2N J. Environ. Monit. 1999 1 Editorial Board Members Professor Evert Nieboer (Chairman) Evert Nieboer was born in 1940 in the Netherlands and completed his undergraduate degree (Honours Chemistry) and MSc (Analytical Chemistry) at McMaster University Hamilton Canada. His doctoral work (Inorganic/Analytical Chemistry) was conducted at the University ofWaterloo Canada. He spent two years as a National Research Council (Canada) Post-Doctoral Fellow with R. J. P. Williams at Oxford. It was there that his enduring interest in inorganic biochemistry began. In 1970 he joined the Chemistry Department at Laurentian University Sudbury Canada. During his ten-year tenure at Laurentian he worked in close collaboration with D. H. S. Richardson on the use of lichens and mosses in pollution monitoring.It was his training in analytical chemistry and growing interest in biological monitoring that allowed Professor Nieboer to begin a collaboration with the medical department of a local nickel mining/ refining company. This association sparked his lasting involvement in the human and environmental toxicology of metals and metalloids. In 1980 he was appointed Professor of Toxicology in the Biochemistry Department at McMaster University in support of the Occupational Health Programme. Since July 1997 Professor Nieboer also has assumed a part-time position (Professor II Enviromental Medicine) at the Institute of Community Medicine University of Tromsø Tromsø Norway. ProfessorNieboer is an enthusiastic teacher.His teaching involvements at McMaster have included undergraduate biochemistry toxicology at the undergraduate graduate and diploma levels and tutoring in the undergraduate medical programme.Through international workshops and participation in international conferences he has promoted the application of this approach to learning to environmental and occupational health studies. Professor Nieboer’s research interests focus on the biochemistry clinical/ analytical chemistry and toxicology of metals within the context of environmental and occupational health. He has published some 100 papers and edited two books.He has led a number of teams (including physicians and epidemiologists) in the preparation of health assessment documents toxicological profiles of environmental contaminants and numerical health-risk estimations for government and industrial agencies.More recently he headed an international teamin an assessment of reproductive and developmental health in relation to occupational exposure in nickel refineries located in the Kola Peninsula of Russia.ProfessorNieboer was the Scientific Programme Chairman or Co-chair for the followingmeetings The Fourth (1988,Helsinki Finland) and Fifth (1992 Sudbury Canada) International Conferences onNickel Biochemistry Toxicology and Ecologic Issues and the First (1991 Leon Norway) the Second (1994 Leon Norway) and the Third (1997 PortDouglas Australia) International Symposium on Speciation of Elements in Biological Enviromental and Toxicological Sciences. Dr Richard Brown Richard Brown is an environmental chemist with an international reputation in developing and applying analytical methods for assessing air quality.He is a senior member of the Environmental Measurement Group of the Health and Safety Laboratory. The Group provides analytical services consultancy and training in air quality assessment particularly for organic vapours and other industrial and environmental chemicals and also provides a similar service for pesticide residue analysis in vegetation and other environmental matrices. He is a member of many European and international committees particularly on standards. Richard is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry. Dr Brown gained a BA(Hons) in Natural Sciences from the University of Cambridge in 1965 gaining anMA from the University of Cambridge and anMSc inMolecular Enzymology fromthe University ofWarwick in 1966. He gained a PhDin Molecular Sciences at the University ofWarwick in 1969 and from 1969–1970 was a Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of Trondheim.He was then Research Fellow in Botany at the University of Durham from 1970–1972.From1972 to 1975 he was Research Fellow in Biology at the University of Bradford.He joined the (then) Occupational Hygiene and Medicine Laboratory in 1976. Dr Brown was Secretary of the IUPAC Commission on Atmospheric Chemistry from 1995 and Convenor of CEN/TC264/WG11 1995 and Convenor of ISO/TC146/SC2/WG4 1997. Dr Emile De Saeger Dr De Saeger is the Senior Researcher and Head of the European Reference Laboratory of Air Pollution (ERLAP) at the Environmental Institute of the Joint Research Centre in Ispra Italy. ERLAP was established in 1994 in the framework of an agreement between the Environment Institute and DGXI to undertake activities to support the implementation of EC Air Quality and Emission Control Directives.His main tasks concern the coordination of study projects dealing with preparatory work in support to the development of new regulations; harmonisation of air quality measurements in the EU monitoring J. Environ. Monit. 