Field of expertise: Geomicrobiology, Environmental Microbiology, Biogeochemistry, and Microbial Biotechnology, with a focus on biomining, bioremediation, and deep subsurface microbial ecosystems.
Keywords: Geomicrobiology; Environmental Microbiology; Biogeochemistry; Bioinformatics; Biomining and Bioremediation.
Recent relevant publications / ongoing projects: Recent work includes publications on microbial consortia for mine water bioremediation, deep subsurface microbiology, and microbial colonization of extreme environments, together with ongoing projects on mine tailings revalorization (TailingR32Green), deep biosphere research, and microbial biotechnologies for environmental remediation.
Bioprocesses and Applied Microbiology
MINEVOLUTION: Mining landscapes as evolving novel ecosystems: biodiversity, functioning and resilient post-mining futures MINEVOLUTION will investigate mining-impacted soils and post-mining landscapes as novel ecosystems, rather than solely as degraded environments requiring restoration. Mining creates persistent changes in soil geochemistry, hydrology and habitat conditions that strongly select biological communities and can lead to new, self-organising ecosystems with distinctive biodiversity and functions. Across contrasting European mining regions, the project will investigate how microbial, plant and soil biodiversity assemble along gradients of mining disturbance and natural succession, identify the microbial–plant interactions and biogeochemical processes underpinning ecosystem functioning, and determine which environmental factors drive post-mining ecosystems towards alternative future trajectories. We are seeking international partners to build a multidisciplinary and transnational consortium, particularly researchers with expertise in microbial and plant ecology/biodiversity, soil ecology, ecosystem functioning and modelling, remote sensing, restoration ecology, and social sciences/environmental economics. Access to contrasting European post-mining sites would be particularly valuable.