Welcome Message from the Chair of 16th IHSS Meeting
The 16th Meeting of International Humic Substances Society (IHSS) will be held in Hangzhou of the People’s Republic of China on September 9-14, 2012. Hangzhou city is the capital city of Zhejiang Province, and was settled as early as 4,700 years ago, thus giving birth to the auroral Liangzhu Civilization. As one of the seven ancient capitals and the key scenic tourism and historical culture cities in China, Hangzhou once was applauded as “the most splendid and luxurious city in the world” by Marco Polo, the Italian traveler in the 13th century. The beautiful city of Hangzhou is known as the paradise on the earth with numerous tourist spots within and nearby the city, and the city attracts millions of foreign and domestic tourists. Participants will surely enjoy and benefit from the beautiful natural sceneries and cultural spots of long history.
The objective of this conference is to provide a forum for the interactions and communication of scientists from the soil, coal, freshwater, and marine sciences to address the current state-of-the-art on humic substances (HS) and natural organic matter (NOM). It is hoped that the conference would lead to identification of gaps in knowledge and as such to provide future research directions and promote research on humic substances and natural organic matter. This is expected to lead to advance the frontiers of knowledge on the functions of humic substances and natural organic matter in changing environments and also to promote education in this extremely important and challenging area of science for years to come.
The main sessions of the conference are: 1) Formation, structure and characterization of HS and NOM; 2) HS/NOM and carbon sequestration; 3) HS/NOM and biogeochemical cycling of nutrients; 4) HS/NOM and the environmental processes of toxic elements and anthropogenic organics; 5) HA and water treatment; 6) HS/NOM, biodiversity and ecosystem health; 7) Application of HS; 8) Other. More than 15 worldwide acknowledged and/or leading scientists are invited to give lectures in above sessions. The accepted extended abstracts will be formally published in a hard cover book and a proceeding by a reputable publisher (e.g., Springer Verlag).
The organizers welcome scientists all over the world to participate in the conference. If you require further information, please feel free to contact us.
Dr. Jianming XU | 16th IHSS Conference Chairman
Professor and Director Institute of Soil and Water Resources and Environmental Science
Zhejiang University
Hangzhou 310029, China
Phone/Fax: 86-571- 88982069 / 88982069; e-mail: jmxu@zju.edu.cn