Speakers

Vanessa Stadlbauer is an expert in Microbiome Research and serves as the Area Leader of the same name in the Centre of Biomarker Research. She is also an Associate Professor of Medicine at the Medical University of Graz and Consultant (Internal Medicine and Gastroenterology / Hepatology) at the University Hospital Graz. She has published numerous research papers to a wide range of audiences. 
In her role as Area Leader, she is responsible for managing research projects, overseeing the work of the team of researchers, and developing strategies to advance the field of microbiome research.

Christina Hartmann is nutritional scientist, eco-toxicologist and toxicologist. At the Environment Agency Austria (Umweltbundesamt) she is co-head of the expert team “Studies & Consulting” in the Unit Umweltbundesamt Laboratories, head of the Environment Specimen Bank of the Umweltbundesamt, and expert for pollutants in humans (Human Biomonitoring) and environment. She is responsible for conducting various studies with a focus on Human Biomonitoring.

Sebastian Köppel is a graduate engineer in the field of chemical and environmental engineering and head of the team “Inorganic Analysis, Spectroscopy & GMO” in the Unit Umweltbundesamt Laboratories at the Environment Agency Austria (Umweltbundesamt).  He has longtime experience in the field of sample preparation for microplastic analysis and FTIR micro spectroscopy.

Together with the team for microplastic analysis at the Environment Agency Austria he is responsible for the analytical part of several studies on microplastic in various complex sample matrices such as human and animal stool, human placenta, lymph nodes, sewage sludge and soil.

Ingeborg Kooter PhD ERT (F) is working at TNO, department of circular economy and environment as a senior scientist. She has a background in molecular sciences, obtained a PhD (1999) in biochemistry at University of Amsterdam and is a European registrated toxicologist. She has worked at Unilever Research Vlaardingen and the National Institute of Health and Environment (RIVM) in the Netherlands before she joined TNO in 2007. Since 2020 she has a part-time position at Maastricht University, group of Pharmacology and Toxicology. She has been leading and participating in national and (inter)national research projects in the field of health effects of environmental pollutants. She is particularly interested in the health effects of environmental issues such as air pollution, nanoparticles and microplastics. Working in the field of exposure and hazard assessment. Very interested to develop a way that allows us to judge whether the air we breathe is healthy.  

Luke Parker did his PhD at Cardiff University in the group of Prof. Graham Hutchings investigating the design of novel nanoalloy catalysts for hydrogen production through ammonia decomposition. He then moved to Utrecht University and the group of Prof. Bert Weckhuysen where he worked as a postdoc for 2.5 years. Here he focussed on catalyst characterisation using micro-spectroscopic methods with a special focus on confocal fluorescence microscopy and single molecule fluorescence. In August 2021 he moved to TNO where he investigates how we can better detect and characterise microplastics, where they come from, and how we can minimise their formation.

Dr. Elisabeth Pinter works as Project Manager at OFI (Austrian Research Institute for Chemistry and Technology) in the department of ‘Packaging, Recycling and Dangerous Goods’. She studied food and biotechnology and did her PhD thesis on the safety assessment of plastic food packaging with in vitro bioassays. Currently her research focus is on the safety assessment of plastic recyclates, recyclability assessment as well as microplastic analysis. There she coordinates and participates in (inter-)national research projects and company cooperation in the recycling sector, such as the projects ‘SafeCycle’, ‘Pack2theloop’ and ‘microplastic@food’. Moreover, she is involved in the assessment and expert opinion for food packaging in Austria.

Esperanza Huerta Lwanga got her PhD on soil ecology in Paris VI University - Pierre et Marie Curie in 2002. After this, she has worked on strategies to increase soil fertility. From 2015 her work is focused on microplastics in the terrestrial environment and how they impact soil biota, with a special empathis on looking for solutions.

Ricardo Beiras graduated in Biology by the University of Santiago and made his PhD on aquaculture in the Spanish Institute of Oceanography (I.E.O.) finished in 1992. Since them he worked as marine researcher in the Plymouth Marine Laboratory (PML, UK), in the IFREMER, Station d’Arcachon (France), in the University of Antwerpen (Belgium) and in the University of Vigo (Galicia, Spain) where he is Full Professor in ecology, teaching Marine Pollution from 1995. He has been the head of ECIMAT, the University of Vigo’s Marine Station, with a staff of ca. 20 people, for 10 years. He is an international expert in marine pollution (+140 papers in SCI journals). Supervisor of 11 finished PhD Thesis. Expert under contract for evaluation rounds of EU. Advisor of I.E.O. at ICES working groups. Editor of Frontiers in Marine Sciences. He has coordinated the JPI-Oceans Ephemare Project, a consortium of 16 Institutions from 10 countries targeting the ecotoxicological effects of microplastics on marine ecosystems, and currently coordinates Labplas, a H2020 European Project with 16 partners (including INL) from 8 countries, involving industry and targeting reduction of land-based emissions of plastic into the environment. He is the author of a Marine Pollution textbook edited by Elsevier in 2018.

Dr. Gouin received a PhD specializing in the field of environmental chemistry from Trent University, in Canada, through the Watersheds Ecosystems Graduate Programme in June 2006.  Following his graduate studies, Dr. Gouin, has obtained both experimental and modelling experience in assessing diverse chemical exposures including current use pesticides in Costa Rica and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in the Arctic regions of Alaska.  More recently, he was employed for eight years by Unilever, where he was involved in the development and application of tools aimed at both screening and prioritization of chemicals and higher-tier risk assessment methods.  He now provides consultancy work on a range of topics, where his current research interests include the development and application of risk assessment methods, such as for microplastic particles, as well as the development and application of models to better assess chemical exposures for both humans and the environment.

Kirsten Siebers obtained her master Nanomaterial Sciences from Utrecht University, focusing on polymerization catalysis. Currently, she works as a PhD candidate in the Inorganic Chemistry and Catalysis group at Utrecht University. She works on the development of micro-spectroscopic tools for the characterization of nanoplastic in environmental matrices with Florian Meirer and Bert Weckhuysen. Her PhD project is part of the NWO Groot Nanoplastics: Origin, Structure and Fate consortium.

Ira Wardani is an environmental scientist focusing on water quality modelling and health risk assessment, with a specialisation on probabilistic exposure modelling and physiologically based pharmacokinetic models. She is a member of the Microplastics Lab team at the Department of Aquatic Ecology and Water Quality Management at the Wageningen University & Research.

Dr. Tanja Hansen leads the working group “In-vitro Test Systems” at the Fraunhofer Institute for Toxicology and Experimental Medicine (ITEM) in Hannover, Germany. She has a background in veterinary medicine receiving her doctor’s degree in 1998 from the University of Veterinary Medicine in Hannover. She is a veterinary specialist in pharmacology and toxicology. Her work focuses on the development and validation of cellular in-vitro models with emphasis on airborne substances and uptake by inhalation.

Drea Berghorst has more than 25 years of experience in public affairs and communication, with a strong background in business and government. Before joining Plastics Europe Netherlands, she guided the association of Dutch energy producers and the association for public health in transforming their stakeholder management policies. She started her career as a policy advisor and spokesperson for Dutch government services, including the Ministry of Finance. In 2008 she transitioned to the industry, joining Dow Chemical in Terneuzen as public affairs and communication manager. For almost 10 years she coordinated Dow’s public and government affairs activities in the Netherlands, followed by an interim position in which she contributed to the transformation of AkzoNobel Specialty Chemicals to Nouryon in 2018. Drea graduated in public administration and obtained an executive master’s degree in Corporate Communications.