1999 1 3N d’Hygie�ne et d’Epide�miologie of the Belgian Ministry of Public Health. From 1989 to 1993 he was Fellow Researcher at the Central Laboratory of Air Pollution (CLAP) Environment Institute of the Joint Research Centre in Ispra in charge of activities in support of the European Commission (DGXI) for the implementation of EC Air Quality Directives. Dr De Saeger has published approximately 20 papers or EUR reports) 20 technical reports and 25 conference proceedings.Emphasis is on air quality measurements validation of mathematical models monitoring methods development and validation QA/QC and harmonization of measurement techniques. validation and application of advanced urban pollution models; participation in global air quality monitoring programmes; emissions of dioxins and heavy metals from waste incinerators; participation in the ISO and CEN activities for the standardization of air quality measurements. Dr De Saeger gained a Licence en Sciences Chimiques and a Licence Spe�ciale en Environement from the Universite� Libre de Bruxelles in 1974 and 1979 respectively. He then spent a 6-month training period at the Commission of the European Communities (CECA). From 1977 to 1989 Dr De Saeger was Fellow Researcher at the Institut networks; development and validation of new monitoring techniques; organisation of pilot studies and measurement campaigns; interpretation and cartography of air pollution data; Dr Hendrik Emons Hendrik Emons is Head of the Environmental Specimen Bank at the Research Center Ju� lich.He studied chemistry at theMartin- Luther University of Halle where he gained a PhD in Physical Chemistry and Electrochemistry in 1984. He moved to the Analytical Centre at theUniversity of Leipzig to gain aDSc in Analytical Chemistry in 1988. He was Docent for Analytical Chemistry at the University of Leipzig. In 1991/2 hewasHumboldt Fellow and Visiting Professor at the University of Cincinnati,USA. Since 1993 he has been at the Institute of Applied Physical Chemistry Research Center of Ju� lich.Since 1996 he has also been an external member of the Chemistry Faculty at the University of Essen. He was visiting Professor at the Karl-Franzens University of Graz Austria in 1997. His research interests are analytical chemistry fromelectroanalysis and sensors to speciation; physical chemistry from surfactants tomolecular interfacial structures; and environmental chemistry fromenvironmental analysis to biomonitoring and specimen banking. He is a member of the following groups and societies Society of German Chemists (GDCh) Division of Analytical Chemistry Division of Applied Electrochemistry Personal Member of the Discussion Group ‘Environmental Analysis’;Working Group ‘Micro and Trace Analysis of Elements’; German Society of Chemical Engineering (DECHEMA) Member of the Advisory Board for ‘Chemical Sensors’; Association of Electrochemical Research Institutions (AGEF) —Board Member Speaker of the Research Topic ‘Fundamentalics’; Advisory Group ‘Analysis of Biological Material’ of the German Research Society (DFG) within the Programme ‘Human Biomonitoring’; International Society of Electrochemistry (ISE).Dr Emons is a member of the Advisory Board of T he Analyst and Analytical Communications. Professor Jan-Olof Levin Professor Levin is Head of the Department of Chemistry National Institute forWorking Life Umea° Sweden. Professor Levin gained a BSc in chemistry at the University of Uppsala in 1969 and a PhD in organic chemistry at the University of Umea° in 1974. He became Associate Professor in analytical chemistry at the University of Umea° in 1986 and Professor of chemical occupational hygiene at the University of Umea° in 1997.From 1968 to 1970 Professor Levin held various lecturing and research positions at the Department of Organic Chemistry University of Uppsala. From 1970 to 1975 he held lecturing and research positions at the Department of Organic Chemistry University of Umea°. From 1975 Professor Levin was senior research chemist at the Swedish National Institute of Occupational Health (SNIOH) later National Institute forWorking Life (NIWL) Umea°. He became Head of the Department of Chemistry NIWL Umea° in 1994. Professor Levin’s research areas are Development of methods for sampling and analysis of chemical substances in work-room ambient and in-door air; Development of methods for measuring chemicals or metabolites of chemicals in human body fluids; and Assessment of chemical exposure within various branches of industry.Professor Levin has published more than 200 papers reports and abstracts within the above mentioned areas. 4N J. Environ. Monit. 