July 2008
Contents
1. News from the Board
2. RECETO Scholarship
3. Conferences and Symposia in Fields Relevant to RECETO
4. Upcoming Ph.D. Courses and Other Relevant Courses
5. Vacancies
6. News about RECETO Names
7. New Homepage for RECETO
RECETO has submitted a new proposal to the Danish Reseach Councils for 1/3 co-funding of Ph.D. scholarships. The proposal is entitled: "From Environmental Biogeochemistry to Cleantch - a RECETO integrated environmental research programme" and was submitted the 30th of May 2008. An answer from the research council can be expected december 2008! The proposal comprises three themes: 1 - Soil microorganisms affecting human life, 2 - Assessing environmental pollution with novel analytical methods and models, and 3 - Soil biogeochemistry and environmental quality. RECETO has applied for 20 1/3 stipends summing up to 11 mill. DKK.
The summer school for 2009 has been decided. The topic will be "Fate and effects of natural compounds in soil". The intensive part of the course will take place at Research Centre Flakkebjerg, Aarhus University. More information will be on the RECETO homepage soon.
RECETO Postdoctoral Positions
RECETO Ph.D.s can apply for postdoctoral positions of three to six months. The purpose of the postdoctoral programme is to strengthen collaborative research among the research groups within RECETO and to contribute to RECETO educational activities. The next application deadlines are September 1, 2008 and March 1, 2009. See www.receto.dk
RECETO Travel Grants
RECETO Ph.D. students can at any time apply for travel grants to support their participation in Ph.D. courses abroad. See www.receto.dk
RECETO M.Sc. Merit Scholarships for M.Sc.
A number of scholarships – each DKK 30,000 – have been established to ensure that the best M.Sc. thesis work in the RECETO framework culminates in a fully developed paper that is submitted to a scientific journal. Students who are working on topics in environmental chemistry, microbiology, and toxicology within one or more RECETO research groups can apply for the scholarship at any time. See www.receto.dk
Wenjing Fu Master student at Technical University of Denmark (DTU), Department of Environmental Engineering, Institute of Environment & Resources under supervision of Associated Professor Stefan Trapp, has recieved a RECETO Scholar stipend to the project Modelling the Bioconcentration Factor (BCF) of Ionic Chemicals.
EnviroSymp-2008 "Integrating Environmental Science in Decision Making" Symposium
Three research schools - GESS, COCGI, and RECETO - have arranged a symposium for their Ph.D. and M.Sc. students to take place on November 4-5 at Roskilde University.
Free for Ph.D. students at the organizing research schools and for Master students in Environmental Science. All others DKK 500,-
See www.envirosymp.dk for updates in development of the Symposium.
Conferences
September
Zaragoza EXPO 2008
EUROPEAN WATER RESEARCH DAY, 8 September 2008
In the framework of the Zaragoza International Expo 2008 "Water and Sustainable Development", the Directorate General for Research organises a one day event – the European Water Research Day - aimed at presenting past, on-going and future EU research activities in this field. The event will be opened by the European Commissioner for Science and Research Janez Potočnik, together with the Spanish Science and Innovation Minister Cristina Garmendia, the Member of European Parliament Philippe Busquin and high-level representatives of the Government of Aragón, the Zaragoza Water Tribune and the European Water Supply and Sanitation Technology Platform. The main findings and impacts of European water-related research activities will besummarised. Six keynote speakers will present the results of previous and ongoing research activities paving the way for the identification of knowledge gaps and future challenges for sustainable solutions.
RECETO / RACS Summer School 2008:
Risk Assessment of Contaminated Sites: From Source Zones to Water Resources
17 - 22 August 2008 |
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Risk Assessment of Contaminated Sites is a PhD summer school course that will be offered by DTU Environment (until recently known as Institute of Environment & Resources) and RECETO in August 2008. The main themes of the course are: |
- Characterization of fate and transport of priority pollutants at contaminated sites
- Pathways and exposure routes at contaminated sites
- Risk assessment of soil, groundwater and fresh water
- Water quality, legislation, and the EU Water Framework Directive
The course venue is Vejle Youth & Family Hostel in Vejle, Denmark. Course dates are Sunday August 17th - Friday August 22nd. The course merits 5 ECTS points.
Maximum number of participants is approx. 25. Course fee not fixed yet, but will be soon.
All information about the course will become available during the spring at the website www.racs.er.dtu.dk.
