水環境国際招聘賞（いであ招聘賞）（JSWE-IDEA Water Environment International
Exchange Award）授賞に関して
本会では，水環境分野の国際交流・国際協力の促進を目的として，いであ株式会社からのご出捐により，水環境国際招聘賞と水環境国際活動賞を設けております。水環境国際招聘賞は本会年会で研究発表を行う海外在住外国人会員に対して，来日費用等の助成を行う制度です。4 年ぶりの対面開催となった第 57 回年会では，中国，韓国，アイルランド，オーストラリア，マレーシアから各 1 名を招聘し，年会会場（愛媛大学）にて研究発表を行っていただきました。そこで，受賞者に研究内容や抱負等についてご執筆いただきましたのでご紹介します。なお，今年度の水環境国際招聘賞の募集案内は秋頃に本誌会告に掲載する予定です。
（水環境国際活動賞・招聘賞選考委員会）

JSWE-IDEA Water Environment International
Exchange Award
Associate Professor, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia

Norhayati Abdullah, PhD

My heartiest gratitude and thanks to Japan Society
on Water Environment （JSWE） Committees onOverseas Member Invitation Program for giving methe honor of JSWE-IDEA Water Environment
International Exchange Award for the 57th JSWE
Annual Conference at Ehime University, recently.
As the Associate Director of Universiti Teknologi
Malaysia （UTM） International Kuala Lumpur andAssociate Professor of Environmental Engineering at
Malaysia-Japan International Institute of Technology（MJIIT）, this is truly a priceless opportunity to reconnect with friends and mentors in Japan after muchanticipation throughout the pandemic.
Adherence to my experiences in Japan, I completedmy tenure as a Guest Scholar at the Graduate Schoolof Advanced Integrated Studies in Human
Survivability（Shishu-kan）, Kyoto University, Japan inJanuary 2019 focusing on environmental psychology,translating engineering practices for prospering lives.
This year, as part of my involvement in the AsiaOceania Five Universities Alliance（AOFUA）, international staff and students within the alliance benefited
from the distillation of intrinsic values by manifesting
cooperative programs and activities while simultaneously ensuring a sustainable approach that supports
global prominence of universities. In this regard, Iapplaud JSWE for illustrating unwavering efforts forinternationalization by ensuring ongoing research
activities and knowledge transfer which is ignited
through the JSWE-IDEA Water Environment
International Exchange Award. The award holds a198

special recognition in my heart for it has increased thevisibility of my research on wastewater treatment
while simultaneously enhancing professional
networking within the sector.
Since joining UTM in 2008, I have been involved invarious wastewater treatment studies. For JSWE, weinvestigated the treatment of restaurant wastewaterusing microalgae. The rapid growth of restaurants dueto the changing lifestyle of people has implicated anegative impact on environmental sustainability due tothe generation of restaurant wastewater （RWW）．
This study aims to provide an insight of potential
treatment technologies featuring a simple, economic,
and efficient approach for the treatment of restaurant
wastewater containing FOG. This study also aims toevaluate the potential of freshwater microalgae
Chlorella vulgaris in the treatment of RWW containing
FOG and other pollutants by optimizing different biotic
and abiotic conditions of cultivation（i.e., pH, temperature, light intensity etc）．
This will not be my last participation at the JSWEIDEA annual conference. Looking forward to shareand exchange research experiences with distinguishedexperts, academia and students. As a Fulbright
US-ASEAN Visiting Scholar and L’Oreal-UNESCO for
Women in Science Award recipient, I wish to also
share my experiences being involved in the watersector at global level. Looking forward to contribute to
the forthcoming programs and activities under theauspices of JSWE, innovating solutions, prosperinglives.

水環境学会誌

Journal of Japan Society on Water Environment

JSWE-IDEA Water Environment International
Exchange Award
Associate Professor, Civil Engineering, School of Civil and Mechanical Engineering,
Curtin University, Australia

