Prof. Tang Xiangyu and Dr. Liu Chen, from Institute of Mountain Hazards and Environment (IMHE), CAS attended the 2^nd International Conference on Contaminated Land, Ecological Assessment and Remediation (CLEAR), and visited Kangwon National University and Korea Biochar Research Center, in October, 2014. 

Tang gave a report as keynote speaker on the conference.(by IMHE)

Following the successfully-held 1^st CLEAR Conference in Hangzhou, China in 2012, the 2^nd CLEAR Conference was held in Chuncheon, Korea on October 5-8^th, 2014. The conference provided a platform for interaction between scientists, consultants and policy makers, who are responsible for improving our environment in order to cope with the rapid industrial development. High-standard plenary and keynote talks were presented by outstanding invited scholars. The conference focuses on the issues of environmental pollution & remediation (heavy metals, persistent organic/inorganic pollutants, emerging chemicals etc.), and environmental & health risk assessments.

Prof. Tang Xiangyu was invited as Chair to hold the conference session of “Transport” and delivered a presentation titled as “Subsurface colloid transport through soil and fractured mudrock on an agricultural slope” as keynote speaker. Dr. Chen Liu also made a report titled “Characterization of a Chinese commercial biochar and its long-term effects on soil water retention and DOM release in a sloping farmland” and won the Top 10 “Best Oral Presentation Award”.

Besides the attending of the academic conference, Prof. Tang and Dr. Liu also visited Kangwon National University and Korea Biochar Research Center as invited by the conference organizer, professor and director Yong Sik Ok. Both sides discussed further on the possibility of joint research on the related issues in the future. Overall, the visit provides an opportunity for the participants to know about IMHE, and exchange new ideas and findings in the field of environment pollution, risk assessment and remediation.