts to bring mercury science to policy.

Charles T. Driscoll is University Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Syracuse University, Syracuse, NY.

Driscoll’s scholarly work addresses the effects of disturbance on forest, freshwater and marine ecosystems, including air pollution (mercury, sulfur and nitrogen deposition), land-use, and climate change. Driscoll has testified at US Congressional and state legislative committee hearings, and provided briefings to government agencies, industry and stakeholder groups on environmental issues. He has served on local, national and international committees pertaining to environmental management and policy. He is a member of the National Academy of Engineering and a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.

Dr Walters began her career in 2007 when she was employed as a Researcher at the CSIR in the Water Ecosystems and Human Health Research Group. She obtained her MSc in Environmental Sciences from the University of the Western Cape (UWC) in 2010, and her PhD in Medical Biosciences in 2016.

Dr Walters is currently a Senior Researcher in the Smart Water Analytics and Solutions (SWA&S) research group within the Water Centre at the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR). Dr Walters has experience in the implementation and management of several multi-disciplinary research projects. Her current job purpose includes the implementation and management of several research projects, project management and the attraction of funding through the preparation of proposals and networking. Her project portfolio includes projects relating to water quality, wastewater quality, ecotoxicology and water reuse potential. In addition, she has experience in mentoring junior staff and interns, and also in the supervision of post graduate students. Dr Walters has developed a significant track record (as measured by a basket of publications (manuscripts and book chapters) and presentations). Dr Walters is actively involved in the scientific community. She is a reviewer of several scientific manuscripts, book chapters and student thesis. And is a SETAC and RCS member.

David Amouroux, is Research Director at the French CNRS appointed at the Institute of Analytical Sciences and Physical Chemistry for the Environment and Materials (IPREM, CNRS – University of Pau & Pays Adour) and he is head of the Environmental Chemistry and Microbiology Unit. He is an environmental and analytical chemist, specifically interested in the cycling and reactivity of mercury and other trace elements in the environment.

His main research lines focus on:

• Molecular and isotopic speciation: development of analytical and experimental methods to track biogeochemical and pollution pathways.
• Biogeochemical cycles: reactivity, bio-transformations and transfer of metals (Hg) and trace elements (Se) compounds at environmental interfaces.

He has authored and co-authored more than 200 articles in peer-reviewed scientific journals, 10 chapters in books, 40 invited conferences and 400 communications in conferences.

Eric Uram has been tracking mercury sources, impacts, and solutions since the 1980’s from his hometown of Madison. In that time, he has worked to address use, supply, disposal, and remediation from scientific, educational and regulatory perspectives including years of active participation in the development and implementation of the Minamata Convention. He has served on multiple scientific steering committees and played an active role in ICMGPs even before his hometown hosted the event in 2006. His work as an Administrative Specialist at the WI State Laboratory of Hygiene continues to support the National Atmospheric Deposition Program and their long-term work on monitoring wet deposition of mercury in precipitation across North America. His love of the outdoors and fishing has taken him on this path.

Guey-Rong Sheu is a Professor of Atmospheric Sciences at National Central University in Taiwan. His research focuses on atmospheric Hg cycling in East and Southeast Asia, and the links between climatological phenomena (such as ENSO) and atmospheric Hg concentrations. He started long-term monitoring of speciated atmospheric Hg at the Lulin Atmospheric Background Stations (LABS) in central Taiwan since 2006 to study the export of atmospheric Hg from East Asia. Since 2008, he assisted Taiwan’s Ministry of Environment (MOE) in establishing and operating a nation-wide wet Hg deposition monitoring network to collect weekly rainwater samples for Hg analysis. He started working with Taiwan MOE, USEPA and the National Atmospheric Deposition Program (NADP) to promote the collaboration in atmospheric Hg monitoring in the Asia-Pacific region since 2012, resulting in the establishment of the Asia Pacific Mercury Monitoring Network (APMMN) in 2016 that addresses significant data gaps in a region where atmospheric Hg emissions are the highest globally but available measurement data are limited.

PhD, CNRS Research Scientist
Institute of Environmental Geosciences, Université Grenoble Alpes, France.
Using both field observations and modelling tools, her research focuses on the sources and fate of toxic (e.g., mercury) and climate-active chemicals (e.g., greenhouse gases, aerosol precursors) in remote regions.