A. H. M. Faisal Anwar

It’s my great pleasure to attend 57th JSWE Annual
Conference at Ehime University, Matsuyama fromMarch 15-17, 2023 and I feel honored receiving theJSWE-IDEA International Exchange Award. I would
like to sincerely thank the organizing committee forinviting me to attend JSWE 2023.
I obtained my Bachelor and Master degree from
Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology（BUET）and completed my Doctoral degree at Nagoya
University Japan in 2000. After 4 years of working atBUET after my PhD, I came back to Nagoya
University again under JSPS postdoctoral fellowship in2004-2006. Later in 2007, I moved to Australia andsince then I am working as teaching and research
academic at Curtin University, Perth WesternAustralia. As a teacher, I received PVC Teaching
Excellence Award 2011, Curtin Excellence in Teaching
Award 2012 and a National Citation Award 2013 foroutstanding contribution to student learning from theOffice of Learning and Teaching, AustralianGovernment. My teaching area is water and environmental engineering but my research interests include
urban hydrology, water and soil pollution, stormwater
treatment and management, green infrastructures andclimate change.
Because of the limited permeable surfaces in theurban areas, storm runoff carries significant pollutant
loads and increases the risk of urban flooding. Gray
infrastructures were previously used for stormwater
management but they do not treat the stormwater andincrease the risk of urban flooding. Recently green
infrastructure（GI）has been introduced in many countries to enhance the infiltration and maintain theecological balance. Many of these GIs are within thebest management practices（BMPs）known as Water
Sensitive Urban Design （WSUD） in Australia which

Vol. 46（A）  No. 6（2023）

includes grassed swales, rain garden, vegetated filter
strips, bio-retention ponds, catch basin inserts andfloating treatment wetland. We are developing
methods to use green media for treating the stormwater which include saw-dust, wood chips, wood shavings, biochar, sandy loam and alum sludge. My oralpresentation on treating the water using alum sludge
and biochar received the WET Excellent Presentation
Award at the Water and Environment Technology
conference in July 2019（WET2019）． Later I received
the JSPS invitational fellowship 2020 to work withProfessor Hiroaki Furumai at the University of Tokyo.
But due to the COVID19 pandemic, the fellowship wasdelayed to 2022 where I worked at Chuo University,
Japan for the research project “Floating wetlands as
green infrastructure for sustainable urban watermanagement”. This fellowship provided me the opportunity to meet many researchers from Japaneseindustry and professional organizations and visit
different GIs installed in different places in Japan suchas Mito city, Kashiwa city, Setagaya city, Kawasaki
city and Yokohama city. Currently we are investigating Floating Treatment Wetland （FTW） whichuses hydroponic system consisting of mats/mesh andmacrophytes. FTW is a hybrid system between ponds
and wetlands, hydraulically similar to stormwater
detention pond but provides similar treatment
processes as wetland. Plant roots are the main components in FTW that provides larger surface area
removing the pollutants by plant uptake. Biofilm developed at different parts of FTW plays the key role forpollutant uptake which needs further investigation.
Finally I would like to express my gratitude to JSWEfor organizing the conference and providing the opportunities to continue further collaboration.

199

JSWE-IDEA Water Environment International
Exchange Award
Associate Professor, School of Civil Engineering, Sun Yat-sen University

Kai HeI am profoundly honored and grateful to have been
invited to the 57th JSWE Annual Conference inMatsuyama, Ehime, from March 15-17, 2023. I would
like to express my heartfelt thanks to the Committee
on Overseas Member Invitation Program and theAwards Committee of the Japan Society on Water
Environment for bestowing upon me the JSWE-IDEA
Water Environment International Exchange Award forthe 57th JSWE Annual Conference. I deeply appreciate
the attention and support provided by the JSWE organizing committee.
I obtained my B.S. at Nankai University and M.S. at
Tsinghua University in China, followed by a Doctoral
degree at Kyoto University in Japan. Subsequently, I
pursued postdoctoral and assistant professor positions
at Kyoto University. Since 2021, I have been working
at Sun Yat-sen University. My research areas include
wastewater reclamation, pharmaceuticals and personalcare products, and disinfection by-products in water
treatment processes. In 2022, I participated in theIntergovernmental International Science and Techn­ology Innovation Cooperation National Key R&D
Program hosted by Tsinghua University and KUBOTA
Corporation. This research project supported thedevelopment of high-efficiency treatment technology
for emerging pollutants in reclaimed water and cooperative research between China and Japan. At thisconference, we presented research entitled “Behaviorsof Carbamazepine and its Related Metabolites in theWastewater Treatment Plants for Reclamation.”
As is widely known, pharmaceuticals have been
detected in aquatic ecosystems due to their daily

200

consumption and discharge into sewage systems.
Carbamazepine （CBZ） is known to have a low
removal rate during wastewater treatment processes.
Furthermore, studies on CBZ metabolites in wastewater are limited. In this presentation, we investigatedthe occurrence of CBZ and its metabolites in wastewater treatment plants（WWTPs）． LC-MS/MS quantitatively determined each target substance afterconcentration and purification of each sample by solidphase extraction using HLB cartridges. We found thatthe concentrations of CBZ metabolites in wastewater
were higher than those of its parent compound, CBZ.
Moreover, different proportions of metabolites （CBZ2OH, CBZ-3OH, and CBZ-Ep） were observed atdifferent WWTPs. The formation of CBZ metabolites
could be attributed to the metabolism pathway of CBZin the human body. These results clearly illustrate theneed to identify and, more importantly, to quantify
possible metabolites of micropollutants in future wastewater studies.
The pandemic has significantly affected international
exchanges, marking this event as my first international exchange endeavor at Sun Yat-sen University.
Throughout the conference, I had the opportunity toconnect with numerous exceptional researchers andestablish new friendships. I would like to express myappreciation to the Japan Society on Water
Environment for facilitating these invaluable international exchanges. Going forward, we aim to sustain andstrengthen long-term collaborations and communication.

水環境学会誌

Journal of Japan Society on Water Environment

JSWE-IDEA Water Environment International
Exchange Award
Professor, School of Chemical and Biological Engineering
Seoul National University

Changha Lee

I would like to express my sincere gratitude andappreciation to the Japan Society on Water
Environment（JSWE）for giving me the opportunity topresent my research and receive the JSWE-IDEA
Water Environment International Exchange Award at
the 57th Annual Conference of JSWE. It was a greathonor for me to be the awardee.
Briefly introducing my background, I received B.S.
and Ph.D. degrees in Chemical and BiologicalEngineering from Seoul National University in Korea
in 2001 and 2007, respectively. During my Ph.D.
studies, I also worked as a visiting scientist at theSwiss Federal Institute of Aquatic Science andTechnology（EAWAG）from 2005 to 2006. After graduation, I moved to the University of California,Berkeley, and worked as a postdoctoral fellow at theDepartment of Civil and Environmental Engineeringfrom 2007 to 2009. Then, I moved back to Korea andworked as an assistant/associate/full professor at theSchool of Urban and Environmental Engineering, Ulsan
National Institute of Science and Technology（UNIST）
from 2009 to 2018. Currently, I am a full professor at
the School of Chemical and Biological Engineering,Seoul National University. My research interests
include various subjects related to water chemistry
and physical/chemical processes for water and wastewater treatment.
During the conference, I gave a talk about “Predictionof Micropollutant Abatement during Ozonation”.
Ozonation is an effective process for the degradation oforganic contaminants and the inactivation of pathogenic microorganisms. Recently, ozonation has focusedmore on the oxidation of micropollutants（MPs）, suchas pharmaceuticals and personal care products, inVol. 46（A）  No. 6（2023）

drinking water and secondary wastewater. The oxidation of MPs by ozonation proceeds via reactions withmolecular ozone and hydroxyl radical. To predict MP
abatement during ozonation, a model that can accurately predict oxidant exposures needs to be developed.
My presentation demonstrated the development ofempirical models that can predict MP abatement
during ozonation. Our initial model using response
surface methodology（RSM）successfully predicted MP
abatement in the water source used to create themodel, with the ozone dose and water quality parameters as input variables. However, when applied toother natural waters, this RSM model did not showhigh accuracy due to the different characteristics oforganic substances. In order to develop prediction
models that are applicable to a wide range of watertypes, fluorescence excitation-emission matrix（FEEM）
data were considered as additional input variables tocharacterize organic substances in water samples.
Additionally, machine learning techniques based on
different algorithms were employed to accommodate
the enormous number of FEEM data points into themodel. The created machine learning models using
high-resolution FEEM data offered more accurate
predictions by better calculating the complex nonlinear
relationship between organic characteristics andoxidant exposures. Future studies will focus on further
improvements of the prediction models for field application.
With the end of the COVID-19 pandemic, I lookforward to closer research collaboration betweenKorea and Japan in the field of water environment inthe future.

201

JSWE-IDEA Water Environment International
Exchange AwardTrinity College Dublin

Liwen Xiao

Thank you to the Japan Society on Water
Environment for this honour and for giving me theJSWE-IDEA International Invitation Award. I verymuch appreciate it. I hope that through this award we
can further strengthen our collaborations withresearchers in JSWE and make our contribution to theprotection of the water environment.
I am an associate professor in the School ofEngineering at Trinity College Dublin. I got my bachelor degree at Tsinghua University and PhD degree atthe National University of Ireland, Galway. My
research interest focuses on fuel cells, sustainable
treatment of water, and emerging contaminants（microplastics, antibiotics）detection and removal.
In this conference, we presented our findings on therelease of microplastics from daily use plastic produtcs.
Since the 1950s, 8300 million metric tons （Mt） ofvirgin plastics have been produced1）. Plastics canrelease polymer microparticles（PMPs）such as microplastics（MPs）and additives particles in a water environment. MPs are now a global concern due to theirubiquity in the environment and potential risks tohuman health2）. There is growing evidence of humans
being exposed to MPs3）. Household plastic products
have been identified as local and immediate source of
extremely high quantities of MPs4）. In the EuropeanUnion （EU）
, around 100 million PP-based electric
kettles are in use, accounting for 60％ of all kettles inthe EU5）. PP-based baby-feeding-bottles（BFB）accountfor 82.5％ of the global BFB market share6）. In ourstudies, 3 representative PP-kettles and 10 PP-BFBs
products were selected, and the microparticles（MPsand additives） release was assessed by mimicking
their daily use scenarios. Renishaw InVia Raman spectrometer equipped with a 532nm laser（Coherent Inc.）,a cooled charge-coupled device （CCD） and a 100x202

microscope（NT-MDT）was applied to determine thechemical composition of the PMPs. The PMPs of morethan 10 million per litre of water were released fromthe three kettles in the first few boils. However, thePMPs release levels were reduced to 1-10 million per
litre after 50 boils6. Between 0.1 to 15 million PMPs perlitre of water were released from 10 BFBs7）. Furtherstudies found that alcohol treatment could help separate MPs and additives of PMPs8）. The findings of ourstudies indicated that daily used plastic products are
significant MPs sources.
References
1 ）Geyer, R., Jambeck, J.R., Law, K.L., 2017. Production, use,
andfate of all plastics ever made. Science Advances 3（7）, 1-5.
2 ）Thompson, R.C., Olsen, Y., Mitchell, R.P., Davis, A., Rowland,S.J., John, A.W.G., McGonigle, D., Russell, A.E., 2004. Lost at
Sea: Where Is All the Plastic? Science 304（5672）, 838.
3 ）Leslie, H.A., van Velzen, M.J.M., Brandsma, S.H., Vethaak,A.D., Garcia-Vallejo, J.J., Lamoree, M.H., 2022. Environment
International 163, 107199.
4 ）Hernandez, L.M., Xu, E.G., Larsson, H.C.E., Tahara, R.,
Maisuria, V.B., Tufenkji, N., 2019. Plastic teabags releasebillions of microparticles and nanoparticles into tea.
Environmental Science and Technology 53（21）, 12300-12310.
5 ）Murray, D.M., Liao, J., Stankovic, L., Stankovic, V., 2016.
Understanding usage patterns of electric kettle and energy
saving potential. Applied Energy 171, 231-242.
6 ）Shi, Y., Li, D., Xiao, L., Sheerin, E.D., Mullarkey, D., Yang, L.,
Bai, X., Shvets, I.V., Boland, J.J., Wang, J.J., 2022. The influenceof drinking water constituents on the level of microplastic
release from plastic kettles. Journal of Hazardous Materials
425, 127997.
7 ）Li, D., Shi, Y., Yang, L., Xiao, L., Kehoe, D.K., Gun’ko, Y.K.,
Boland, J.J., Wang, J.J., 2020. Microplastic release from thedegradation of polypropylene feeding bottles during infant
formula preparation. Nature Food 1, 746-754.
8 ）Li, D., Sheerin, E.D., Shi, Y., Xiao, L., Yang, L., Boland, J.J.,
Wang, J.J., 2022. Alcohol pretreatment to eliminate theinterference of micro additive particles in the identification ofmicroplastics using raman spectroscopy. Environmental
Science and Technology 56（17）, 12158-12168.

水環境学会誌

Journal of Japan Society on Water Environment