November 5-7, 2017 marked the first IIES Graduate Students Forum on Environmental Remediation, held at Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST). The forum was co-hosted by HKUST and Nanjing University and support was given from the IIES.
The forum was an opportunity to promote international exchange and discussions on the important issues of the application of environmental science in the field of environmental remediation. “We hope that we will take this opportunity to exchange views on current environmental issues with each other and to provide scientific strength and collective wisdom for the solution of global environmental problems.” Prof Cheng GU, Vice President of Nanjing’s School of Environment, remarked in his opening speech.
About 20 graduate students from a number of international universities presented their research at the forum with topics including, the chemical analysis of pollutants, identification of environmental genotoxicity and the application of new composite materials in environmental remediation. Nanjing University student, Meng-chen Yuan commented that, “the forum was a good platform for us to learn about the strengths of others. At the same time, we had the opportunity to communicate with excellent students and professors”. In addition to the research talks, a small-group session took place where participants discussed topics such as, science and technology writing, literature reading, teacher-student relations and other topics. This provided a more informal venue for the participants to share their current research and experiences on a more intimate level.
Kimber Munford (Trent University) was one of the five international students who were able to attend the forum, she remarked that, “the forum was an amazing opportunity to network with other graduate students and really understand what the student experience is like in other countries. Hearing about the current remediation research in China was extremely interesting and informative, and it was great to be able to discuss my own research in both a formal and informal context with the other students. I made tons of new connections and I very much hope I’ll get another opportunity to see the friends I made”.
Having participants from different areas of the world sharing their research, knowledge and experience offered insight and depth to the forum. The IIES hopes to offer similar forums in the future to continue to provide further discussion and sharing of information on other environmental science issues.