International Society of Trace Elements in the Environment

History

Overview

The International Society of Trace Elements in the Environment (ISTEE) was founded very recently, in 2024, from a merge of two long-standing and well-established conferences on trace elements, the International Conference on Heavy Metals in the Environment (ICHMET) and the International Conference on the Biogeochemistry of Trace Elements (ICOBTE). It is planning to ensure the continuity of one merged biennial conference, the ISTEE Conference.

ICHMET

The International Conference on Heavy Metals in the Environment was one of the first global conferences dedicated to the then emerging field of trace elements in the environment. It aimed to covered the latest findings on the behavior, cycling and pathways of metals and metalloids in the environment, processes of contamination and environmental impacts to ecosystems, the environment and humans, and approaches for remediation. The first edition was held in 1975 in Toronto, Canada, chaired by Tom Hutchinson.

ICHMET conferences

  1. 1975: Toronto, Canada. Chair: Tom Hutchinson
  2. 1979: London, UK. Chair: Peterson
  3. 1981: Amsterdam, The Netherlands. Chair: W.H.O. Ernst
  4. 1983: Heidelberg, Germany. Chair: German Müller
  5. 1985: Athens, Greece. Chair: T.D. Lekkas
  6. 1987: New Orleans, Louisiana, USA. Chair: Steve Lindberg & Tom Hutchinson
  7. 1989: Geneva, Switzerland. Chair: Jean-Pierre Vernet
  8. 1991: Edinburgh, Scotland. Chair: John Farmer
  9. 1993: Toronto, Canada. Chair: Jerome Nriagu & Rod Allan
  10. 1995: Hamburg, Germany. Chair: Ulrich Förstner
  11. 2000: Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA. Chair: Jerome Nriagu
  12. 2003: Grenoble , France. Chair: Claude Boutron
  13. 2005: Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Chair: Luiz Drude Lacerda
  14. 2008: Taipei, Taiwan. Chair: Zueng-Sang Chen
  15. 2010: Gdansk, Poland. Chair: Jacek Namieśnik
  16. 2012: Rome, Italy. Chair: Nicola Pirrone
  17. 2014: Guiyang, China. Chair: Xinbin Feng
  18. 2016: Gent, Belgium. Chair: Filip M.G. Tack
  19. 2018: Athens, USA. Chair: John C. Seaman & Anna Knox
  20. 2020: Seoul, Korea. Chair: Yong Sik Ok
  21. 2023 (ICOBTE & ICHMET): Wuppertal, Germany. Chair: Jörg Rinklebe
  22. 2025 (ICOBTE & ICHMET): Busan, Republic of Korea. Chair: Yong Sik Ok

ICOBTE

In 1990, a conference series was initiated aimed to pursue a better understanding of the complex processes controlling trace element mobility, bioavailability, and toxicity in ecosystems, including the diverse interactions between all environmental compartments such as soils, sediments, plants, water, air, organisms, and humans. The first International Conference on the Biogeochemistry of Trace Elements (ICOBTE) was organized in Orlando, USA and chaired by Domy Adriano.

ICOBTE conferences

  1. 1990: Orlando, USA. Chair: Domy Adriano
  2. 1993: Taipei, Taiwan. Chair: S.S. Yang, Dar-Yuan Lee, Zueng-Sang Chen
  3. 1995: Paris, France. Chair: Rene Prost
  4. 1997: Berkeley, USA. Chair: Alex Iskandar, Andrew Chang
  5. 1999: Vienna, Austria. Chair: Walter Wenzel
  6. 2001: Guelph, Canada. Chair: Les Evans
  7. 2003: Uppsala, Sweden. Chair: George Gobran
  8. 2005: Adelaide, Australia. Chair: Mike McLaughlin
  9. 2007: Beijing, China. Chair: Yong-Guan Zhu
  10. 2009: Chihuahua, Mexico. Chair: Maria Teresa Alarcon
  11. 2011: Florence, Italy. Chair: Giancarlo Renella, Roberto Gabbrielli
  12. 2013: Athens, USA. Chair: John Seaman, Magdi Selim, Jason Unrine
  13. 2015: Fukuoka, Japan. Chair: Shinjiro Kanazawa
  14. 2017: Zürich, Switzerland. Chair: Rainer Schulin
  15. 2019: Nanjing, China . Chair: Fangjie Zhao
  16. 2023 (ICOBTE & ICHMET): Wuppertal, Germany. Chair: Jörg Rinklebe
  17. 2025 (ICOBTE & ICHMET): Busan, Republic of Korea. Chair: Yong Sik Ok

ISTEB

Organization of the ICOBTE conference was passed on from one organizer to the next on an informal basis. In contrast, the organization of the ICOBTE conference was supported by the International Society of Trace Element Biogeochemistry (ISTEB). It was co-founded in 1999 by Walter Wenzel of BOKU (University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences) and Domy Adriano of the University of Georgia. ISTEB was incorporated in Austria but its Treasury was in the USA.

Towards one society

Both the ICOBTE and ICHMET conference series ran in parallel for several years. During the ICOBTE edition of 2019 in Nanjing, China, the first ideas were exchanged between both groups to combine both conferences. This led to the first combined ICOBTE & ICHMET 2023 conference in Wuppertal, Germany. A second edition of the ICOBTE & ICHMET 2023 conference is forthcoming, and will be held from 22 to 26 september 2025 in Busan, Korea.

During 2024-2025, the ISTEE was modelled after ISTEB, to be a society with as main aim to support a unified bienial conference on trace elements in the environment, the ISTEE conference. ISTEE will formally kick off during the closing ceremony of the Busan ICOBTE & ICHMET conference in September 2025. The location and organizer of the first ISTEE conference in 2027 will then be announced.