International Environmental & Health Sciences Consortium (IEHSC)

Dr Prosun Bhattacharya (1962), holds a PhD in Sedimentary Geochemistry from University of Delhi, India (1990). Besides KTH, he also held an Adjunct Professor position at the University of Southern Queensland, Australia between 2016 and 2019. Since January 2020, he has been appointed as Affiliate Scientist at the KWR Watercycle Research Institute in the Netherlands.

His primary research interests address the challenges with arsenic, fluoride, and geogenic contaminants in groundwater and drinking water treatment in different parts of the world. With extensive collaborations involving several universities and research organizations globally, Bhattacharya leads Sida-funded bilateral Research Capacity Building programs between Sweden and Tanzania, as well as Sweden and Bolivia, focusing on drinking water contamination from groundwater sources and treatment.

He coordinated the prestigious Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency–supported action research and implementation project “Sustainable Arsenic Mitigation-SASMIT” — a community-driven initiative targeting arsenic-safe groundwater as a sustainable mitigation strategy in Bangladesh (2007–2017). Currently, he leads a project on “Enhancing private sector capacity for scaling up access to safe drinking water — policy, systems strengthening and sustainable service delivery,” in collaboration with UNICEF-Bangladesh.

Bhattacharya has authored or co-authored over 500 international publications in peer-reviewed journals and conference proceedings, cited more than 19,000 times (Google Scholar, h-index 70, i10-index 225). He has organized numerous international workshops on natural arsenic in groundwater and sustainable mitigation, and edited 12 books on related themes up to 2022.

Since 2009, the scientist has served in various editorial roles at Elsevier — as Editor-in-Chief of Groundwater for Sustainable Development, and Associate Editor of Journal of Hydrology and Frontiers in Environmental Sciences. His contributions have earned him recognition as a Fellow of the Geological Society of America (April 2012) and the International Water Association (September 2018).

In 2019, he received the “STE International Achiever Award” from the Save the Environment Foundation for distinguished work in Environmental Geochemistry and Water Quality Analysis. His widely acclaimed research in groundwater management has inspired groundbreaking projects and significant scientific progress.

He was also selected as recipient of the George Burke Maxey Distinguished Service Award 2021, awarded by the Hydrogeology Division of the Geological Society of America.

Since March 2020, Bhattacharya has actively contributed to the global initiative on wastewater-based epidemiology — a collaborative effort involving academic institutions, government agencies, and community organizations to support the COVID-19 response.

In recognition of his contributions, the Council of the Geological Society of America elected him to serve as Member-at-Large on the GSA International Committee for the 2021–2025 term.