A UKIERI Workshop
List of participants
Prof. Madhumita Barooah
Assam Agricultural University
India Event Organiser:
Dr. Barooah's focusses to address a few long standing soil and water health issues arising from abiotic stresses such as low pH associated aluminium-iron phytotoxicity, micronutrient deficiency, heavy metal contamination etc. pertinent to agricultural soils and groundwater of the North East India. She is keen to understand the microbiomes, and the biological functions and processes through various omics approaches towards harnessing the power of microorganisms to mitigate these issues. Her research group has isolated arsenic-tolerant bacteria from contaminated groundwater of Assam and deciphered the mechanism of arsenic transformation. A metagenomics study reported the seasonal variation along with the impact of anthropogenic activities, water quality, bacterial community composition and dynamics in the Loktak Lake, the largest fresh water lake of NE India. She has a degree in Agricultural Biotechnology and a PhD in Biological Sciences from the University of Exeter, UK and has undergone Post Doctoral Training at the Penn State University, USA. University of Reading, UK.
Dr. Virginia Panizzo
University of Nottingham
UK Event organiser:
Ginnie is an Assistant Professor at the University of Nottingham where she was transitioned from a tenure track Anne McLaren Fellow after 2018. Ginnie is a freshwater ecologist and stable isotope geochemist whose work focuses on environmental change and biogeochemical cycling in aquatic ecosystems. In tandem with her research on algal proxies, she is interested in reconstructing the impact that humans and climate change have had on freshwater environments over the past 2000 years. ​Her particular academic focus in on regions of south east Asia. Since 2019 Ginnie has been a Co-I on a UKRI GCRF Hub "Living Deltas", working closely with collaborators and stakeholders in India, Bangladesh and Vietnam.
Professor Pankaj Barua
Assam Agricultural University
India mentor:
Professor Pankaj Barua, the former Director of the North Eastern Regional Institute of Water and Land Management- NERIWALM (Ministry of Jal Shakti, Govt. of India), is currently the Head at the Department of Agricultural Engineering, Assam Agricultural University, Assam, India. With postgraduate degree in Soil and Water Engineering from PAU (Punjab, India), and a Ph.D. from Tezpur University (Assam, India), Prof. Barua has more than 22 years of teaching and research experience and completed five Govt. of India funded projects in water sector. During his tenure at the NERIWALM, he was instrumental in formulating State Specific Action Plan in Water Sector for nineteen states in India under National Water Mission, concurrent evaluation of thirty Irrigation Projects and planning of two irrigation projects.
Prof. Sharad Jain
IIT
India mentor:
Prof. Sharad Jain is currently Visiting Professor at IIT Roorkee, India. He was the Director, National Institute of Hydrology, Roorkee, India, during 2017-20. He earned PhD in Water Resources Development from Univ. of Roorkee and has more than 39 years R&D experience. Prof. Jain has co-authored five books, 35 book-chapters, > 280 technical papers, organized >30 short-term courses, worked on >40 research and consultancy projects. His group developed a software for reservoir analysis and established an experimental catchment in Lesser Himalayas. He is a member of Editorial Boards of three technical journals and is associated with many technical and administrative committees. His name has been included in the global list of top 2% scientists in his field of work by Stanford University, USA.
Prof. Gary R. Fones
University of Portsmouth
UK mentor:
Prof. Gary R. Fones joined the University of Portsmouth in 2006 as a Senior Lecturer in Marine Biogeochemistry and was promoted in 2013 to Reader and in 2017 to Professor of Environmental Aquatic Chemistry. He has a background in oceanography (BSc and MSc) and environmental analytical chemistry (PhD). He a Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry, the Editor-in-Chief of the journal ‘Continental Shelf Research’ and a core member of the NERC Peer Review College. His main research interests are water and sediment quality monitoring using in-situ passive samplers (Chemcatcher) for trace metals, nutrients and polar organic contaminants. Other research interests include trace metal and nutrient sediment water interactions (including sediment resuspension), benthic fluxes, contaminant fluxes and transformations and benthic-pelagic coupling. He has worked on a number of NERC funded projects (Macronutrients and Shelf-Sea Biogeochemistry) and currently works closely with a number of UK water supply companies on integrating passive sampling monitoring into their coastal monitoring and river catchment management strategies.
