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Editors
chair of the International Union of Soil Sciences Commission for Soil
Degradation Control, Remediation and Reclamation (2002–2010), president
of the International Society on Trace Element Biogeochemistry (2005–2007),
and sitting member of the Victorian EPA Contaminated Sites Auditor panel.
In recognition of his contributions to agricultural and allied sciences, he was
awarded an honorary DSc by TNAU in December 2013 and the inaugural
Banksia CEO award during the same year for his outstanding contribution
to environmental sustainability research.
Volker Birke has around 25 years of experience
in organic and environmental chemistry, particularly in green chemistry, the destruction of
hazardous wastes, and toxic compounds in the
environment. He has experience in remediation
of contaminated sites, hazardous waste management, and especially groundwater remediation, with 12 years as coordinator of the
large-scale German R&D program “RUBIN”
for the application of permeable reactive barriers (PRBs) to groundwater pollution, 25 years in
the development and application of innovative
ex situ and in situ remediation technologies to
persistent organic pollutants (POPs), particularly mechanochemical dehalogenation (MCD) regarding ex situ treatment,
as well as innovative groundwater remediation technologies such as PRBs or
nano and microscale reactive particles for in situ treatment of polluted groundwater. Another focus covers environmental analytics, especially regarding
POPs such as polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) or dibenzodioxins (PCDD).
He has been senior scientist, project leader, and senior lecturer in
environmental chemistry and engineering at the Faculty of Civil and
Environmental Engineering at the Ostfalia University of Applied Sciences,
Campus Suderburg, Germany, since 2000. Since 2009, he has been commissioned to administer the professorship of chemistry at the faculty. He
teaches the management of contaminated sites, remediation technologies,
chemistry, physics, and mathematics for engineers and environmental scientists as well as occupational health and safety, with a focus on special
applications and requirements for working in areas contaminated by hazardous compounds and at polluted sites.
Dr. Birke has been involved in the management of about 50 remedial investigations, remedial designs, and clean up of polluted sites in Germany as well
as abroad (Europe, the United States, India, Australia). He earned a PhD in
organic chemistry at the University of Hanover. Dr. Birke has published about
50 papers focusing on innovative ex situ and in situ remediation technologies
such as mechanochemical dehalogenation and PRBs and is the main author
of one book on remediation of contaminated sites using PRBs in Germany.