News

Bingjie Shi has successfully defended her PhD thesis, titled "Tracing Redox cycles during Microbe Clay Interactions Using Stables Iron Isotopes". Bingjie completed her PhD with the Ecohydrology Research Group, at the University of Waterloo. The members of her examination committee were Dr. Eric Roden, Dr. Laura Hug, Dr. Philippe Van Cappellen, Dr. Paul Schroeder, and Dr. David Blowes.

The 34^th International Society of Limnology Congress (SIL) took place on August 19-24 in Nanjing China. The SIL congress is the major international meeting covering all aspects of inland waters. The theme for SIL 2018 was "Limnology, a Science for the Preservation and Restoration of Aquatic Ecosystems". Much of the program dealt with the pressures on, and management and restoration of, freshwater lakes and reservoirs. Philippe gave one of the 10 plenary lectures at the congress.

The Ecohydrology Research Group and Dajiang Environment Corporation are collaborating on strengthening the water quality management of the Eco-Hi-Tech Island in Nanjing, China (see Wednesday June 13 news item). Philippe and Shuhuan visited the joint Dajiang-Waterloo Research Centre in Nanjing on August 21-23 to discuss progress and plan upcoming activities, including the 3^rd International Summit on Water Environmental Management to be held in Nanjing in October.

Vice-President, Academic and Provost George Dixon announced the winners of the 2017 Outstanding Performance Awards, among them Philippe Van Cappellen.

A delegation of the Water Institute (WI) comprising Roy Brouwer, Neil Thomson and Philippe Van Cappellen visited São Paulo State on May 7-10, hosted by the Secretariat of the Environment of the São Paulo State government. The Secretariat integrates several agencies and institutes within the Environmental System of São Paulo (SAP), including the São Paulo State Environmental Agency (CETESB), the Forestry Foundation and the Geological Institute. The visit was facilitated by the Canadian Consulate in São Paulo, in particular thanks to the efforts of Mr. Patrick Courcelles.

The Global Water Futures (GWF) Inception Meeting was hosted byWilfird Laurier Univeristy at the Balsillie School of international Affairs from January 22 to January 23. The meeting brought together core team leads and the primary investigators (PI's) of the GWF-funded projects from the 2017 Pillar 1 - 3 calls for the first time. The aim of the meeting was to allow attendees to gain a broad overview the GWF program, identify strategic needs and discuss opportunities for collaboration.

Philippe Van Cappellen joined a delegation of the Water Institute to China. The delegation held talks with researchers and officials from Wuhan University, China University of Geosciences, Southwest University, Chongqing University, China Research Academy of Environmental Sciences (CRAES) and Hohai University.