Prof. Kokyo Oh

Center for Environmental Science in Saitama, Japan

Prof. Dr. Kokyo Oh is a senior researcher in Center for Environmental Science in Saitama, Japan. He obtained Ph.D. degree (soil science) in 1995, and was honored as a research fellow by Japan Science and Technology Agency (STA) from 1997 to 1999. His research areas include soil science, environmental conservation, environmental chemistry and biology, and environmental agronomy. He has published more than 200 major academic papers, has presided over and participated in more than 100 scientific research fund projects, and has been invited to be the chairman of more than 20 international conferences.

Speech title "Phytoremediation Research for Contaminated Soils to Conserve Soil Resources, Produce Biomass and Achieve Sustainable Development"

Abstract-Soil is a limited natural resource that plays a vital role in global food production, climate control, biodiversity conservation, and the maintenance of ecosystem functions. In recent decades, however, soil contamination with heavy metals and organic chemicals has become increasingly evident and serious in countries around the world. It is estimated that more than 10 million contaminated sites of soils worldwide. There is a great need for effective utilization and remediation of these widely contaminated soils for soil resource conservation and sustainable development.
Currently, measures for treatment of contaminated soils are mainly physical and chemical methods, such as excavation, curing, heating, melting, etc., which usually entail huge costs and loss of soil resources due to disruption of soil functions.
In recent years, phytoremediation, a plant-based remediation technology, has been receiving increasing attention worldwide as an emerging green alternative to remediate contaminated soils using the natural properties of plants and rhizosphere microorganisms. Especially recently, it is not only a green technology for remediation of contaminated soils, but also one of the effective technologies for soil resource management, high value-added biomass production, biodiversity conservation, mitigation of climate change and other global environmental issues.
This study describes the characteristics and current status of soil phytoremediation, and explores its new developments with future prospects for its application in soil resource conservation, biomass production and sustainable development.
 

Gyeongsang National University, Republic of Korea

Professor Byoung Ryong JEONG obtained his BS (Gyeongsang National Univ., GNU) and MS (Seoul National Univ.) degrees in Republic of Korea, and his PhD in Horticulture in 1990 from Colorado State Univ., USA on nitrogen nutrition in bedding plants. He had postdoctoral research on water relations in plants at Univ. of Missouri-Columbia, USA and on environmental control for plant production at Faculty of Horticulture, Chiba Univ., Japan. Since 1992, he has been affiliated with Dept. of Horticulture, College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, GNU, Korea, where he once served as the dean of the college. His current research interest and topics include, but not limited to, organogenic and somatic embryogenic micropropagation of floricultural, medicinal and rare/endangered plants; propagation and hydroponic culture of floricultural, horticultural and medicinal crops in the greenhouse and plant factory systems; lighting technology in horticulture for control of flowering and photomorphogenesis; silicon nutrition in horticultural crops; and use of plants for removal of fine dust in the air. He has published 400+ papers in reputed journals (https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Byoung_Ryong_Jeong). He has been academic adviser for 19 post-doctoral, 22 PhD, and 73 MS students so far. He also served as the editor-in-chief for several journals, including Horticulture, Environment and Biotechnology published by the Korean Society for Horticultural Science for which he is currently serving as the president elect.