Interested persons can be put on a mailing list and receive notice every time the site is significantly updated.
Contact personat DTU Environment: Camilla M. Christiansen ().
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4th RECETOX Summer School of Environmental Chemistry and Ecotoxicology 7 - 13 July, 2008
The special attention of this Summer School will be focused on the field experimental methods in environmental chemistry, ecotoxicology, ecological risk assessment, environmental monitoring, the study of exchange processes between environmental compartments, sampling procedures, collection of data for environmental modelling, field study of ecological stressors. The basic goal of this Summer School is application integrated monitoring/modelling approach and conception to the case of POPs.
The Summer School will be organized in two groups:
A) Laboratory and field study on environmental chemistry and ecotoxicology of PTS
B) Sampling, analysis and monitoring of POPs - this part will be organized in the co-operation with the Secretariat of the Stockholm Convention.
Site - RECETOX Masaryk University, Brno, Czech Republic; Field observatory Košetice
Summer School will be organized together with the Secretariat of the Stockholm Convention, EMEP MSC East, Czech Hydrometerological Institute with co-operation with international scientific association such as the SETAC (Society for Environmental Toxicilogy and Chemistry), European Association for Chemical and Molecular Science EuCheMS, Division of Environmental Chemistry and the SECOTOX (Society for Ecotoxicology and Environmental Safety). The lectures will be hold by leading scientists in the field of POPs.
Flyer: Download
Research Centre RECETOX
Course in Reproductive and Developmental Toxicology, Charité Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Berlin, Germany, November 3-7, 2008
The objective of the course is to 1) Provide an overview of basic aspects of embryology, female and male reproductive systems and regulatory toxicology, 2) Discuss experimental evaluation of the reproductive systems and interpretation of possible results and present some of the OECD guidelines, 3) Give an overview of virtual and in vitro methods and teratological studies to evaluate developmental toxicity and 4) Provide the participants with practical demonstrations regarding some of the methods employed.
Registration deadline is September 5, 2008.
Contact person: Johanna Zilliacus, CASCADE Teaching Manager ()
Ph.D. course in Environmental Soil Chemistry October 2008, Department of Basic Sciences and Environment, LIFE
The objective of this course is to obtain detailed understanding of the biogeochemical processes taking place at the solid-solution interface with particular significance for pollutant fate in soils and sediments - and as basis for remediation technology. Topics covered comprise the mechanisms and quantification of sorption, redox, acid-base, complexation, hydrolysis, speciation, dissolution and precipitation proceses. Different computational strategies and software is trained. The course allows for the specific interests of the course participants which means that specific applications or studies can be integrated with the course (e.g. specific pollutant classes, specific processes or tecnology). The texts read in the course comprise text book chapters, papers and exerpts from reports. Selected parts of the study material is presented by the course participants and hands-on exercises are carried out in the class. The course concludes with a report or a commented poster.
The course is taught 2.10, 9.10, 16.10, 24.10, 28.10, 31.10 and 7.11, three hours per meeting.
Course registration to Hans Chr. B. Hansen () before 20th of September.
Ph.D. and Post Doc course in "Decomposition of forest plant litter leading to carbon sequestration in humus" April - May 2009, Department of Biology, Univ of Napoli, Napoli (Naples, Italy)
The course will give basic information about the process of litter decomposition from litter fall to the formation of recalcitrant compounds. The concept "Decomposition of plant litter" will be approached as a set of biogeochemical processes (microbial), including chemical changes in the litter as the decomposition proceeds and factors that influence the process.
The course, in all 5 weeks, encompasses c. 35 lecture hours and ca 25 h of exercises and will start on Monday April 20 with lectures until May 15
followed by an exam on May 22.
Course language will be English
Teachers; Björn Berg, Anna De Marco
For further information please contact Björn Berg on the mail address()
RAISEBIO/HIGRADE Summer School Chemicals in Soil: Interactions, Availability and Residue Formation, September 22-25, 2008, Leipzig
The second summer school aims at bringing together young and established scientists in the frame of an interdisciplinary course related to the fate of chemicals in soil. The lectures will cover a variety of aspects in this field including the properties of chemicals, their mobility and interactions with the matrix, transformation of compounds and the conditions influencing these processes. Detection and modelling of the related phenomena will also be considered.
