About

The Executive Committee (2022-2023)

• 

  Per Nilsson (Driftwood Consulting AB– Sweden)

  Experienced radon expert with a demonstrated history of working in the environmental services industry. Skilled in Radiation Safety, Medical Devices, Sales, Customer Relationship Management (CRM), and Dosimetry. Strong business development skills.

• 

  Carmela Carpentieri (ISS – Italy)

  Carmela Carpentieri graduated in physics at “Federico II” University in Naples in 2000, studied for her PHD in high energy physics at “Albert Ludwig” University in Freiburg and post-graduated in medical physics at Pisa University. Since 2009, she has been working as a researcher of the National Center for Radiation Protection and Computational Physics, within the Italian National Institute of Health (Istituto Superiore di Sanità – ISS). Her research activities cover radioactivity, both from natural and artificial sources, from a radioprotection point of view, with a strong focus on radon isotopes. The areas of interest include measurement protocols and techniques, dosimetry, epidemiology, risk assessment, remediation and prevention, policies and regulation. She is involved in several projects national and international and also in activities within the current Italian National Radon Action Plan, as well as in developing the new NRAP according to the requirements of the 2013/59/Euratom directive.

• 

  Boris Dehandschutter (FANC – Belgium)

  Boris Dehandschutter is active in the field of radiation protection. The research topic of his PhD (in Geology, 2001) has been the structural evolution of sedimentary basins, using among others environmental radioactivity measurements and mapping. After post-doctoral research on the geological aspects of radioactive waste disposal (fracture development and fracture permeability of argillaceous sediments), he coordinated several international projects related to natural radioactivity and its environmental impact. Since 2007 he works at the Belgian radiation protection authority (FANC) on the topics of natural radioactivity (NORM and radon). He is responsible for the national radon programme of Belgium, including radon risk mapping, radon measurement campaigns in dwellings and workplaces, radon awareness activities, training and development of regulations regarding radon.

• 

  José - Luis Gutiérrez (Radonova laboratories AB – Sweden)

  José – Luis Gutiérrez Villanueva is specialist radon measurement advisor at Radonova Laboratories AB (Sweden). He is a PhD. on Physics with the Thesis entitled “Radon concentrations in air, soil and water in a granitic area: instrumental development and measurements“. His research involves radon gas and natural radioactivity as well as monitoring of radioactivity at steel factories. He has expertise on metrology techniques for natural and artificial radioactivity such as gamma spectrometry, liquid scintillation counting and measurement of radon gas both passive and active methods (air, soil and water).

• 

  Bernard Collignan (CSTB – France)

  Bernard Collignan is a Senior Research Engineer, Ph-D in the field of Fluid Mechanics and Energy. He works at the Centre Scientifique et Technique du Bâtiment (CSTB) since 1996, initially in thermal and ventilation of buildings and now in the field of Indoor Air Quality. He is involved for several years in the field of management of the impact of soil gaseous pollutants on Indoor Air Quality: industrial pollution (VOCs) or natural (radon). His work includes the development of models to study the transfer of soil gaseous pollutants to indoor environments for the characterization of indoor exposures, the development and the design of solutions to protect buildings from these pollutants, and in a more general way, as scientific and technical support for public authorities in the management of these issues and the dissemination of information to building professionals and users.

• 

  Maria Hansen (GM Scientific- UK))

  Maria Hansen is the Director of GM Scientific.  Maria has a PhD in particle physics, she ventured into the commercial side of passive track etch measurements. She worked for a spin-off company from Bristol university until last year, manufacturing CR-39, selling automated analysis equipment and setting up and running a radon measurement service. She has since been continuing the work with measurement laboratories, training staff, installing and maintaining equipment and provided equipment and materials when required. She has an interest in improving the materials used in the passive track etch technology to ultimately improve the measurement capability of these types of detectors to ensure the data used in research is as good as possible and the uncertainties minimised. Maria has been involved with the two radon bodies in the UK over the years; the UK Radon Association and The Radon Council before joining the ERA executive committee in 2017.

