IDAEA Scientific Report 2017-2018

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Who are we?
IDAEA is proud of being a multidisciplinary research institute bringing together a wide range of expertise
in environmental science and organized under two broad Departments (Environmental Chemistry
and Geosciences).
Environmental
chemistry
department
The Environmental Chemistry Department focusses on the assessment of origin, transport and evolution
of natural and anthropogenic organic inputs to the environment, including the atmosphere, the
water column, soils, sediments and organisms. The groups operating within the department have a
world-class reputation for their research strength in the analysis, occurrence, fate and behaviour of
organic pollutants, the development of chemometric methods of data analysis, the bioavailability and
toxicity of emerging contaminants, and the interactions between organic pollutants and major biogeochemical
cycles. Multiple methodologies have been developed for the analysis of polar and non-polar,
volatile and non-volatile chemical compounds, based on different techniques such as gas and liquid
chromatography, capillary electrophoresis and mass spectrometry. Other relevant topics involve the
study of fossil molecular compounds as traces of climate change in the past and the toxicity of organic
pollutants in organisms such as fish, shellfish and human beings.
Geosciences
department
The Geosciences Department research interests focus on environmental issues related to air and
water. Our atmospheric work includes study of the sources, transport and evolution of natural and
anthropogenic inorganic compounds within the environment. The relevance of this research to human
society lies in its direct links to important global environmental issues such as urban air quality, the
abatement of industrial emissions, the transboundary movement of regional aerosol plumes, and the
interaction of aerosols and climate.
Our hydrogeological expertise embraces the exploration of groundwater resources and pollutants, urban
aquifer management, marine intrusion in coastal aquifers, and development of numerical models to
assess suitable hydrogeological conditions for safe long-term waste storage and subsurface energy
exploitation. Many aspects of our research involve applications in civil and mining engineering, and are
again directly relevant to key environmental challenges facing modern society. Our surface hydrology
approaches are multidisciplinary and include study of the role of vegetation on the hydrological cycle,
rainfall-runoff dynamics, runoff generation processes and erosion and sediment transport processes.
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