Professor GiHoon Hong is the new Strategy Director at the IMBeR International Project Office in Shanghai in China.
His background is in marine biogeochemistry with a focus on the behaviour of radionuclides in sea and carbon cycles, and their application for addressing emerging scientific and human needs in the world’s ocean. Gi has worked in a variety of roles including in research, teaching and developing local and international marine environmental policy.
He has contributed and led several intergovernmental efforts on marine environmental protection and management from human activities. These included assessment of sediments, artificial reefs, sewage sludge, as well as developing regulations for marine geoengineering to mitigate climate change, updating and drafting guidelines and amending treaties.
Gi is originally from South Korea. He undertook his initial studies at the Seoul National University, and his PhD at the University of Alaska, Fairbanks, focusing on the chemistry and fluxes of particulate carbon dynamics in fjords. He subsequently returned to the Korea Institute of Ocean Science and Technology (KIOST) as a Research Professor, and later President. More recently, served as Adjunct and Visiting Professor at the Wayne State University in Detroit, USA and also several short-term scientific visits at the East China Normal University.
Gi is keen to bring scientific facts and knowledge into local and international social decision processes. He passionately believes that scientific research on our surrounding natural and manmade environment is essential to solving the current challenges of emerging contaminants, enhancing values of natural capital (resources), and addressing global climate change, and ultimately advancing human civilization by achieving sustainable development.