Dr Candan Desem

Candan is a Senior Environmental Scientist specialising in Isotope Geochemistry and a lecturer at the University of Melbourne in the School of Geography, Earth, and Atmospheric Sciences. Candan has more than 12 years of work experience in Geosciences, having worked in mineral exploration for 3 years prior to entering the environmental consulting field. Candan is an expert in isotope geochemistry, metal mobilisation and leaching, and laboratory analytical techniques utilising ICP-MS instruments and sampling. This area is the focus of Candan’s research which has included the completion of her PhD from The University of Melbourne in 2021, in which she developed the first Pb isotope regolith map of Australia to inform of the primary sources of Pb across the Australian continent in shallow soils.

Candan’s project areas include environmental impact assessments, preliminary site investigations including preliminary risk screening assessments (PRSA), detailed site investigations include assessment of the fate and transport of contaminants, assessment for statutory Environmental Audits and Environmental Auditor assistant work for the mining sector as well as for residential and commercial land development. Within these project areas, Candan has utilised her specialised geochemical expertise through the application of isotopic tracing techniques in regolith and groundwater surrounding operating mines to inform the presence, degree and spatial extent of metal contamination, as well as in the assessment of acid forming materials and the subsequent potential for metal mobilisation.