Summary
I am a interdisciplinary geoscientist with a passion for risk based land management. As a NERC Knowledge Exchange Fellow at BGS I work with a wide range of external organisations, including land owners, developers, consultants and regulators to increase the impact of geoscience in brownfield land redevelopment projects.
My research lines include: i) developing laboratory methods to measure the bioaccessibility of chemicals in soil that are harmful to human health; ii) spatial decision support tools to evaluate land suitability for different applications (e.g. renewable energy, land redevelopment); and iii) data driven modelling of rock and soil geochemistry.
Making a positive contribution towards sustainable development is important to me. I try and achieve this by working on co-designed innovation projects that involve end-users and expert groups within as well as outside BGS.
Darren Beriro’s Biography
- 1998 – BSc (Hons) in Environmental Science, University of Greenwich
- 2001 – Environmental Advocacy Project Officer, Environmental Assistance
- 2002 – Senior Environmental Consultant, Integrated Resources Management
- 2006 – MRES in Contaminated Land Management, University of Nottingham
- 2006 – Director and Principal Environmental Consultant, Grantham Cartwright and Associates and Integrated Resources Management
- 2008 – Principal Environmental Consultant, WD Environmental Limited
- 2010 – PhD in risk-based land management, University of Nottingham
- 2013 – ongoing: Geoenvironmental Scientist, British Geological Survey
Research interests
- Risk based land management
- Human bioavailability and bioaccessibility of potentially harmful chemicals in soil
- Data driven modelling of the geochemistry and rocks and soils
- Innovations in decision support tools for geoenvironmental applications
Current projects and collaborations
- 2016 – ongoing: NERC Knowledge Exchange Fellow – focus on utilisation of geoscience in brownfield redevelopment projects
- 2018 – ongoing:Brownfield Ground Risk Calculator. A new and innovative spatial decision support tool to estimate ground risks and risk mitigation cost estimates (contamination and geotechnical) at an early stage of the development process. Current co-design and delivery projects with Greater Manchester Combined Authority and Gateshead Council. More information at: www.bgs.ac.uk/brownfield/
- 2016 – ongoing:British Geological Survey are developing a method to measure and model the dermal bioavailability of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH) in soil using passive diffusion cells and GC-MS/MS analysis. The work is funded by National Grid Property Holdings in collaboration with WSP|PB.
- 2015 – ongoing:Data4Sustain: webGIS decision support tool for site-based selection of renewable energy technologies – funded by Innovate UK
Publications
NERC Open Research Archive — Dr Darren Beriro
Commissioned reports
- Validation of a gravimetric PM2.5 impactor using particle sizing techniques (Open Report OR/16/028)
- Measuring the bioaccessibility and bioavailability of PAH in soil through the dermal absorption and inhalation pathways: A review of current methodologies and new developments with recommendations for further work (Commercial Report CR/15/009
Key papers
Beriro, D J, Cave, M R, Wragg, J, Thomas, R, Wills, G. 2016. Toward developing a physiologically-based test for human dermal in vitro bioavailability of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH) in soil: a review of the current state of knowledge. Journal of Hazardous Materials 305, 240-259.
Middleton, D R S, Watts, M J, Beriro, D J, Hamilton, E M, Leonardi, G S, Fletcher, T, Close, R M, Polya, D A. 2017. Arsenic in residential soil and household dust in Cornwall, south west England: potential human exposure and the influence of historical mining. Environmental Science: Processes & Impacts
Vane, C H, Beriro, D J, Turner, G H. 2015. Rise and fall of mercury (Hg) pollution in sediment cores of the Thames Estuary, London, UK. Earth and Environmental Science Transactions of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, 1–12
Vane, C H, Kim, A W, Beriro, D J, Cave, M R, Knights, K, Moss-Hayes, V, Nathanail, P C. 2014. Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH) and polychlorinated biphenyls (PCB) in urban soils of Greater London, UK. Applied Geochemistry, 51. 303-314. 10.1016/j.apgeochem.2014.09.013.
Beriro, D J, Vane, C H, Cave, M R and Nathanail, C P. 2014. Effects of Physical Sample Preparation on the Concentrations of Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons in Gasworks Contaminated Soils. Applied Geochemistry.
Beriro, D J, Abrahart, R J, Nathanail, C P, Moreno, J and Bawazir, A S. 2013. A typology of different development and testing options for symbolic regression modelling of measured and calculated datasets. Environmental Modelling and Software.
Beriro, D J, Abrahart, R J and Diplock, G. 2014. Genetic Programming in GeoComputation (2nd Ed.), Abrahart, R. J.; and See, L. CRC Press.
Certificates
- 2019 – PRINCE2 Practitioner
Boards and commitees
- 2014 – ongoing:Land Quality Committee – Environmental Protection UK
- 2017 – ongoing:AGS Contaminated Land Working Group
- 2014 – ongoing:Chair of the UK Chapter of the International Medical Geology Association