• 

  James Mc Laughlin(University College Dublin – Ireland)

  James Mc Laughlin is an Emeritus Academic Member of the School of Physics, University College Dublin where, inter alia, he was leader of the Radon Research Group. He is the author of circa 140 scientific publications mostly in the radon field. He is a Fellow of the Institute of Physics (London) and has also been Visiting Professor at the Faculty of Medicine, University of Belgrade. In the mid 1980s he designed and carried out the first national Irish survey of indoor radon which identified for the first time high radon areas in Ireland. He has been a participant in a number of European Commission and World Health Organisation activities in the field of Indoor Air Quality. Over the years he has participated in several research projects funded by the European Commission most recently as leader of the Radon Risk Communication Work Package in the RADPAR (Radon Prevention and Remediation) Project (2005-2009). He was also Leader of the Radon Risk Communication Working Group of the World Health Organisation International Radon Project (2005-2009) and on a number of occasions has served as a consultant/technical expert to the IAEA (International Atomic Energy Agency) on radon topics. Recently (2011-2014) he has been a member of the ICRU (International Commission on Radiation Units) Report Committee on Measurement and Reporting of Radon Exposures. He is a Member of the Environmental Radioactivity Advisory Committee to the Radiological Protection Institute of Ireland and was a member of the Irish Government Advisory Expert Committee on the introduction of the Workplace Smoking Ban Legislation in 2004. His current interest is in the area of risk communication in the context of strategies to reduce the public health impact of radon exposure in Europe.

• 

  Paulo Pinto (Radosys Atlantic – Portugal)

  Paulo Norte Pinto is the Managing Partner, Radosys Atlantic Lda based in Portugal. Paulo has worked for several years in the Natural Radioactivity Laboratory of the University of Coimbra, in Portugal, using different technologies and techniques, and co-designing the first radon mitigation projects in the country. In 2013 he co- founded the Radosys Atlantic, a spin-off company from the LRN and the Radosys. With activities in the Portuguese & Spanish speaking countries, and Africa, he has been responsible for the installation of several passive radon dosimetry laboratories, with local staff training.

• 

  Dobromir Pressyanov (U. Sofia – Bulgaria)

  Dobromir Pressyanov graduated nuclear physics in 1985 and worked as a health physicist in uranium industry and its health inspection till 1994. He acquired PhD in 1993 and DSc in 2013. Since 1994 Dr. Pressyanov works at Sofia University “St. Kliment Ohridski” where currently he is professor of physics (dosimetry and radiation protection). Most of his research (more than 120 publications and 4 patents) is related to radon and thoron. Particular topics that are worth to mention include retrospective measurements of radon and thoron (by CD/DVDs), organizing  radon surveys in radon priority areas in Bulgaria, consultancy on mitigation of buildings. So far Dobromir Pressyanov has provided technical consultancy for mitigation of 24 buildings (most of them kindergartens and schools) in Bulgaria and have designed two radon prevention systems in new buildings (kindergartens). He was engaged as an expert in the International Radon Project of the World Health Organisation (2005-2008). In 2017 he served as Guest editor of special issues of Journal of Environmental Radioactivity and Radiation Protection Dosimetry, dedicated to radon. He has been head/member of organizing or scientific committees of international conferences and invited lecturer at conferences and institutions in different countries in Europe and North America. He is involved in national and international radon related projects and frequently invited to speak on radon on TV and radio programs in Bulgaria.

• 

  Vladimir Udovicic (Institute of Physics Belgrade – Serbia)

  Vladimir Udovicic has Ph.D. in nuclear physics on the research focussed on light-ion induced nuclear reactions obtained by electrical discharges. After he completed Ph.D. in 2006, he started research work on radon topics:  radon monitoring using active and passive devices, study connections of meteorological variables and radon concentrations variability using multivariate classification and regression methods, modelling of the indoor radon behaviour and radon policy, action plan and mapping. From 1996 he is permanently employed in the Institute of Physics Belgrade, currently at the position of Senior Research Associate and Head of Low-Background Laboratory for Nuclear Physics.  From the beginning of the career, he worked on the national research projects of the Ministry of Science of the Republic of Serbia and international regional projects funded by IAEA as a counterpart for Serbia. From 2013, he is the chairman of the board of Serbian Radiation Protection and Nuclear Safety Agency, Serbian regulatory body in the field of radiation protection. From 2011, he is the member of the Executive Board of Society for Radiation Protection of Serbia and Montenegro.