Topics and speakers: Chemicals and water in environmental systems (E. Wild, K. Ritz, H.-J. Vogel), Biotic interactions (K. Smalla/H. Heuer, F. Widmer), Bioavailability (J.-J. Ortega, G. Paton, J. Sörensen), Compounds/biota and solid state matrix (G. Gleixner, R. Ford), Environmental reactive transport modelling (M. Sahimi, S. Trapp), Humic compounds and bioavailability (P. Nannipieri, E. Kothe, N.N.)
) www.ufz.de/summerschool2008
GESS-Courses
Written and oral presentation skills for environmental scientists
Week 42.
Contact Person: Valery Forbes ()
GIS Techniques in environmental science
Autumn semester (next time autumn 2008).
Contact Person: Esbern Holmes )
See the complete course listing at www.receto.dk
To have access to the course list in an RSS-feed, see link
Subscribe by adding the following address to your favourite feed reader or your personal Google page: http://www.receto.dk/Nyheder_courses.aspx?lg=rss
EnSTe-Course
Ph.D. course: "Old sins and new threaths in aquatic environments: utilization of advanced on-site methods in monitoring and risk assessment of organic contaminants"
August 31- September 4, 2008, Joensuu, Finland
During the course, key contaminants of the last few decades (e.g. persistent organic pollutants, endocrine disruptors and pharmaceuticals) are introduced including the most recent knowledge about their environmental concentrations and suspected effects. Also, administrative programs for monitoring the environmental concentrations of the older problem chemicals are introduced. Students will learn about the modern on-site methods developed for adding realism in monitoring and environmental risk assessment. These include in situ methods for evaluating toxicity and bioavailability on-site and utilization of passive samplers in evaluating environmental concentrations and bioavailability of the contaminants. Dead line for registration July 15.
More information: http://www.joensuu.fi/biologia/enste/
SENSE course
Ph.D. course: Integrated Assessment of Global Environmental Change: Causes and Responses, 9—16 November, 2008, The Netherlands
Many aspects of our planet are changing rapidly due to human activity. Over the last 50 years, humans have changed ecosystems faster and more extensively than in any other comparable period of time. All these changes, including climate change, land use change, pollution and biodiversity loss are strongly interrelated and cannot be seen in isolation. Because their impacts influence the entire planet, the combined changes are commonly recognized as global environmental change. Objectives of the course are to study and understand the causes of global change and possible responses and
to learn how to use scientific information in Integrated Assessments.
You can send your application to the SENSE Education Desk ( ) before 1 September 2008, including: Your Name, Name and address of research group, Status: PhD student/ postdoc/ other, If applicable: graduate school name, a short motivation letter and CV
More information: José Potting, Environmental Systems Analysis group, Wageningen University, Phone: +31 (0)317 482983 () http://www.sense.nl/courses/course/S340
RECETO Postdoctoral Positions
RECETO Ph.D.s can apply for postdoctoral positions of three to six months. The purpose of the postdoctoral program is to strengthen collaborative research among the research groups within RECETO and to contribute to RECETO educational activities. The next application deadline is September 1, 2008. See www.receto.dk
Jeanette Berg , M.Sc. Agro. has started as Ph.D. student at the University of Copenhagen, Faculty of Natural Science, Department of Ecology
Project title: Mechanisms behind the Expansion of the Soil Meta-resistome
Supervisors: Ole Nybroe, KU-LIFE-ECOL, Kristian Brandt, KU-NAT-ECOL, and Søren J. Sørensen, KU-NAT-Biology
New secretary, on June 1, 2008, Karina Knudsmark Jessing started as scientific secretary for the Cluster of Research Schools – Chemistry and Environment, which administers both RECETO and MIBS. She has taken over the work previously done by Christian Bukh.
For questions concerning RECETO, Karina can be reached at – by phone at +45 353 32695 (during July and August, on Wednesday and Thursday from 9-16) – by fax at +45 353 32398.
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The homepage for RECETO has been ported to the CMS system SiteCore. Having the homepage on SiteCore allows us to use RSS feed to provide you with easy access to the course catalogue, news, and activities.
Ph.D. students will be able to log in, correct their own data, and upload CVs and other documents. For instructions please contact receto.
To submit news, activities, or courses to the RECETO website and the newsletter, please send a mail to receto@life.ku.dk
Subscribe to RECETOs web news by adding the following address to your favourite feed reader or your personal Google page http://www.receto.dk/Nyheder.aspx?lg=rss
To join or resign from the RECETO general mailing list, visit the RECETO website at www.receto.dk > News > receto_newsletter_subscribe . Link
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