Photo- and Electrochemical Water Treatment

Prof. Halan Prakash, currently works as an Associate Professor at the Department of Chemistry in Birla Institute of Technology and Science, Pilani, (BITS-Pilani), K K Birla Goa Campus. Before joining BITS, he worked as JSPS fellow at Kyoto Pharmaceutical University, Japan, and Nara Institute of Science and Technology, Japan with Prof. Shun Hirota, (2005-2008) and also worked at Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (TIFR) Institute, Mumbai, India as a visiting fellow (postdoctoral, 2003-2005), with Prof. Shyamalava Mazumdar. He obtained his Ph.D. degree in the year 2003, in the area of Inorganic Photochemistry under the supervision of Prof. P. Natarajan, NCFUP, at the University of Madras, India. Prof. Prakash’s area of research includes Inorganic Photochemistry, Bioinorganic Chemistry, and Environmental Chemistry. His current research is focused on the development of novel advanced oxidation processes (AOPs) for the degradation of organic pollutants, as well as, inactivation of bacteria in water. He is associated with the Society of Environmental Chemistry and Allied Sciences (SECAS), India as an executive member, and he was the convener of the fourth International Conference on Advanced Oxidation Processes (AOP-2016), held at BITS, Pilani K K Birla Goa campus. Prof. Prakash has published more than 40 research articles in journals and conferences and two patents. He has acted as an Editor for special issue publications on topics related to water research. Prof. Halan Prakash, is the leader for the drinking water work package of the Department of Science and Technology sponsored Indo-EU multi-consortium “PANIWATER” project.

Dr. Rita S Dhodapkar is Science Secretary, and Principal Technical Officer & AcSIR Faculty of CSIR-NEERI, India. She has nearly 32 years of research experience in Water and Wastewater Management, application of advanced treatment technologies i.e., membrane processes, solar and UV photocatalysis, adsorption processes for water and wastewater treatment, environmental monitoring, and remediation of chemicals of emerging concern e.g., PCPPs and pseudo-persistent pollutants, Super absorbent polymers for environmental remediation. She has worked in Industry-sponsored research and consultancy projects for wastewater management related problems in Sewage treatment plants, refineries, paper industry, metal and minerals, coke oven and steel, distilleries, textile, tanneries etc. for the past 20 years. She is a recipient of several national and international collaborative projects (Royal Society, UK, Global Challenges Research Fund-Research Council UK, CEMI, PTB, Germany etc.), and was awarded the Commonwealth Science Council training fellowship, Honorary Diploma-Seche Environment Award for excellence in Research in Wastes Valorization, at the 2nd International Conference on Engineering for Waste Valorization which was held at Patras, Greece. She serves as an external advisory board member to EU Horizon 2020 project on “WATERSPOUTT”. She has more than fifty-five original research publications in high impact journals of national and international repute and has also authored one Indian patent applications and three design registration applications. Dr. Rita Dhodapkar is the Indian Coordinator of the Department of Science and Technology sponsored Indo-EU multi-consortium “PANIWATER” project

Prof. Kevin McGuigan key Expertise: Project Coordination, Household Water Treatment, and Storage, Design of Health Impact Assessment field studies in low-to middle income nations. Prof Kevin McGuigan is Professor of Medical Physics in the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland and is the director of the RCSI Solar Disinfection Research Group which develops appropriate solar-based technologies for water treatment in resource-poor rural environments. Prof. McGuigan is the recipient of the 2019 UNESCO International Prize for Research in the Life Sciences in recognition of his 'commitment and valuable contribution to research in the specialized area of the life sciences.' He has previously coordinated successful field studies of these technologies in Uganda, Kenya, Zimbabwe, S. Africa, and Cambodia and is the European coordinator of the EU Horizon2020 “PANIWATER” Project in India. Prof. McGuigan has published >60 peer-reviewed articles in high-impact journals in the fields of Medicine, Acoustics, Physics, Chemistry, Mathematics, and Computing. He has supervised to completion 8 Ph.D. and 3 MSc. Kevin is a Fellow of the Institute of Physics and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry.