Dieter D. Genske
Environmental Analyst

Dieter D. Genske studied Civil Engineering and Geology in Germany and the United States and received master degrees in both disciplines. After his PhD, he started working on environmental problems, first as Humboldt Research Fellow in Kyoto, Japan, then as project manager at Deutsche Montan Technologie, where he became involved in major urban remediation projects, including the International Building Exhibition IBA Emscher Park and the new parliament quarter in Berlin. During this time he also carried out in close co-operation with the Academy of Media Arts in Cologne the visualisation project Graf Moltke, a computer animation of the remediation of a derelict terrain in the German Ruhr District. Dieter Genske taught at a number of renowned universities including the TU Delft and the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne. In the year 2000, he was granted a prize for excellence in teaching for his on-line learning project that utilises the Internet as information and dialogue tool (ETH-New Learning Technology Program). He has presented his projects on numerous international conferences and published extensively in peer reviewed journals. Universities in South Africa and Japan invited him as guest professor.

Mailing address
 

Falkenweg 9,
CH-3012 Bern,
Switzerland,

Email: dgenske@swissonline.ch

http://www.egs-net.ch/mysite/htmls/excue1.html

1. Offices
2. Teaching assignments
3. Research focus
4. Projects
5. Patents
6. Publications
7. Organisation of conferences and workshops

1- Offices

Present offices

•  Board of the On-line Network of Independent Environmental Geo-Scientists EGS. The EGS is a network of independent scientists and experts solving problems in environmental geosciences. The network serves as an on-line clearinghouse for questions from individuals, companies and organisations, it carries out literature research and advises on educational matters (2000-).

•  Board of the Association of Environmental Geosciences GUG, D (1998-).

•  Scientific Advisory Board of the German Association for Semiotic Studies (1997-).

Former offices

•  Chair of Environmental Engineering at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology ETH-Lausanne (1997-2000).

•  Director of the European Postgraduate Program Ingénierie et Management de l’Environnement (engineering and management of the environment) and the program Auditeur Environnemental (ISO 14.000) (1997-2000).

•  Founding Director of the 1^st Laboratory of Ecotechnics in Switzerland (1998-2000).

•  Board of the CREM Recherches Energétiques et Municipales, Martigny CH (1999-2000).

•  Full Professor of Engineering Geology at TU-Delft, The Netherlands (1994–97).

•  Adjunct Professor at the International Institute for Aerospace Survey and Earth Sciences ITC Enschede/Delft (1994–97).

•  Director of the Department of Resource Technology and Engineering Geology at the TU Delft (1995–97).

•  Member of the Scientific Council of the International Institute for Aerospace Survey and Earth Sciences ITC, Enschede, Netherlands (1995–97)

•  Member of the Governmental Advice Committee Deep Underground and Ground Protection, Technische commissie bodembescherming, Den Haag, Netherlands (1995–96)

2- Teaching assignments

•   ETH-Lausanne Switzerland (1997-2000), TU Delft Netherlands (1994-97), University of Bonn Germany (1996-98), University of Essen Germany (1993-94), Martin-Luther-University Halle-Wittenberg Germany (1993-94). Guest professorships at the University of Durban SA and the University of Kyoto Japan.

• On-line teaching: The interactive web teaching project (USD 220000) utilises the Internet as information and dialogue tool. It is financed by the New Learning Technology Program (NLT) of the Board of the Swiss Federal Institutes of Technology (ETH-Rat), which awards outstanding teaching initiatives that enhance pedagogical strategies with innovative information technologies. The program aims at complementing traditional ex cathedra education with on-line learning techniques, auto-evaluation activities, interactive learning and learning-by-doing, new forms of dialogue between teachers and students, distance learning and lifelong learning (1999-01).

• Sustainable development, environmental technology and policy, modern educational approaches. Research projects have been carried out for the EU-Commission, the Swiss National Science Foundation, the Alliance for Global Sustainability AGS, the Ministry of Economic Affairs Netherlands, the Rijkswaterstaat/DWW Netherlands, the EZ/Staatstoezicht op de mijnen Netherlands, the NWO Foundation for Technological Sciences (STW) Netherlands, the Japanese Ministry of Education (Monbushu), the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science JSPS Tokyo, the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft DFG, the Institut für Bautechnik IfB Berlin, the GOR/COB (Underground Space Center) Netherlands, the NAM Netherlands, AKZO-Nobel, etc.