Dr. Miller Alonso Camargo-Valero
University of Leeds
UK mentor:
Dr. Miller Alonso Camargo-Valero is a water@leeds Associate Professor of BioResource Systems at the School of Civil Engineering, University of Leeds. His career as an academic at the Universidad Nacional de Colombia (1997-2010) help him to develop a deep knowledge in water and wastewater engineering by undertaking both research and teaching activities and working there as an environmental engineering consultant in multi-disciplinary projects. His academic career in the UK (2011 - present), has been dedicated to the optimisation of the water, carbon, nitrogen and phosphorus cycles within processes aimed at dealing with waste streams through resource recovery routes. Dr Camargo-Valero has delivered over 14 workshops aimed at capacity-building at developing countries in water and sanitation. He is a Visiting Professor at the Department of Chemical Engineering, Universidad Nacional de Colombia, Manizales (Colombia) and has active research activities with partners in Colombia, Uganda, India, Malaysia, Ethiopia, Senegal, Nepal, Australia and Indonesia.
Dr. Surajit Chakraborty
University of Calcutta
Dr. Surajit Chakraborty is a Assistant Professor and Coordinator at the Department of Environment Management, Indian Institute of Social Welfare and Business Management, Kolkata, University of Calcutta. A hydro-geologist by profession, doing research in groundwater quality and quantity estimation, numerical and solute transport modelling. Dr. Chakraborty gain expertise on applying high resolution remote sensing data (Sentinel 2 and 3A) in various climate change modelling, pollutant retrieval on surface water and GIS mapping. His worked is based extensively on a finer-scale numerical groundwater flow models, contaminant transport models and geo-statistical models to understand arsenic contamination and its transport in the aquifers of West Bengal.
Topic of the Talk: Understanding the facets of arsenic migration by groundwater modelling and its implications
Dr. Pooja Devi
Academy of Scientific and Innovative Research (AcSIR)
Dr. Pooja is working as principal scientist at CSIR-Central Scientific Instruments Organisation. She has done her PhD in Engineering Sciences from Academy of Scientific and Industrial Research, New Delhi and M.Tech. in Nanotechnology from Indian Institute of Technology, Roorkee. As a material scientist, she is working in the domain of applied material science, with a focus on developing materials/methods for energy and environmental application. Her major research interest includes materials design for Hydrogen production, water/air pollutants degradation, and water pollutants monitoring.
She has shown an excellent publication track record and published around 75 research papers in high-impact journals, edited 07 books as lead editor, published 18 book chapters. She has also filed 03 patents, 02 design registration, 02 copyright/trademark and developed 04 technologies, 02 of which are transferred to the industries. She is also a recipient of several prestigious awards and fellowships including NASI Young Scientist Platinum Jubilee Award (2021), INAE Young Engineer Award (2020), SERB Women Excellence Award (2020), Young Associateship of Indian Academy of Science (2019-22), Haryana Yuva Vigyan Ratan Award (2019), Young Scientist Award (2019) from Indian Science Congress Association, Young Scientist Award (2019) from International Society for Energy, Environment and Sustainability, IUSSTF Water Advanced Research and Innovation (WARI) fellowship (2017), Canadian Commonwealth Fellowship (2010), etc. She is also young associate/member of major national academies of country including INAE, IASc, and NASI. She is currently serving as core committee member of Indian Young National Academy of Science (INYAS), INSA, New Delhi. She has also represented India at several international platforms including BRICS Young Scientist Conclave and Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) Young Scientist Conclave. Besides, her research activities, she is involved in various science outreach activities under CSIR-JIGYASA, VIGYAN JYOTI, INYAS programs for motivating school and college students including girls for science.
Topic of the Talk: Hybrid Materials for Photo-electrochemical Wastewater Splitting to Hydrogen.
Dr. Dipak A. Jadhav
Maharashtra Institute of Technology
Dr. Dipak A. Jadhav is working on scaling-up of microbial fuel cells for recovering energy from wastewater during treatment. Additionally, Dr. Dipak A. Jadhav has worked on bioelectric toilet system for improving sanitation practices and simultaneous electricity generation from waste.
Topic of the Talk: Improved sanitation through adopting bioelectric toilet system along with bioelectricity generation.
