Sub-Theme Leader: Dr. Chaosheng Zhang

Soils are non-renewable resources that provide services essential to our daily life including food production. However, soils are in danger of degradation such as erosion, loss of organic matter, salinisation, landslide, and contamination that have negative effects on human health. It was estimated that there are about 3 million potentially contaminated sites in Europe that remain to be investigated (EEA, 2010). The number in Ireland is around 1800-2300 (EPA, 2008).  Chemical and microbial contaminants in soils are not only transferred to human bodies via pathways of direct dermal contact and inhalation, but also through the food chain. A specific concern in Ireland in recent years has been land-spreading of agricultural and municipal biosolids on land, which has been the subject of a report from the Food Safety Authority of Ireland.   This practice has the potential when well managed to improve soil productivity but if poorly managed may lead to dissemination of biological and chemical contaminants. Food can also be contaminated via human input such as the recent melamine contamination of Irish pork and dioxin contamination of German chicken. The effects and processes of soil degradation and food quality on human health need to be better understood to provide scientific evidence for soil remediation and food quality control, as well as development and implementation of relevant environmental policies.

People

Dr. Mark Healy Civil Engineering Phone: (091) 495364; Email: mark.healy@nuigalway.ie ——— Dr. Mark G. Healy is a Chartered Engineer, a Fellow of Engineers Ireland, and is a lecturer (above the bar) in Civil Engineering at the National University of Ireland, Galway. Dr. Healy’s research work is primarily in the area of experimental environmental engineering and soil erosion. He has published 2 book chapters and 45 peer-reviewed, national and international journal papers. To date, with collaborators, he has successfully competed for research funding awards in excess of €3.4 million. Recent and on-going research projects on which Dr. Healy is PI include projects funded by EPA/COFORD, Teagasc , DAFF and IRCSET. His research interests include: surface and subsurface processes with a particular interest in erosion and surface runoff of nutrients, solids and metals, and leaching of nutrients through soil; greenhouse gas emissions; soil fertility; constructed wetlands; sand filtration; sequencing batch reactors; biosolids; composting; and the effects of forestry activities, such as clearfelling, on the environment (nutrient loss, use of buffer zones, greenhouse gas emissions to the atmosphere).

Dr. Conor O’Byrne Microbiology Phone: (091) 493957; Email: conor.obyrne@nuigalway.ie ——— Dr Conor O’Byrne is a lecturer in Microbiology in the School of Natural Sciences. He is director of the Bacterial Stress Response Group, whose research focuses on the molecular responses of bacterial food-borne pathogens to environmental stresses (eg. limited water activity, reduced temperatures, low pH). The group has attracted more than €5 M in research funding since its inception in 2000 and has published extensively on food-borne pathogens. Dr O’Byrne worked as a post-doctoral researcher with a multinational food company in the UK for 4 years and so has strong appreciation for the potential damage that food-borne pathogens can cause to a food business. Much of the group’s recent research has focussed on Listeria monocytogenes, with an emphasis on understanding the regulatory mechanisms that underpin the responses to food-related stress. Dr O’Byrne was elected onto the Prokaryotic Division of the Society for General Microbiology in 2010.

Dr. Chaosheng Zhang School of Geography and Archaeology Tel: (091) 49 2375; Email: chaosheng.zhang@nuigalway.ie ——— Dr. Chaosheng Zhang teaches Geographic Information System (GIS) and statistics courses at School of Geography and Archaeology of the University. Dr. Zhang’s academic background covers both GIS and environmental geochemistry. His research interest focuses on spatial analyses of environmental variables, especially heavy metals in soils and soil organic carbon, using GIS, geostatistics and other spatial statistical techniques. One of the current research directions of Dr. Zhang is spatial analyses of environment and health. Dr. Zhang has published more than 80 peer-reviewed papers.