Dr. Jagannath Biswakarma is currently working as an environmental scientist in the School of Earth Sciences and the Cabot Institute for the Environment at the University of Bristol, UK. Jagannath also serves as an editor of the Geochemical News at the Geochemical Society, USA. Earlier, Jagannath worked at EAWAG (the Swiss Federal Institute of Aquatic Science and Technology) in Switzerland and at Hiyoshi Corporation in Japan. He has received a doctoral degree from ETH Zurich, Switzerland, M. Sc. in Environmental Sciences from the University of Zurich, and B. Tech. in Industrial Biotechnology from Bharath University.

Jagannath’s research interests lie in environmental biogeochemistry, water quality and treatment, and the intersection of science and policy. His primary research focuses on understanding the molecular scale processes occurring in waters, soils, and soil-water interfaces, significantly influencing water quality, natural resources, and agriculture. His doctoral research on iron cycling and bioavailability made headlines with the Forbes feature. He is recognized with the United Kingdom Global Talent by virtue of UK Research and Innovation (UKRI).

Dr Janet Munakamwe is a Visiting Senior Lecturer at Wits Mining Institute, with a particular research interest in artisanal small mining (ASM) popularly referred to as ‘zamazama’ in South Africa. She has conducted extensive research in abandoned mines located at the margins of the City of Johannesburg’s West Rand area. Her study pointed to the nexus between formal and informal mining in which the latter procures mercury for purifying the gold ore from the former. In the end, the gold mined parallel to each other, converge at the highest level of the value commodity chain. Given this relationship, the key recommendation was the need to establish strategic partnerships between the two to mitigate ecological crisis and the deleterious effects of mercury on people, environment and the entire planet. Janet is a Member of the Scientific Steering Committee – International Conference on Mercury as a Global Pollutant (ICMGP) since 2020. She has published and presented papers at various fora based on some of her work on Zamazama including a popular

Photo Blog: Artisanal Gold Mining in South Africa http://blogs.lse.ac.uk/africaatlse/2016/02/15/photo-blog-artisanal-gold-mining-in-south-africa/

Jean Remy Davee Guimaraes is a marine biologist that ended working mainly with tropical freshwater systems. After the BSc (1977) and MSc (1982) at Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, he worked 10 years at the Brazilian Nuclear Energy Commission in radio ecology and radiological environmental monitoring of the Angra nuclear power plant. In 1993 he started teaching and research at UFRJ where he is presently Full Professor and concentrated on studies on Hg and Hg methylation using radio tracers and radiochemical methods. He was a member or local coordinator of most international research projects on Hg in the Brazilian Amazon in the last 30 years, including the CARUSO project by UFRJ, UFPA and UQAM (Montreal, Canada) and collaborated in Hg research projects in French Guyana, Bolivia, Ecuador and Colombia. He is an active member of the MERCURED network, coordinated by IDAEA, Spain. He is author of 108 publications in Google Scholar with ~ 6900 citations, h index 46 and i10 105.

Principal Consultant and International Project Manager, International Centre for Sustainable Carbon (ICSC)

Lesley has worked for the ICSC for over 33 years, producing reports and guidance materials to promote clean energy, especially in emerging economies. She currently leads a $2million US State Department project with the aim of accelerating mercury reduction from the coal sectors in India and Indonesia.

Lesley currently leads the United Nations Environment Programme Coal Partnership, providing expert advice to the negotiations on the Minamata Convention on Mercury.

In 2013, Lesley hosted the ICMGP in Edinburgh, Scotland, and has attended almost all ICMGP events since the conference began. She runs the MEC (Mercury Emissions from Coal) workshop, now planning the 15th annual event (Jakarta, July 2023).

Ludovic has 20 years of experience in the development and implementation of technical cooperation projects in the areas of international waters and chemicals and waste with a strong focus on mercury pollution. Since 2007, he has been the co-lead of the UNEP Global Mercury Partnership area on Artisanal and Small-Scale Gold Mining (ASGM). In this capacity, Ludovic led the development and implementation of ASGM-related projects in over 30 countries, including the planetGOLD programme. Recently, his team initiated the development of innovative mercury projects to support the implementation of the Minamata Convention on trade and products.

