6th Annual IIES Science & Policy Workshop

Professor Horsfall began her career as a chemist at the University of Oxford before moving to Liège, Belgium, to study biochemistry; gaining her PhD in 2007. This was followed by postdoctoral research in the United Kingdom at the Universities of Leeds and Glasgow.

Horsfall believes that biotechnology has the potential to transform manufacturing by using waste as a feedstock, rather than it being an end product. Current research projects include the bioremediation of waste, water and land; employing techniques and tools provided by synthetic biology to increase the value of metals recovered. Collaborative research with industry is focused on improving both the expression and performance of enzymes to increase the energy efficiency and the sustainability of bioprocesses.

Professor Wu was a visiting Associate Professor of the Environmental Geochemistry Group, Department of Geology, McMaster University (Canada) in 1997-1999. He was the research scientist of the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science and Technology, Institute of Atmospheric-Hydrospheric Sciences, Nagoya University (Japan) in 1999-2001. And he was the Research Associate of Water Quality Centre, Trent University (Canada) in 2001-2004.

His primary research area concentrates on interdisciplinary research from environmental biogeochemistry and toxicology, perspective on the development of Biogeochemical Mechanism/Process, Sediment Pollution Control Technology and Engineering, and Water Quality Criteria for addressing challenging Biogeochemistry and toxicology disciplines, Lake Eutrophication and Pollution Prevention problems lying at the interface of the environment, technology and society, with applications in Environmental Quality Standards, Risk Management, Environmental Engineering, Policy Making and elsewhere.

Martina Vijver is a Professor of Ecotoxicology at Leiden University (The Netherlands). The crucial question she is working on is whether the large numbers of synthetic substances (chemicals and nanomaterials) produced nowadays represent insurmountable risks to ecosystems. Internationally, she is at the forefront of ecotoxicological research; her strong point is that she quantifies the effects of substances under environmentally relevant conditions. Overall, she aims to understand underlying ecological processes and develop integrative instruments, models, and concepts to quantify various stressors' impacts. Her webpage is: https://www.universiteitleiden.nl/en/staffmembers/martina-vijver#tab-2.

Professor Vijver is leading several work packages and scientists within EU Horizon2020 projects on nanosafety, developing chronic assays and developing safe-by-design energy storage and solar cells. She recently got an ERC-CoG granted on impacts of advanced materials on communities. Furthermore, she established the outdoor test facility Living Lab and is the director of the Researchers in Science for Equality.