Professor Nsikak Benson
B.Sc. (Chemistry); M.Sc. (Applied Chemistry); Ph.D (Environmental Chemistry), MACS, MRSC, MNES
College
School
Department
Research Interests
- Marine Biogeochemistry.
- Marine Plastics Pollution
- Ecological Risk Assessment
- Environmental Biogeochemistry of Inorganic and Organic Pollutants.
- Environmental Nanotechnology
- Climate Change
Awards & Honours
November 2018 Visiting Scholar, Institut des Sciences Analytiques, Lyon, France, under the French Government MOPGA Scholarship Programme.
June 2018 Mundus maris asbl Award for World Ocean Day 2018
June 2017 European Union-GEOMAR Travel grant to attend the AtlantOS European Project Workshop/High-Level Ministerial and Scientific Meeting, Lisbon, Portugal, 12 – 14 July 2017.
May 2017 - American Chemical Society Travel Grant to attend ACS Global Chemists’ Code of Ethics Science & Technology Leadership Institute, Nairobi, Kenya.
November 2016 - Royal Society of Chemistry UK-Pan Africa Chemistry Network Travel grant to attend training course on Gas Chromatography with Mass Spectrometry: A Hands-on Approach, University of Lagos, Nigeria.
May 2016 European Union-GEOMAR Travel grant to attend the official General Assembly (GA), WP5 meeting/workshop of the Horizon 2020 AtlantOS European Project at Steigenberger Conti Hansa, Schloßgarten 7, Kiel Germany, 29 June – 1 July.
February 2011 - Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission-UNESCO Travel Grant to Plymouth Marine Laboratory, UK.
2011 - Alfred-Wegener Institute, the Helmholtz Centre Geesthacht and the Baltic Sea Research Institute Joint Travel Grant to attend 9thSummer School on Coastal Research in Lauenburg and Büsum, Germany.
2010 - UNDP Travel Grant to attend UNFCCC, Cancun, Mexico.
November 2010 - IOC-UNESCO Travel Grant to attend Workshop Series for Adaptation to Climate Change in Africa, Nairobi, Kenya.
2010 - UNESCO-IOC Young African Science Fellowship, UNESCO, Paris.
2010 - High Impact Journal Award, Covenant University, Nigeria.
November 2010 - Appeared in 10th International SOLAS newsletter
2009 - Scientific Committee on Oceanic Research (SCOR) Travel Grant to attend 4th SOLAS International Summer School, Corsica, France.
2009 - Platform Best Improvement Award, SOLAS Summer School, France.
2008 – 2009 - Fulbright Foreign Student Fellowship, Department of Atmospheric, Space and Oceanic Sciences, University of Wisconsin, U.S.A.
2009 - Certificate of Achievement, Institute of International Education, New York
2007 - START-NSF African Young Scientist Award, U.S.A.
2003 - Akwa Ibom State Graduate Student Research Scholarship, Nigeria.
Teaching Areas
1. Environmental Chemistry
2. Marine Chemistry
3. Analytical Chemistry
4. Environmetrics
Selected Publications (42)
4. Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons (PAHs) Occurrence and Toxicity in Camellia sinensis and Herbal Tea
[ Download 803.30 kB ] [Visit]5. Characterisation of Polychlorinated Biphenyls in Coastal Inland Seawater, Nigeria
[ Download 331.43 kB ] [Visit]11. Aflatoxin contamination of some edible grains from Lagos and Ota markets, Nigeria
[ Download 159.67 kB ] [Visit]20. Observed trends of pCO2 and air-sea CO2 fluxes in the North Atlantic Ocean.
[ Download 742.40 kB ]26. Water pollution
[Visit]28. Carbon cycle
[Visit]29. Global Warming
[Visit]30. Mercury accumulation in fishes from tropical aquatic ecosystems in the Niger Delta, Nigeria
[ Download 1.39 MB ] [Visit]Collaboration/Linkages
2. Cycling in the Sunlit Ocean Research Group, Plymouth Marine Laboratory, UK.
3. McKinley Biogeochemistry Research Group, University of Wisconsin, USA.
4. Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission (IOC)-UNESCO, France.
5. Institute of Coastal Research, Helmholtz-Zentrum Geesthacht Centre for Materials and Coastal Research.
6. Fulbright Alumni Association, USA.
Conferences Attended
2. Nsikak U. Benson, Arne Körtzinger and Francis E. Asuquo., 2014. [Oral Presentation]. Modelling spatial and temporal pCO2 variability in the North Atlantic Ocean. 7th International Conference on Environmental Science and Technology, June 9-13, 2014, Houston, Texas, USA.
