Dr Nabeel Khan Niazi is an Assistant Professor in the Institute of Soil and Environmental Sciences (ISES) at the University of Agriculture Faisalabad (UAF), Pakistan. Nabeel did his BSc (Hons) Agri and MSc (Hons) Agri degrees in Soil and Environmental Sciences from the University of Agriculture Faisalabad (Pakistan). He got his PhD from The University of Sydney (Australia) in 2012. His teaching and research focuses on Soil and Environmental Chemistry & Environmental Remediation area with particular focus on soil and water systems.
Dr Niazi was involved in the research work on arsenic contaminated soils historically contaminated with arsenical pesticides and herbicides, in Australia. He employed X-ray absorption fine structure (XAFS) spectroscopy and a sequential extraction procedure to evaluate the speciation and bioavailability of arsenic in contaminated soils, and compared the two arsenic hyperaccumulating fern species to determine their potential for remediation of an arsenic-contaminated site. He also used geostatistical model to precisely estimate the arsenic contamination level at the arsenic-contaminated cattle-dip sites, and used this model to monitor changes in soil arsenic content after remediation efforts.
His current research interests focus on the environmental soil chemistry including the speciation of arsenic in soil, water and plant matrices. He has published over 8 research articles on in peer-reviewed international journals, including 2 articles in Environmental Science & Technology – the number 1 journal in the field of ‘Environmental Sciences and Environmental Engineering’. In addition, he has also authored over 18 conference abstracts published in different national/international conferences (total career publications 26 including journal articles, conference abstracts/proceedings).
Nabeel through his own initiative won a prize of $750 and was awarded a certificate of appreciation by the Australian Society of Soil Science Inc. (ASSSI) for one of the best paper presented and published in the 19th World Congress of Soil Science, Brisbane, 1–6 August, 2010.
In recognition of the outstanding work and oral and poster presentations at the 7th International Conference of Phytotechnologies in Parma, Italy, Sep 2010, Nabeel was awarded 150 Euro and a certificate of appreciation for his scientific contribution.