The University of Exeter’s Professor Karen Hudson-Edwards has been invited to be the European Association of Geochemistry (EAG) Distinguished Lecturer for 2019.

The Distinguished Lecture programme aims to introduce and motivate scientists and students located in under-represented regions to emerging research areas in geochemistry.

This entails Professor Hudson-Edwards giving lectures at Charles University in Prague, Czech Republic, and the Babes-Bolyai University in Cluj-Napoca, Romania, later this year.

Professor Hudson-Edwards said: “I am honoured and delighted to be named this year’s EAG Distinguished Lecturer.

“The EAG is a leading organisation promoting geochemistry throughout the world, through conferences, publications and outreach activities such as the Distinguished Lecturer programme. I’m looking forward to meeting geoscientists in Central and Eastern Europe to discuss my research and share my love of geochemistry and sustainable mining.”

Professor Hudson-Edwards is based in the Environment & Sustainability Institute and the Camborne School of Mines at the University of Exeter’s Penryn Campus in Cornwall.

She focuses her research on understanding the character and geochemical mobility of mine wastes and on designing management and remediation schemes to lessen their impacts on ecosystem and human health.

Over 25 years she has ranged from studying the aftermath of tailings dam failures to the geochemistry, mineralogy and microbiology of different types of mine wastes and the effectiveness of remediation and management schemes all over the world.

Currently she supervises a research group of eight post-docs and PhD students who are working on a variety of projects, including bioleaching of Ni-Cu-Co ores and the global implications of acid mine drainage.

Professor Kip Jeffrey, Head of the Camborne School of Mines, said: “I am thrilled that Karen has received this wonderful honour, it is richly deserved. Not only is Karen at the forefront of some of the most pioneering work into mining-related environmental geochemistry but she also has a relentless passion and enthusiasm for sharing her knowledge and expertise with the next generation of mining students.

“It is a wonderful opportunity for Karen to share that enthusiasm with students across Europe, and I am confident that it will have a hugely positive impact on those who experience her lectures.”