Ludovic has been working for UNEP since 2015 where he manages the knowledge and risk unit as well as the Chemicals and Waste GEF portfolio.

María C. Diéguez is a principal researcher of the National Council for Technology and Science of Argentina (CONICET) and works at the National Research Institute for Biodiversity and Environmental Studies (INIBIOMA) in Bariloche (Patagonia). Her primary research field is aquatic ecology and her current research focuses in the linkages between the biochemical cycling of mercury and carbon in catchments impacted by active volcanoes in northwestern Patagonia. Ongoing studies are centered in the mobilization of Hg and C within catchments in relation with climate variables, and their incorporation at the basal level of freshwater food webs through processes involving heterotrophic, autotrophic and mixotrophic organisms. She coordinates national projects focused on the mercury cycle in Nahuel Huapi National Park, and is in charge of the Mercury Monitoring Station EMMA settled by the Global Mercury Observation System (GMOS).

Maria Couto is a Senior Environmental Advisor at Eskom’s Research Testing and Development (RT&D). Eskom is South Africa’s power utility supplying 95% of South Africa’s electricity, the majority of which is produced by 14 coal fired power stations. Ms Couto joined Eskom in 1992 in the Microbiology unit and lead various biotechnology research projects. In 2005 she joined the environmental research unit at RT&D where she was exposed to the environmental issues facing the energy industry. In 2010 she initiated a project to establish mercury levels in aquatic ecosystems the Waterberg region of the Limpopo province. This programme was expanded in 2019 to look at the value chain from point source emissions to ambient air mercury levels and ultimately to the impact on the environment through deposition and bioaccumulation.

The main target organ of methylmercury is the cerebral nerve system and its irreversible neuronal dysfunction remains one of the most serious problems.

I aim to elucidate the causal factor and the characteristics of the neuronal dysfunction caused by methylmercury through the comprehensive approach on the molecular level (gene, protein), the cellular level (cultivated cell), the individual level (experimental animal), and the human level (pathological tissue) and to apply the study results to diagnosis, prevention, and treatment.

Dr. Michael S. Bank works as a Senior Scientist at the Institute of Marine Research in Bergen, Norway. Michael also serves as an Adjunct Associate Professor of Contaminants & Complex Systems at University of Massachusetts Amherst in the USA. Michael’s research is highly interdisciplinary and has its theoretical basis in complex systems analyses, Bayesian mathematical modeling, complex systems, aquatic sciences, contaminants, environmental toxicology, and environmental governance. Michael is also an Associate Editor at the journal(s) Environmental Pollution and Chemosphere and serves on several pollution expert committees, and does advising on contaminants for several international and national environmental agencies.

Prof. Milena Horvat is the head of the Department of Environmental Sciences www.environment.si (since 1997) at the Jožef Stefan Institute and the dean of the Jožef Stefan International Postgraduate School – www.mps.si (since 2016). Her main expertise is in the field of mercury research, which is interdisciplinary and covers the fields of analytical chemistry, human health, polluted areas, the marine environment, and clean technologies and sensor development. She is the author and co-author of over 300 articles in SCI journals and 24 book chapters. She has organized several international conferences and workshops and has been the guest editor of 16 special issues of journals, including Environmental Health Perspectives, Environmental Research, Analytical and Bioanalytical Chemistry, Marine Chemistry …). She received the national Ambassador for Science Award in 2002, the national Zois Award for Research Excellence on 2014, and the international Life of Achievement Award at ICMGP in 2019. She has been a supervisor of 18 Doctoral Dissertations and several master’s and diploma theses.

Professor Nellia Mutemeri,is a Mineral Resources Governance Expert with a PhD in Geology. She is the Founder and Mining Practice Director of MutConsult, and Executive Director of Panua, a skills development social enterprise focusing TVET skills development for the minerals sector in Africa. She is an Associate Professor in the School of Mining Engineering, University of Witwatersrand, South Africa, and the Director of the Mineral Resources Governance Research Group. She is a scientific board member at the UNESCO International Geosciences Council Programme.

She has more than 30 years experience in the mining sector in Africa, Latin America and Asia, focusing in mining policy & governance, ASM formalisation, gender equality, and responsible supply chains.