4- Projects

Projects with industry

• Several major remediation projects for the International Building Exhibition Emscher Park (Germany). Most of these projects were supported by the European Fund for Regional Development (EFRE) and additional governmental funds with many partners involved (PPP-concept). This called for an interdisciplinary and flexible approach where aspects of engineering and architecture, feasibility and financing had to be harmonised with concepts of sustainable energy and resource utilisation (1990-94).

• Historical analysis and ground investigation of the Spreebogen terrain, Berlin, a study that led to redevelopment constrains for the new German parliament quarter and the associated traffic infrastructure (1993-94).

• Production of a digital video (3D computer animation) that features the remediation of the Graf Moltke brownfield (Germany). The geological set-up, the migration of pollutants, the historical analysis, as well as the remediation concept is visualised. The project was carried out in co-operation with the Academy of Media Art, Cologne, Germany (1993).

• Consulting on typical problems of environmental engineering, urban land remediation and sustainable development (1990-date).

• Consulting on typical problems of engineering geology (field reconnaissance, site investigation, slope stability, underground storage, soil- and rock mechanics) and hydrogeology (EIA, aquifer characterisation, flow and transport, contamination) (1985-date).

Projects with low-income countries

• Health-care waste management in low-income countries. Partner: WHO, Geneva. Budget 2000: USD 60000.

• Projet environnement et santé publique Albanie (Support of the environmental health sector in Albania). Partner: Institut de santé publique, Ministère de la santé, Albanie, Swiss Agency for Development Co-operation SDC, Bern. Budget 1995-2000: USD 1450000.

• Coopération Centre Régional pour l'Eau Potable et l'Assainissement à Faible Coût CREPA, Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso: Formation et recherche appliquée dans 14 pays francophones d'Afrique de l'ouest et centrale (Water and sanitation in west African countries: technical support for CREPA). Partner: Ecole Inter-Etats d’Ingénieurs de l’Equipement Rural EIER, Ouagadougou, Swiss Agency for Development Co-operation SDC, Bern. Budget 2000-2002: USD 1060000.

• Coopération Ecole Inter Etats d'Ingénieurs de l'Equipement Rural EIER / ETSHER, Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, en protection de l'environnement et en génie sanitaire (Environmental protection and sanitary engineering in West Africa). Partner: Ecole Inter-Etats d’Ingénieurs de l’Equipement Rural EIER, Swiss Agency for Development Co-operation SDC, Bern. Budget 1996-2001: USD 1830000.

• Coopération Maroc-SEE en environnement: Formation des cadres du Secrétariat d'état chargé de l'environnement. Partner: Ministère de l'aménagement du territoire, de l'Environnement, de l'habitat et de l'urbanisme, Rabat, Maroc, Swiss Agency for Development Co-operation SDC, Bern. Budget 1999: USD 100.000.

5-Patents

• Method for sealing contaminated fallow land. German Patent Office Munich (DE 4240244 A1), European Patent Office The Hague (93119251.2).

• Resource and energy efficient remediation of landfills and derelict land. German Patent Office Munich (DE 10103759).

6- Publications

Books

• Genske DD (2002) Urban land: degradation, investigation, remediation. Springer Berlin Heidelberg New York [in print].

• Genske DD (1996) Contaminant migration through fractured media: alternative approaches (in German). Sven von Loga Verlag, Köln, 160p.

• Genske DD (1988) A probabilistic safety concept. PhD-thesis, University of Wuppertal/TH Aachen, 209p.

Editions/Co-Editions

• Genske DD & S Hauser (2002) A transdisciplinary approach to the rehabilitation of urban land (in German) Springer Berlin Heidelberg New York [in print].

