Plenary Speakers


 

Dr Gerald Ankley
Toxicologist
USEPA Office of Research and Development, USA

Plenary Presentation: The Changing Face of (Eco)toxicology in the 21st Century: New Solutions to Old Problems

Dr. Gerald (Gary) Ankley is a Toxicologist with the USEPA Office of Research and Development at the Mid-Continent Ecology Division in Duluth, Minnesota. He also is an Adjunct Professor at the University of Minnesota and University of Minnesota-Duluth. Dr. Ankley received his BS from the Department of Fisheries and Wildlife at Michigan State University, and MS and PhD degrees from the School of Forest Resources at the University of Georgia. He has worked at the Duluth USEPA lab for about 27 years in several areas, including the development of test methods for effluents and sediments, assessment of the effects of endocrine-disrupting chemicals on wildlife, and application of genomic and computational toxicology tools to ecological risk assessments. He has authored more than 300 research papers and book chapters on these and related topics, and has been formally recognized as one of the most highly cited scientists in the world in the environmental sciences, with an H-index of 62. Dr. Ankley consults for a number of national and international organizations involved in chemical regulation/risk assessment, including the World Health Organization and Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. He is an Associate Toxicology Editor for Environmental Science and Technology. Dr. Ankley has received more than 30 Science and Technology Achievement Awards for different publications based on recommendations by the Science Advisory Board, an external review panel to the EPA. In 2008 he received the prestigious Founders Award from the Society of Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry, in recognition of an outstanding career in the environmental sciences.

 


 

Dr Scott Belanger
Research Fellow
Environmental Stewardship & Sustainability
Global Product Stewardship
The Procter & Gamble Company, USA

Plenary Presentation: Beyond The Classical Deterministic Hazard Assessment: Role of Higher Tier Methods and Insights

Dr. Belanger is presently a Research Fellow in P&G’s corporate Global Product Stewardship safety organization where he has broad leadership responsibilities for environmental toxicology, science, and technology guidance from an environmental perspective. He holds degrees from the University of Wisconsin, Bowling Green State University and Virginia Tech. Prior to joining P&G Scott was an Assistant Professor in Environmental Toxicology at the University of Louisiana-Lafayette. At P&G, he has directed research at P&G’s Experimental Stream Facility evaluating the ecological impacts of P&G’s highest volume detergent chemicals. Later he assumed responsibility for P&G’s global environmental toxicology function including guidance for upstream technology development on environmental matters. Scott is a recognized authority in the responses of aquatic life to man-made and natural stressors and has authored over 100 published scientific articles, books and book chapters on these topics. He has served on numerous national and international panels providing advice to organizations such as the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the OECD, the European Commission, the Japanese Ministry of Environment, Trade and Industry, and Environment Canada. He is co-founder of both HESI (ILSI Health and Environmental Sciences Institute) Animal Alternatives in Environmental Risk Assessment Technical Committee and the SETAC Environmental Animal Alternatives Advisory Group. Presently in P&G’s Corporate Environmental Safety and Stewardship Organization he directs research on ecological and toxicological responses of fish, invertebrates and algae to consumer product chemicals and advises P&G broadly on the development of new technologies and issues relating to sustainable development.

 

 


 

Prof Emma Johnston
Professor
University of New South Wales, Australia

Plenary Presentation: Developing Bio-functional Monitoring Tools for Chemically Stressed Coastal Ecosystems

Emma Johnston is Professor of marine ecology and ecotoxicology at the University of New South Wales and Director of the Sydney Harbour Research Program for the Sydney Institute of Marine Science . Emma investigates human impacts in marine ecosystems and has conducted research from the tropics to the poles. Emma has forged an innovative research program that combines the tenets and approaches of ecology and ecotoxicology in order to investigate 'stress ecology'. By intertwining these largely disparate fields, Johnston and her group have identified new drivers of invasion success, indirect effects of environmental stress, the plasticity of environmental niche space and important stressor interactions.

Emma's research has extended to evolutionary ecotoxicology and the development of molecular bio-functional monitoring tools. Emma completed her doctorate at the University of Melbourne in 2002. In 2010 she was awarded an Australian Research Council Fellowship and in 2014 she was awarded the inaugural Nancy Millis Medal from the Australian Academy of Science. She has published more than 90 peer-reviewed papers and is Regional Editor for Conservation Biology. Emma is an expert advisor to both industry and government and Vice-President of Science and Technology Australia.

 


 

Professor Kenneth Leung
Professor
The University of Hong Kong

Plenary Presentation: Scientific Derivation of Environmental Quality Benchmarks for Protecting Aquatic Ecosystems: Challenges and Opportunities

Kenneth Leung is Professor of Aquatic Ecology and Toxicology at the Swire Institute of Marine Science and School of Biological Sciences, in the University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong. He obtained his PhD in marine ecotoxicology from University of Glasgow and received postdoctoral training in environmental risk assessment of chemical contaminants at University of London. So far, he has published over 145 peer-reviewed articles which are principally related to aquatic ecology, pollution, ecotoxicology and environmental risk assessment in both marine and freshwater ecosystems. During 2010–2012, he was the elected President of SETAC Asia Pacific Geographic Unit. At present, he is an editor-in-chief of the journal, Regional Studies in Marine Science (Elsevier) and a subject editor for Integrated Environmental Assessment and Management (SETAC/Wiley) and Environmental Science and Pollution Research (Springer). He also serves as an editorial board member for other journals like Marine Pollution Bulletin, Scientific Reports, Integrative Zoology, and Canadian Journal of Zoology. He is currently serving as an expert member in various advisory committees for the Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, such as the Advisory Council on Food and Environmental Hygiene, Board of Directors of Ocean Park Corporation, Endangered Species Advisory Committee and Red Tide/HAB Expert Advisory Group. He is also the Chairman of the Marine Parks Committee and Marine Mammal Conservation Working Group. Owing to his professional achievements and dedicated community services, he was selected as one of the “Ten Outstanding Young Persons” for Hong Kong by Junior Chamber International in 2010.

 


 

Dr Jenny Stauber
Chief Research Scientist
CSIRO Land and Water, Australia

Plenary Presentation: Contaminants in Aquatic Ecosystems: New Tools to Help Answer Old (and New) Questions

Dr Stauber is a Chief Research Scientist at the Centre for Environmental Contaminants Research, CSIRO Land and Water, in Sydney, Australia. She has 35 years’ research experience and over 300 scientific and technical papers in the fields of aquatic ecotoxicology and human toxicology. From 2008 to 2014 Dr Stauber was Deputy Chief of CSIRO Land and Water. In 2015 she was elected as a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering.

Jenny has chaired and served as expert ecotoxicologist on several World Health Organisation review boards, together with the NSW EPA Board and a large number of advisory panels to the Australian government on areas as diverse as contaminants, uranium mining, coal seam gas, hazardous waste, acid sulphate soils, chemicals risk assessment and water quality guidelines. She is a member of Australia’s Independent Expert Scientific Committee on Coal Seam Gas and Large Coal Mining Development and also chairs the Victorian EPA Science Advisory Panel overseeing the revision of water quality objectives.

 

 

 

 

 

   
   




 

Updates

Early Bird Registration has been extended to 31 July 2016.