Nellie sits on several boards and committees including the following:

• AfricaMaVal Advisory Board (Chairperson)
• Diamond Development Initiative programme of Resolve

The goal of Dr. Basu’s research is to take an ecosystem approach to community, occupational, and environmental health whereby evidence is collected, scrutinized, and compared from both humans and ecological organisms. The work has resulted in >250 peer-reviewed papers, and provided opportunities to over 100 trainees, including 8 visiting scientists, 16 postdoctoral fellows, and 13 PhD students. The research has been supported by more than 45 grants totaling over $40 million. Dr. Basu’s research is both inter-disciplinary (bridges environmental quality and human health, increasing involvement of social scientists) and inter-sectoral (most projects driven by stakeholder needs, notably government and communities), and increasingly he has assumed national and international leadership positions to bring together diverse teams to tackle grand challenges in the field (e.g., toxicity testing in the 21st century, mercury pollution, gold mining). Dr. Basu’s research is also situated at the interface of science and policy with notable involvements with the UN Minamata Convention, Canada’s Chemicals Management Plan, and the Lancet Commission on Pollution and Health.

Patricia Forbes is a Full Professor in Analytical Chemistry at the University of Pretoria in South Africa and holds the Rand Water Chemistry Research Chair. She leads the Environmental Monitoring and Sensing research group which focuses on the development of novel sampling and analytical methods for environmental pollutants, including polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, pesticides, mercury and emerging chemical pollutants. Approaches employed include passive and denuder-based sampling techniques; biomonitoring; chromatography and mass spectrometry; and quantum dot-based fluorescence sensing. Patricia is a Fellow of both the Royal Society of Chemistry and the South African Chemical Institute. She serves as editor and on the editorial board of a number of journals including Chemosphere and Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry.

Associate professor
Division of Environmental Science and Engineering, Pohang University of Science and Technology (POSTECH) in South Korea

Sae Yun Kwon is an associate professor at the Division of Environmental Science and Engineering, Pohang University of Science and Technology (POSTECH), South Korea. Her research focuses on the use of mercury stable isotopes to understand sources and biogeochemical processes of mercury in the natural environment. Previously, she has developed new methodological approaches of identifying mercury sources, which enter ecosystem food webs by exploring mercury isotope fractionation during bioaccumulation, internal distribution, and trophic transfer. Her current work applies these methodological approaches to identify sources in diverse natural environment, ranging from coastal ocean, forest, and polar regions.Recently, in collaboration with multiple mercury isotope scientists, she has contributed to a global mercury isotope database, used to evaluate the effectiveness of the Minamata Convention on Mercury

Prof. Shuxiao Wang is full professor at School of Environment, Tsinghua University and the Director of the State Environmental Protection Key Laboratory of Sources and Control of Air Pollution Complex in China. Her research interests include mercury emissions, transport, and control policies. She has published over 400 peer-reviewed journal papers, and been selected as Global Highly Cited Scientist since 2019. She has served as Scientific Committee Member of the ICMGP since 2017, Co-chair of Global Observation System for Mercury (GOS4M) since 2020, and Technical experts group on emissions of the Minamata Convention on Mercury since 2013.

Sofi’s research focuses on understanding the biogeochemical cycling of Hg in marine and terrestrial systems. She is, in particular, interested in the formation and demethylation pathways for dimethylmercury, the cycling of Hg in permafrost regions, and the availability of Hg along land-to-sea continuums. After she graduated from Umeå University (Sweden) in 2013, she did a 3 yr postdoc in Professor Robert P. Mason’s group at the University of Connecticut (USA). Since 2018, she has had a faculty position at the Department of Environmental Science at Stockholm University (Sweden) where she now leads a research group with two PhD-students and one researcher. Sofi participates in both national and international projects, including the H2020 funded project GMOS-Train (www.gmos-train.eu).

PhD., Professor: State Key Laboratory of Environmental Geochemistry, Institute of Geochemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Guiyang 550081, China
The director in general: Institute of Geochemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, , Guiyang 550081, China

My research focuses on mercury biogeochemical cycling in the environment and its health impacts, mercury stable isotope geochemistry and remediation of mercury contaminated lands, which provide the scientific base for China’s implementation of Minamata Convention. I was the Chair of the 9th International Conference on Mercury as a Global Pollutant, which was held in Guiyang in 2009. I have published more than 400 peer reviewed papers in international journals.