Partner 23: Helmholtz-Zentrum Hereon

Partner description

The Helmholtz-Zentrum Hereon (Hereon) is one of 18 members of the Helmholtz Association of German Research Centres, Germany’s largest science organisation. Hereon's main campus is located in Geesthacht near Hamburg, with a total staff of approximately 1.000 employees, including about 650 scientists, engineers and technicians.

Hereon comprises 15 research institutes – among them the Institute of Coastal Environmental Chemistry. The scientists at the Institute of Coastal Environmental Chemistry identify novel and known pollutants, their sources, transport pathways via the coasts, and their dispersal into the marine and polar environments. The Institute possesses a unique chemical-analytical infrastructure. This infrastructure enables us to process a comprehensive spectrum of several hundred classic and novel organic pollutants. Furthermore, we carry out analyses of numerous elements, stable isotopes and radionuclides as well as microplastics and nanomaterials. Additionally, the Institute complex methods for chemical modeling that can be used to study and evaluate behavior and fate of pollutants in the coastal regions. The Department for Organic Environmental Chemistry focusses on the occurrence and fate of emerging contaminants. Hereon has gained years of experience and has cultivated a successful tradition in both the co-ordination of and participation in different types of EU projects. Since the year 2000, researchers at Hereon have coordinated some 47, and have participated in more than 256 EU projects co-financed by the European Commission, mainly through FP5, FP6, FP7, Horizon 2020 and Horizon Europe framework programmes.

Website: www.hereon.de

Role in the project

Hereon is partner in the project and will conduct sampling and chemical analysis with focus on transport of plant protection products (PPPs) to off-target areas as a contribution to WP2 (task 2.2).

Involved personnel

	Prof. dr. (h.c.) Ebinghaus Ebinghaus is head of the Institute of Coastal Environmental Chemistry. His research fields include transport, deposition and air/sea-gas exchange of atmospheric trace constituents, such as mercury and persistent organic pollutants (POPs) with special emphasis on substances of emerging concern for the coastal, marine, and polar environment.
	Dr. Gandrass is head of the Department for Organic Environmental Chemistry with over 30 years of experience in ultra-trace analysis or organic contaminants with a focus on emerging contaminants in marine and coastal environments including river catchments.