• 

  Bety-Denissa Burghele (Babeș-Bolyai University, Romania)

  Bety-Denissa Burghele is a Senior Researcher with a PhD in the field of Environmental Sciences. Her expertise includes radon measurements and mitigations. She has published numerous scientific papers on radon and successfully implemented three national research projects as coordinator. She is a founding member of the European Radon Association and the vice-president of the Association of Radon Professionals from Romania. Her experience has been awarded nationally and internationally for relevant contributions to radon research. In 2018 she became a founding member of the LiRaCC laboratory, the first and most complex laboratory authorized to provide radon services for the Romanian public, where she holds the position of Technical Supervisor. In 2022 she started Radon Action SRL, the only radon mitigation company in Romania.

• 

  Valeria Gruber (AGES, Austria)

  Valeria Gruber is a physicist and has been working in the radon field for almost 20 years now, already during her diploma thesis (radon in soil gas measurements) at the Technical University Vienna. Afterwards she was as a researcher and finished her Ph.D. (natural radioactivity in drinking water) at the BOKU University. From 2010 to 2013 Valeria was a post-doc at the Joint Research Centre of the European Commission, REM group, in the field of the European Atlas of Natural Radiation. Since 2013 she is working at the National Radon Centre of Austria, AGES, and was and is responsible of developing and monitoring the Austrian Radon Action Plan, the Austrian Radon map and delineation of radon priority areas. Valeria has been involved in various activities in the radon field and is familiar with the requirements and implementation process of the EU-BSS, both from a national and European perspective. In addition, she is part of international research projects – e.g. RadoNorm, traceRadon, MetroRadon and does expert work for international organisations (e.g. IAEA, UNSCEAR, EC); Valeria is a member of radiation protection professional bodies (e.g. EURADOS, FS, ÖVS) and a proud founding member of ERA.

• 

  Gary Moss (TASL, UK)

  Gary Moss is the  managing Director of Track Analysis Systems ltd ( TASl) .  Gary began  his research career  designing detectors for cosmic ray physics and   medical imaging .Joining TASL in 1987,  he  started working on solid state nuclear track detectors and associated readout systems  for physics and dosimetry purposes, he has been involved with with radon detection and dosimeter analysis for 30 years. He  has been actively involved  with the two radon bodies in the UK , the UK Radon Association and The Radon Council  and internationally with COIRA  before  joining the ERA executive committee .

   

• 

  Monika Nordqvist (Eurofins Radon Laboratory, Sweden)

  Monika Karlsson have been working in the radon industry for commercial laboratories, currently managing and leading Eurofins Radon Global Competence Center. She has a background in mathematics and physics. She has been working as a radon measurement specialist for 6 years before she become Production Manager for one of the biggest radon laboratory in the world. During her time as radon measurement specialist she developed new procedures for measurements and  improved calibration routines together with Swedish Radiation Safety Authorities.

• 

  Antonio Angelo Parravicini (Mi.am S.r.l, Italy)

  Antonio Parravicini has been dealing with radon since his degree in physics in 1989, thesis focused on radioactivity in geological faults lines. In 1994, after training at Milan University, he founded Mi.am. The company’s mission has always been to provide radon professionals with the best and most technologically advanced equipment. While running a business, he especially enjoys working in the field. In almost 30 years, in collaboration with various research institutes, he has developed new technical solutions for radon monitors and SSNTD reading systems. He has held training courses in public institutions and private companies and has contributed to several publications. In recent years he has gained a significant experience in radon mitigation. In 2020 he was one of the founders of ASSORADON, the Italian Association of Radon Professionals, of which he has the honour of being President.