Dr. Priyanka Jamwal
ATREE
Dr. Priyanka Jamwal broadly works in the area of water resource management especially interested in understanding the fate and transport of contaminants in hydrological system. Dr. Priyanka Jamwal is also interested in developing low-cost decentralized wastewater treatment technology and understanding the role of communities and stakeholders in the adoption of such technologies.
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Topic of the Talk: Challenges in Regulating Water Pollution in India.
Dr. Rajiv Das Kangabam
KIIT-TBI Bhubaneswar
Dr. Rajiv Das Kangabam works as Manager-BIRAC Regional Techno Entrepreneurship promotion Centre and heads the BRTC activities in the East and North East region of India. Before this, he completed his National Post-Doctoral Fellow in the Department of Agricultural Biotechnology, Assam Agricultural University, Jorhat Assam. He did his Ph.D. from Bharathidasan University. He has eight years of research experience in Wetland studies. For his research work on Loktak lake, he was awarded various awards, including the Ramsar Research Grant and International travel award from Society of Wetland Scientists, USA, International travel award from IAGLR, recipient of outstanding young scholar award for attending the 10th INTECOL International wetlands conference, Environmentalist Award 2015 from the Government of Manipur. He also won the best poster award in the conference to Promote Safe and Secure Science in the Middle East, South and Southeast Asia organized by the Academy of Sciences Malaysia (ASM) and the United States National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (NASEM). He has made significant contributions to Loktak Lake. His main research interests are water quality monitoring, pesticide monitoring and environmental education. He is a task force member of IWRA water quality, IUCN World Commission on Protected Areas, and member of various scientific organizations.
Dr. Arun Kumar
IIT Delhi
Dr. Arun Kumar is working on Nanomaterials-soil-water interaction and application in context of water reuse using risk assessment.
Topic of the Talk: Emerging contaminant in Indian water: known and unknowns.
Dr. Eleanor Mackay
UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology
Dr. Eleanor Mackay (UKCEH) is a freshwater ecologist with an interest in the physical, chemical and biological functioning of lake ecosystems. This includes the impact of lake physical mixing processes on biogeochemical cycling and phytoplankton community composition and the impacts of long-term environmental change on lake environments. She also frequently works with local and national stakeholders on projects relating to the remediation and restoration of lake ecosystems. She use a range of approaches in her work, including field-sampling campaigns, laboratory experimental studies and statistical modelling using long-term monitoring and high-frequency sensor data, such as the UKCEH Cumbrian Lakes Monitoring Platform.
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Topic of the Talk: Drivers of change in phytoplankton communities.
Dr. Laura Richards
University of Manchester
Dr. Laura Richards is a Dame Kathleen Ollerenshaw Research Fellow in the Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences at the University of Manchester, with expertise and interest in groundwater quality and remediation, especially related to geogenic trace contaminants (particularly arsenic) in groundwater. Research interests also include emerging contaminants, geochemical tracers, human-environment interactions and hydrochemical dynamics in large river systems including the River Ganga. Her research builds upon her background in chemical/environmental engineering and environmental geochemistry, and is informed by international field programmes in South/Southeast Asia (e.g. India, Cambodia, Myanmar, Vietnam), South America (e.g. Chile, Bolivia) and Sub-Saharan Africa (e.g. Zambia, Rwanda). Dr. Richards has (co-)authored ~ 30 scientific publications and/or book chapters, with > 1000 citations, and delivered > 60 presentations/seminars. Dr. Richards is a Research Co-I on the NERC-DST Indo-UK Water Quality Programme project Future Secular Changes and Remediation of Groundwater Arsenic in the Ganga River Basin (FAR-GANGA; see www.farganga.org). Her research activities have been supported by the Leverhulme Trust (ECF2015-657), NERC (NE/J023833/1; NE/R003386/1 and DST/TM/INDO-UK/2K17/55(C) & 55(G), both to Polya et al), EPSRC (IS2016) and others (British Council, N8 Agrifood, GCRF, Royal Society). Dr. Richards' leads/coordinates partnership projects to support gender equality in STEM disciplines in Higher Education Institutes in India and Brazil, and has also (co-)organized workshops, capacity building events, public seminars and contributed to other outreach events in the UK, India and internationally. For more information: http://www.manchester.ac.uk/research/laura.richards/ or https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=j1v83fUAAAAJ&hl=en.
