Per Persson

I am professor in molecular geochemistry since 2012. During my academic career I have been employed at several universities; PhD student at Lund University and SLU (Uppsala), post doc and Blaustein visiting professor at Stanford University, and lecturer and professor at Umeå University.

As a postdoc in the early 1990s I was intrigued by the fact that most processes controlling the composition of our environment occur at interfaces, above all the interfaces between water and solid particles. Since then my research has been focused on water-solid interfaces, in particular molecular-level studies of processes at mineral, organic, and bacterial surfaces that influence the biogeochemical cycles of elements.

Research

The main objective of my research is to provide fundamental understanding of chemical speciation, mechanisms and rate of reactions in the inherently heterogeneous aquatic and terrestrial environments. This is accomplished by a combination of techniques including Infrared and Raman spectroscopy, synchrotron-based X-ray absorption spectroscopy, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, Infrared microspectroscopy and imaging, and wet-chemical and theoretical methods.

Leadership 

In addition to research, I have undertaken several leadership roles e.g. as vice-Dean at Umeå University and as chairman of a review panel at the Swedish Research Council (VR). Currently I am member of the Scientific Council for Natural and Engineering Sciences at VR. I have also been active in developing the MAX IV project as a member of the national advisory group and the university reference group, and at an operative level developing one of the first seven beam lines (the hard X-ray absorption spectroscopy beam line).