The Linnaeus University(LNU) is conducting research in a wide range of areas. The research in natural sciences is particularly intense; the University of Kalmar has the right to award doctoral degrees in this area and the School of Pure and Applied Natural Sciences have 23 full professors, together with 90 PhD-candidates. Environmental science is a strong field with six full professors, four associate professors, and twenty PhD-candidates. These researchers belong to the research groups of Environmental Chemistry, Environmental Geology, Environmental Risk Analysis, Environmental Technology, Environmental Terrestrial Ecology with GIS/Remote Sensing, Natural Resources Management, and Palaeoecology/Environmental History.
Assoc. Prof. Tomas Öberg, is Research Fellow and head of the research group in Environmental Risk Analysis at the University of Kalmar, School of Pure and Applied Natural Sciences (HIK). The research is focussed on hazard identification using QSPR/QSAR models, exposure assessment with probabilistic methods, and risk communication. Persistent organic pollutants, chemoinformatics, environmetrics and chemometrics are principal areas of interest, where individual group members have worked for more than 20 years. The group runs several research projects with internal and external funding, including "Chemoinformatics for green chemistry" (QSPR-models for solvents, and virtual screening), "Probabilistic risk assessment" (methods and collecting exposure factor data for risk assessment of contaminated land), etc. Within CADASTER, his group will characterize the variability and uncertainty in available experimental data and QSARs, perform sensitivity analyses of individual models with regard to their contributions in the overall risk assessment framework, perform QSAR modeling of variability in e.g. species sensitivity distributions (SSDs), and perform probabilistic evaluations for a representative set of chemicals for the ecotoxicological endpoints, as specified in REACH. The foreseen extent of involvement in percent of the full time employment is 20%.
1.Öberg, T., Liu, T. Global and local PLS regression models to predict vapor pressure. QSAR & Combinatorial Science (2008) 27, 273-279.
2.Öberg, T. Introducing chemometrics to graduate students. J. Chem. Educat. (2006) 83, 1178-1181.
3.Öberg, T. Virtual screening for environmental pollutants - Structure-activity relationships applied to a database of industrial chemicals. Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry (2006) 25, 1178-1183.