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Topic of the Talk: An Overview of Field-Based Groundwater Studies in Bihar, India: Geogenic Pollutants, Emerging Contaminants and Remediation Approaches.
Dr. Lucy Roberts
University of Nottingham
Dr. Lucy Roberts is a freshwater ecologist whose work focuses on the quantification of ecosystem degradation from human activity (e.g. pollution, land-use and climate change) using primarily geochemical proxies (trace metals, stable isotopes). Until 2021, Lucy was a Postdoctoral Research Associate on the UKRI GCRF Hub “Living Deltas”, based at the University of Nottingham. She is now based in the Lake Ecology Group at Aarhus University, Denmark.
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Topic of the Talk: Trace metal pollution of freshwater systems.
Dr. Jorge Salgado
University of Nottingham
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Jorge is a Postgraduate Research Assistant at the University of Nottingham. Jorge is a freshwater ecologist and paleolimnologist whose work focuses on contemporary and long-term environmental change in aquatic ecosystems. He is interested in reconstructing the impact that humans, invasive species, and climate change have had on freshwater environments over the last centuries. ​His particular academic focus is on regions of Tropical America and south east Asia. Since 2020 Jorge has been an ECR on a UKRI GCRF Hub "Living Deltas", working closely with collaborators and stakeholders in India, Bangladesh, and Vietnam.
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Topic of the Talk: Environmental change & invasive species in tropical river systems.
Dr. Sumit Sen
IIT Roorkee
Dr. Sumit Sen is working as an Associate Professor in the Department of Hydrology at IIT Roorkee. He is also the leading the Centre of Excellence in Disaster Mitigation and Management, IITR as the Head. His research interests are in experimental hydrology, watershed management, monitoring and modeling; rainfall-runoff modeling, specifically focusing on Himalayan Hydrology. His research group works in developing experimental watersheds to understand the hydrogeological, ecological and fluvial processes and their impacts on ecosystems.
Topic of the Talk: Spring water security in the Indian Himalayas - Science insights from pilot mountain observatories and integrated management approaches.
Dr. Rehana Shaik
IIIT Hyderabad
Dr Rehana Shaik works as Assistant Professor in Leading Hydroclimatic Research Group at IIIT Hyderabad, India.
She is interested in Hydrologic Impacts of Climate Change, Statistical Downscaling, Regional Hydrologic Modeling, River Water Quality Management, Reservoir Operation, Irrigation Planning and Management, Drought Assessment, and Climate Extremes Analysis.
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Topic of the Talk: Climate Change Impacts on Regional Water Resources Management.
Dr. Riddhi Singh
IIT Bombay
Dr. Riddhi Singh is working on rainfall unoff modelling, anthropogenic influences on hydrology, climate change, water resources management, decision making under uncertainties.
Topic of the Talk: Water resource systems in a changing world: challenges for modelling and decision making.
Dr. Evangelos Spyrakos
University of Stirling
Dr. Evangelos Spyrakos is an Associate Professor of Earth observation, Deputy Associate Dean for Internationalisation and Programme Director of Earth and Planetary observation MSc at the University of Stirling. He has more than 15 years’ experience and leadership in innovative and impactful research, primarily focused around Remote Sensing (RS), light propagation and light-matter interaction in natural aquatic systems in the context of environmental change, scientific/technological innovation and its integration into effective interventions and solutions.
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Topic of the Talk: Remote Sensing of water quality.
Dr. Debadatta Swain
IIT Bhubaneswar
Dr. Debadatta Swain is working on Satellite & Physical Oceanography.
Topic of the Talk: Effective utilization of remote sensing for monitoring coastal water quality.
Dr. Manaj Kumar Tiwari
IIT Kharagpur
Dr. Manaj Kumar Tiwari (Ph.D., Fulbright Fellow) is faculty of water and wastewater engineering at the School of Water Resources at IIT Kharagpur. Dr Tiwari holds expertise in smart water supply systems, water quality management, wastewater treatment and recycling and contaminant fate and transport. Dr. Tiwari His current research involves integrated urban water management, water loss and energy inter-relations, emerging contaminants removal, and real-time water quality sensing.
Topic of the Talk: Is IUWM the Only Way Out ?