Contact
Biography
Helena is an Assistant Professor passionate about remediation and resource recovery. She joined the Department of Chemical Engineering and the Food, Water, Waste Research Group with a prestigious Anne McLaren Research Fellowship in 2018. Helena's current research focuses on pioneering innovative and sustainable solutions that maximize the value extracted from wastes. Through a multidisciplinary approach, she aims to lead the way in transforming waste management into a circular economy paradigm. By developing cutting-edge technologies, conducting pioneering studies, and fostering collaboration with industry partners, policymakers, and communities, her vision is to create a world where waste is seen as a reservoir of valuable resources. Her research interests lie within resource recovery from wastewater, particularly for the production of electricity and recovery of metals (simultaneously contaminants and valuable assets) and nutrients.
Other research interests comprise sustainable remediation and the use of treatment trains and combined remediation technologies. Specifically, Helena is interested in combining different technologies for the treatment of mixed contamination, persistent and emerging contaminants in contaminated soil and other matrices such as wastewater, industrial by-products, or wastes.
Before her PhD, Helena worked as environmental consultant and project manager. She led the environmental and radiological monitoring programme of uranium abandoned mines in Portugal. Helena holds a PhD in soil remediation from the New University of Lisbon. In her PhD, she combined two remediation technologies: electrokinetics and zero valent iron nanoparticles. She studied mobility of iron nanoparticles under direct current, in different porosity media, and tested their efficacy in soils with inorganic and organic contaminants (chromium, the herbicide molinate, and polychlorinated biphenyls). She was visiting researcher at Lehigh University, USA; Technical University of Denmark, Denmark, and Málaga University, Spain. Later, she was a postdoctoral research assistant in the NERC funded project "R3AW - Resource Recovery and Remediation of Alkaline Wastes", at the University of Hull, focusing on demonstration of metal recovery using ion exchange resins and bioleaching, as well as passive treatment of alkaline leachates (mesocosm and pilot scale) using cascades and constructed wetlands.
PUBLICATIONS, CONTACTS and DIGITAL PROFILES:
Expertise Summary
- Electrokinetic and electrodialytic remediation of contaminated soils and matrices
- Metal recovery from wastes and wastewaters
- Treatment trains and combined remediation technologies
Teaching Summary
Research Supervisor:
I welcome applications from excellent prospective PhD candidates in the areas of:
- - Remediation of contaminated soils and waters
- - Resource recovery from waste streams
- - Sustainable remediation, treatment trains, combined technologies
- - Emerging and unconventional contaminants
- - Bioelectrochemical systems for resource recovery
If you are looking for a scholarship to support your studies, the university offers a great number of scholarships to talented applicants.
Research Summary
Helena's current research focuses on pioneering innovative and sustainable solutions that maximize the value extracted from wastes. Through a multidisciplinary approach, she aims to lead the way in… read more
Selected Publications
MAYES, WILLIAM MATTHEW, RILEY, ALEX L, GOMES, HELENA I, BRABHAM, PETER, HAMLYN, JOANNA, PULLIN, HUW and RENFORTH, PHIL, 2018. Atmospheric CO2 Sequestration in Iron and Steel Slag: Consett, County Durham, United Kingdom. Environmental science & technology. 52(14), 7892-7900 GOMES, HELENA I., MAYES, WILLIAM M., WHITBY, PAUL and ROGERSON, MIKE, 2019. Constructed wetlands for steel slag leachate management: Partitioning of arsenic, chromium, and vanadium in waters, sediments, and plants Journal of Environmental Management. 30-38
Current Research
Helena's current research focuses on pioneering innovative and sustainable solutions that maximize the value extracted from wastes. Through a multidisciplinary approach, she aims to lead the way in transforming waste management into a circular economy paradigm. By developing cutting-edge technologies, conducting pioneering studies, and fostering collaboration with industry partners, policymakers, and communities, her vision is to create a world where waste is seen as a reservoir of valuable resources. Her research interests lie within resource recovery from wastewater, particularly for the production of electricity and recovery of metals (simultaneously contaminants and valuable assets) and nutrients.
Other research interests comprise sustainable remediation and the use of treatment trains and combined remediation technologies. Specifically, Helena is interested in combining different technologies for the treatment of mixed contamination, persistent and emerging contaminants in contaminated soil and other matrices such as wastewater, industrial by-products, or wastes.
Future Research
I welcome enquiries from potential PhD candidates from Home, EU and international countries who are interested in the following research areas: Environmental remediation, Resource Recovery, Wastewater treatment, Contaminated soils, Waste Management.
If you are an international student, you will need to be self-funded or have/acquire a scholarship. There is an extensive portfolio of Research Scholarships for international students offered by the University and other funding bodies.
If you are interested, please get in contact via email with a CV and cover letter. Applicants should have (or expect to obtain) a first-class or good 2:1 UK honours degree, or a distinction or high merit at MSc level in Environmental Engineering, or a related discipline.