Program

Detailed schedules are now available for both days:

• Wednesday 24 March
• Thursday 25 March.

Download a PDF copy of the schedule.

View speaker profiles and topics.

Program at a glance*

Day 1, 24/3/2021, 9:00 AM – 5:00 PM: PFAS and COVID-19

• Sources, transport and fate of various PFAS in the atmosphere – Professor Ian Cousins, Department of Environmental Science, Stockholm University, Sweden (keynote presentation)

• Innovative technologies for the remediation of PFAS-contaminated water and soil – Laureate Professor Ravi Naidu, CRC CARE and Global Centre for Environmental Remediation, University of Newcastle, Australia

• Comparing human observational studies with clinical findings: the half-life of perfluorooctanoate (PFOA) – Dr Michael Dourson and Dr Bernard Gadagbui, Toxicology Excellence for Risk Assessment (TERA), USA

• PFAS in Minnesota, USA – 18 years of investigating the forever chemicals and what’s next – Ginny Yingling, Minnesota Department of Health, USA

• Adequate but with room for improvement: experts’ communication about PFAS risks – Dr Kate Hughes, Ecology Data Bank Services, NSW, Australia

• Gasification of biosolids – does it remove PFAS? – Johanna Johnson, Logan City Council, Queensland, Australia

• Ecotoxicology of PFAS – Dr Anithadevi Kenday Sivaram, Global Centre for Environmental Remediation, University of Newcastle, Australia

• PFOS sorption in soils and the prediction of associated sorption coefficients by machine learning – Dr Anthony Umeh, Global Centre for Environmental Remediation, University of Newcastle, Australia

• Airborne PFAS – where is the risk and do we have the tools to measure and manage it? – Dr Timothy Coggan, ADE Consulting Group, Melbourne, Australia

• PFAS in market vegetables – a survey of 53 vegetable samples from Sydney and Newcastle – Siyuan Liu, Global Centre for Environmental Remediation, University of Newcastle, Australia

• 5 ASLP – is this the right tool for characterising PFAS risk in-situ and in waste materials? – Andrew Mitchell, ADE Consulting Group, Melbourne, Australia

• Robots for ensuring human safety during disinfection and clean-up operations – Professor Satyandra K Gupta, University of Southern California, USA

• Surveillance of SARS-CoV-2 through wastewater – Professor Prosun Bhattacharya, KTH Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm, Sweden

• Live Q&A session

Day 2, 25/3/2021, 9:00 AM – 5:00 PM: Microplastics and pharmaceuticals

• Risk ‘evaluation’ of emerging contaminants – accounting for uncertainty, allowing for perceptions – Dr Paul Nathanail, GHD, UK (keynote presentation)

• A scientific strategy towards healthier people and planet – Dr Arlene Blum, University of California at Berkeley, USA (keynote presentation)

• Pharmaceutical contaminants in the aquatic environment – how we got here and key current issues – Professor Stuart Khan, Water Research Centre, School of Civil and Environmental Engineering, UNSW, Australia

• Understanding the major sources of microplastic pollution in Victorian inland waters helps to develop effective management strategies – Professor Vincent Pettigrove, RMIT University, Melbourne, Australia

• Managing and assessing risks of contaminants of emerging concern for the water industry – Jacqueline Frizenschaf, Water Research Australia

• Microplastics fate and transportation – Dr Cheng Fang, Global Centre for Environmental Remediation, University of Newcastle, Australia

• Fate of microplastics in three Australian wastewater treatment plants: the significance of primary screening – Dr Shima Ziajahromi, Griffith University, Queensland, Australia

• Print documents, or print microplastics? – Zhara Sobhani, Global Centre for Environmental Remediation, University of Newcastle, Australia

• Drinking water treatments and micro(nano)-plastics – Dr Gerardo Pulido-Reyes, Swiss Federal Institute of Aquatic Science & Technology (Eawag), Switzerland

• The impact of microplastics on filter-feeding megafauna – Professor Maria Cristina Fossi, University of Siena, Italy

• Advanced mineral-based solutions for removing pharmaceuticals from wastewater – a way forward to achieve global Sustainable Development Goals – Dr Arslan Ahmad, Sibelco, Belgium

• Live Q&A session

There will be a 30-minute lunch break from 12:00 PM – 12:30 PM and 15-minute breaks for morning and afternoon tea each day.