3. Nsikak Benson; Galen McKinley; Oladele Osibanjo; Francis Asuquo., 2011. [Poster Presentation]. Modeling basin-scale pCO2 temporal and spatial variability in the North Atlantic Ocean. World Climate Research Programme Open Science Conference, 24-28 October 2011, Denver, CO, USA. Poster Session C44: The Changing Role of the Ocean and Land in the Global Carbon Balance (Conveners: C. Sabine, T. Tanhua, V. Romanovsky, J. Canadell).
4. Nsikak U. Benson., 2011. [Oral Presentation]. 9th Joint Summer School on Coastal Research: Climate Change and Impact in the North Sea, Lauenburg and Busum, North Germany. 19th – 30th September, 2011.
5. Nsikak U. Benson., 2011. [Oral Presentation]. Nigeria: Climate Change and our future. Cycling in the Sunlit Ocean, Plymouth Marine Laboratory, UK. 6th March, 2011.
6. Nsikak U. Benson., 2010. [Poster Presentation]. Real-time ocean-atmosphere CO2 fluxes. First Analysis, Integration and Modeling of the Earth System (AIMES) Open Science Conference, 10-13 May 2010, Edinburgh International Conference Centre (EICC), Edinburgh, UK.
7. Nsikak U. Benson., 2010. [Oral Presentation]. Nigeria's National Priorities for Implementing Adaptation to Climate. UNESCO/IOC Workshop Series for Adaptation to Climate Change in Africa, Nairobi, Kenya, 3-5 November 2010.
8. Nsikak U. Benson., 2010. Modeling pCO2 variability and air–sea CO2 fluxes in the North Atlantic. SOLAS Newsletter, Issue 10, p.26. Available at: http://www.solas-int.org/news/newsletter/files/issue10.pdf
9. Benson, N. U., McKinley, G. A., Bennington, V. and Polzin, D., 2009. Seasonal pCO2 cycle and air-sea CO2 fluxes in the North Atlantic basins: Processes, modeling and variability of regional ocean carbon exchange. [Poster Presentation]. 4th SOLAS International Summer School, 3rd – 15th August 2009. Cargese, Corsica, France.
10. Benson, N. U., McKinley, G. A., Bennington, V. and Polzin, D., 2009. [Oral Presentation]. Modeling seasonal spatiotemporal variability of oceanic pCO2 cycle in the Northeast Atlantic region. 4th SOLAS International Summer School, 3rd – 15th August 2009. Cargese, France.
11. G. A. McKinley, D. Ullman, V. Bennington, N. Benson, A. Fay, S. Dutkiewicz., 2008. The Changing North Atlantic Carbon Sink: 1992-2006, AGU Fall Meeting Abstracts, 12/2008.
12. Nsikak U. Benson and Joseph P. Essien., 2008. [Oral Presentation]. Petroleum hydrocarbons burden in Qua Iboe estuarine epipellic and benthic sediments. 1st International Workshop on “Aquatic Toxicology and Biomonitoring”, August 27th to 29th, 2008, Vodňany, Czech Republic.
13. Nsikak U. Benson. 2007. [Oral Presentation]. E-waste: Sources, environmental concerns and waste management practices in Nigeria. First International Conference on Environmental Research, Technology and Policy (ERTEP) July 16-19, 2007, Accra, Ghana. A1.7, p. 16
14. Nsikak U. Benson, Joseph P. Essien and Sylvester P. Antai. 2007. [Oral Presentation]. Seasonal dynamics of physicochemical properties and heavy metal burdens in Mangrove sediments and surface waters of the brackish Qua Iboe Estuary, Nigeria. First International Conference on Environmental Research, Technology and Policy (ERTEP) July 16-19, 2007, Accra, Ghana. F3.9, p. 16
15. A. B. Williams and Nsikak U. Benson. 2007. [Abstract]. Seasonal Temporal Variation of Physicochemical Parameters in Pelagic Column of Tropical Estuarine Ecosystems within Niger Delta, Nigeria. First International Conference on Environmental Research, Technology and Policy (ERTEP), La Palm Royal Beach Hotel, Accra, Ghana. July 16-19, 2007. E2.20, p. 50.
16. Nsikak U. Benson, Joseph P. Essien and Sylvester P. Antai. 2007. [Oral Presentation]. Assessment of coastal estuarine contamination by total petroleum hydrocarbons (TPHs) and heavy metal in mangrove sediments and Tympanotonus fuscatus from the Niger Delta region of Nigeria. First International Conference on Environmental Research, Technology and Policy (ERTEP) July 16-19, 2007, Accra, Ghana. C2.18, p.39
17. Benson, N.U., Essien, J.P. and Antia, S.P. 2006. [Oral Presentation].Total petroleum hydrocarbons (TPHs) and heavy metal levels in Mangrove sediments and TPH accumulation by Tympanotonus fuscatus from the brackish Qua Iboe Estuary, Nigeria. Proceedings of the Egyptian 1st International Conference for Chemistry held in Sharm El-Sheikh (South of Sinai, Egypt), September 11-14, 2006.