NUI Galway will host the 2012 Sino-European Symposium on Environment and Health (SESEH 2012) starting today (Monday, 20 August) until Saturday, 25 August. The event will provide a platform for interaction between scientists, consultants, and public servants engaged in the multi-disciplinary area of environment and health.

Over 200 delegates are expected to attend, including 100 experts from China. SESEH will, for the first time, provide an opportunity for a direct communication between environment and health experts from China and Europe, and help to foster and develop international collaborations.

SESEH 2012 will discuss questions such as ‘Is the air we breathe still fresh?’, ‘Is the water we drink still clean?’ and ‘Is the food we eat still safe?’

 “Safeguarding our environment and our health is one of the most challenging issues that we are currently facing”, explains Dr Chaosheng Zhang of the Ryan Institute at NUI Galway, and Chair of SESEH 2012. “With economic development and improvements in our quality of life, the environment around us is under pressure, and often deteriorating. As the second largest economy in the world, we have much to learn from and discuss with our Chinese colleagues.”

Dr Zhang is an expert in Geographical Information Science (GIS) and is head of NUI Galway’s GIS Centre, based in the Ryan Institute.  GIS is generally understood as a computer-based mapping system, but its functions go far beyond that to solve sophisticated spatio-temporal problems in sectors of society, ranging from socio-economy, government, commerce and business, and environmental management.

The conference is sponsored by NUI Galway, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Failte Ireland, Ordnance Survey Ireland (OSi) and GIS company SuperMap from China.

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