1999 1 Dr Yngvar Thomassen Dr Yngvar Thomassen was born in Porsgrunn Norway on March 25 1947. Dr. Thomassen’s academic training was obtained in the Department of Analytical Chemistry at the University of Oslo from where he graduated in 1973. He spent one year at the Norwegian Defence Institute before taking a postdoctoral research associate position at the Department of Analytical Chemistry at the University of Oslo where he conducted research for 2c years. In 1978 he visited The University of Toronto Department of Environmental Studies and Geology for one year with a Royal Norwegian Grant (visiting scientist).He is currently Director of Research at the National Institute of Occupational Health in Oslo where he has spent 23 years of his professional life. Dr. Thomassen is the author or co-author of over 150 scientific publications on atomic spectroscopy and other spectroscopic methods for the determination of essential and toxic elements in the environment with special emphasis on electrothermal atomic absorption spectrometry (ETAAS). He is best known for his research on the use of ETAAS in the determination of selenium and other toxic elements in human health and disease. Dr Thomassen serves on the Editorial Boards of T he Analyst and Analytical Communications Journal of T race Elements in Medicine and Biology and he has given over 170 presentations on various aspects of his research of which 56 were invited lectures at major conferences and symposia.In the period 1983–91 he was a member of the Commission on Toxicology International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (titular member from 1986) where he initiated the development of human body fluids as quality assurance materials for the measurement of minor trace and ultratrace elements and organic metabolites. Dr Thomassen has organized a number of Nordic national and international conferences on topics dealing with analytical chemistry atomic spectroscopy and environmental and biological issues. His present research focuses on clinical aspects of analytical chemistry and the application of atomic spectroscopy (ETAAS and ICP-AES) within the context of environmental and occupational health.Philippe Quevauviller was born in 1959 in Chatelaillon-Plage (France). He studied marine geology at the University of Bordeaux I (France) and specialised in geochemistry for which he obtained an MSc in 1984. Between 1984 and 1987 he was associate researcher at the Portuguese Environment Ministry where he performed a multi-disciplinary study of a coastal and estuarine environment (Sado estuarine system Portugal) dealing with its characterisation in terms of geomorphology sedimentology and geochemistry. Geochemical studies of the Sado Estuary were pursued in 1987 in particular on trace metals and organotin patterns in collaboration with the Laboratory of Analytical Chemistry of the University of Pau (France).He performed other studies at the end of 1987 in collaboration with the ‘Laboratoire Municipal’ of Bordeaux (France) to gain experience in the determination of PCBs in sediment and soil samples. From January 1989 to March 1989 Philippe Quevauviller was Associate Researcher at the Dutch Ministry of Public Works (Rijkswaterstaat The Netherlands) for which the research activities focused on the evaluation of contamination levels in Dutch coastal environments for organotin compounds; this work included sampling of various environmental compartments (sediments water and suspended matters) in Dutch estuaries and the North Sea followed by laboratory work (determinations of butylated tin compounds) carried out at the Laboratory of Molecular Photophysics and Photochemistry of the University of Bordeaux I (France).Parallel research activities were carried out on organotins and methylmercury e.g. on grain size distribution sediment studies contamination studies of estuarine and lagoon areas (e.g. Arcachon Basin in France) leaching studies of PVC with respect to butyltin compounds etc. Since 1989 he has been managing RTD projects in the frame of the Standards Measurements and Testing Programme (formerly BCR) of the European Commission. These projects generally concern the certification of environmental analysis and pre-normative research aiming to test the feasibility of European standards prior to their implementation. He has organised a series of EC scientific workshops dealing with various topics in order to stimulate the creation of European networks for the improvement of the state-of-the art of various types of analytical activities and he has participated in the scientific committees of various international conferences. He has published more than 140 papers 45 EUR reports and one book on ‘‘Method Performance Studies for Speciation Analysis’’ (published by The Royal Society of Chemistry); he has also acted as editor or co-editor of 15 special issues of international journals and of 4 books. He is Editor of the Measurement & Testing Newsletter (Information bulletin of the EC-SMT programme) member of the editorial boards of Analysis Europa the Fresenius’ Journal of Analytical Chemistry Quimica y T ecnologia Medioambiental Journal of Analytical Atomic Spectrometry and contributing editor to T rends in Analytical Chemistry. Dr Philippe Quevauviller (DG XII Liaison Member)