• Bruines P & DD Genske (2001) Migration in fractured media. Proceedings of an International Workshop, Lausanne, Leylakitap-Verlag, Bern, Switzerland, 102p.

• Genske DD, K Heinrich & J Hueb (2000) Strategy on sanitation for high risk communities: Identification and planning. Proceedings of an International Workshop, Lausanne. WHO, Geneva, Leylakitap-Verlag, Bern, Switzerland, 114p.

• Genske DD & P Noll (1995) Remediation of urban land (in German). Ernst & Sohn, Berlin, 322 p.

Editor of journals, periodicals, yearbooks

• FlächenRecyling GeoProfi /Brownfield Development (with W Beimann & P Noll). VGE Verlag Essen, 1994-00.

• Yearbook Brownfield Development (in German, with W Beimann & P Noll). VGE Verlag, Essen, 1995-00.

Recent papers in peer reviewed journals and book chapters

• Genske DD & EWB Hess-Lüttich (2002) Speaking about water: an eco-semiotic project (in German). In: Fill A, Penz H, Trampe W (eds.), Colourful Green Ideas, Lang, Wien [in print].

• Genske DD (2001) European strategies for land recycling (in German). PUSH Praktischer Umweltschutz Schweiz (ed), Thema Umwelt 2/01, 4-5.

• Bell F & DD Genske (2001) The influence of coal mining on the environment, development and restoration: some examples. Environmental Engineering and Geoscience, 7, 81-99.

• Bell F & DD Genske (2000) Restoration of derelict mining sites and mineral workings. Bulletin of Engineering Geology and the Environment, 59/3, 173-183.

• Bell F, DD Genske & AW Bell (2000) Rehabilitation of industrial areas: case histories from England and Germany. Environmental Geology, 40, 121-134.

• Bell F, DD Genske & TR Stacey (2000) Mining subsidence and its effect on the environment: some differing examples. Environmental Geology, 40, 135-152.

• Bell F, DD Genske, N Hytiris and P Lindsay (2000) A survey of contaminated ground with illustrative case histories. Land Degradation and Development, 11, 419-437.

• Genske DD & EWB Hess-Lüttich (1999) Water talk – Intercultural development communication. Medienwissenschaft Schweiz /Science des mass média suisse 2, 59-69.

• Genske DD, HP Noll & U Risse (1999) European strategies of rehabilitation of degraded land. In Inyang I, Ogunro VO (eds): Enviromental geotechnology and global sustainable development. Proc. 4^th Int. Symp. Boston, USA, The Lowell VolumeI, 39-46.

• Genske DD & EWB Hess-Lüttich (1999) Conflict, Crisis, and Catastrophe. Cultural Codes and Media Management in Environmental Conflicts: the Case of Water. In: Bernd Neumann (ed) Dialogue Analysis and Mass Media. Tübingen, Niemeyer, 231-248.

Furthermore some 50 papers in conference proceedings

7- Organisation of conferences and workshops (selection)

• International workshop Flow and transport through fractured media. EPFL, August 2000, Lausanne, CH.

• International workshop on High Risk Communities: Identification, characterisation, mitigation (together with WHO, Geneva), March 2000, Lausanne, CH.

• International workshop on Urban Land Regeneration. R'2000 Recovery-Recycling-Re-integration, 5^th World Congress, 05-09.06.2000, Toronto, Canada. 

• International workshop Consumed Spaces – on the Semiotics of Abandoned Land. 7th International Congress of the International Association for Semiotic Studies IASS-AIS and the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Semiotik DGS, 03-11.10.1999, Dresden.

• International workshop Landrecycling. R’99 Recovery-Recycling-Re-integration, 4th World Congress, 02-05.02.1999, Genève, CH.

• Scientific Committee. R'2000 Recovery-Recycling-Re-integration, 5^th World Congress, 05-09.06.2000, Toronto, Canada.

• Scientific Committee. 2nd Inter-Regional Conference on Environment-Water, 01-03.09.1999, EPFL, Lausanne, CH.

• Scientific Committee. R'1999 Recovery-Recycling-Re-integration, 4^th World Congress, 02-05.02.1999, Geneva, Switzerland.