Dr. Rai Kookana

Organisation: 

Dr. Kookana is a Senior Principal Research Scientist at CSIRO and has had more than twenty year’s experience as a research chemist, focusing on the environmental fate of organic contaminants including pesticides and endocrine disrupting chemicals. His studies have included: the fate of micro-pollutants during aquifer storage and recovery of reclaimed water; the role of soil organic matter chemistry on pesticide sorption (i.e. attachment to another substance), mobility and bioavailability, and risk based approaches for minimising off-site impacts of pesticides.

Dr. Kookana leads a research team studying chemistry and ecotoxicology of organic contaminants, and is involved in developing pesticide risk indicators and management practices, and tools and approaches for ecological risk assessment, all with a view to minimising adverse impacts on aquatic and terrestrial environments. He is also studying the environmental fate and behaviour of organic micro-pollutants in reclaimed water and biosolids, and the role of biochar (i.e. charcoal) on sequestration and bioavailability of organic contaminants.