General InformationVenue: Prague or Vienna (to be confirmed)Dates: October 2026 (to be confirmed)Working language: English
Conference FormatDay 1 — Plenary and thematic scientific sessions.Day 2 — Thematic roundtable discussions. Topics will be defined in advance, and participants will receive prepared analytical materials.Day 3 — Strategic discussions on the development of joint expedition-based research and collaborative funding initiatives focused on military-related contamination of soils and freshwater systems.
Organizers● Pollution and Diseases (scientific journal)● New Euro Vision: exhibitions, marketing, research s.r.o. — organizational coordination and logistical support.● Partner organizations (in formation).
Conference Co-Chairs• Kenneth R. Olson, PhD, Professor Emeritus of Soil Science, Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Sciences (NRES), College of Agricultural, Consumer and Environmental Sciences (ACES), University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign, Illinois, USA — scientific program.• Dmitry Nikolaenko, PhD, Doctor Habilitatus, New Euro Vision Group, Independent Expert in Environmental and Health Sciences, Prague, Czech Republic — organizational and coordination matters.
Conference RationaleThe armed conflict in Ukraine has persisted for more than eleven years, with the full-scale war ongoing for over three years. One of its most severe consequences has been the large-scale degradation of the natural environment, particularly soil and freshwater systems, driven by sustained military activity.
Accumulated scientific evidence demonstrates that the consequences of military-induced environmental contamination are long-term and cumulative. Historical cases, notably the Vietnam War, which ended decades ago, show that chemical and technogenic contamination continues to affect ecosystems and human health many years after hostilities cease.
Contemporary military conflicts pose fundamentally new challenges for environmental and health sciences. Addressing these challenges requires interdisciplinary, methodologically rigorous, and internationally coordinated research approaches to understand war-driven transformations of soil and freshwater systems.
Aims and Objectives of the Conference• To stimulate fundamental and applied research on military-related contamination of soils and freshwater systems.• To facilitate the formation of international expert teams capable of conducting high-level scientific investigations in regions affected by military activity.• To promote discussion and dissemination of advanced methodological and technological approaches for studying war-induced environmental contamination.• To establish a scientific foundation for future expedition-based and long-term monitoring programs.
Main Scientific Themes1. Morphology of military-related contamination of soils and freshwater systemsMilitary impacts should be understood not as isolated contamination events, but as systemic drivers capable of triggering large-scale, multi-level transformations in vulnerable natural environments, particularly soils and aquatic ecosystems.2. Ecocide and its manifestations in soil and freshwater systemsSystematic analysis of ecosystem destruction resulting from military activities, including the destruction of reservoirs and the associated cascading ecological and socio-environmental consequences.3. The Vietnam War: chemical contamination and its long-term consequencesExamination of historical experience and contemporary research addressing delayed ecological and medico-biological effects of military chemical contamination.4. The war in Ukraine: soils and freshwater systems under military impactInvestigation of war-related contamination effects, including degradation of unique soil resources—most notably Ukrainian chernozems—and transformation of freshwater systems.5. The polygon approachDetailed investigation of the most heavily impacted terrestrial and aquatic areas as scientific “polygons”: selection criteria, research methodologies, data interpretation, and long-term monitoring potential.6. Snake Island in the Black Sea as a model siteComprehensive study of the island and its surrounding marine area as one of the natural complexes most affected by military activity. Assessment of its potential for geoecological and ecotoxicological monitoring.7. Theoretical aspects of military contamination researchEvaluation of the adequacy of existing theoretical models for describing processes driven by military impacts, and the need for their refinement or expansion.8. Methodological challengesCritical analysis of currently applied methodologies, limitations of conventional approaches, and strategies for minimizing information loss when studying complex and dynamic processes of military-related contamination.
Publication of Conference MaterialsAll conference materials are planned for publication in the journal Pollution and Diseases.https://pollution-diseases.org
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