Collegium Helveticum
Switzerland
fellow
Nikou Hamzehpour
2024-2025
Home institution
University of Maragheh
Country of origin (home institution)
Iran
Discipline(s)
Earth, environmental and climate sciences; Geography
Theme(s)
Environment, Sustainability & Biodiversity
Fellowship dates
›
Biography
Nikou Hamzehpour is an associate professor of soil science at the University of Maragheh (IR), focusing on environmental degradation processes. Her work has primarily examined different aspects of Lake Urmia recession (in the northwest of Iran) as a consequence of both climate change and anthropogenic activities, including soil-landscape evolution, soil salinization in agricultural lands, geomorphology of newly formed lands, and their susceptibility to wind erosion.
In 2020, Nikou visited the Atmospheric Chemistry group at ETH Zurich for one year as a visiting grantee and accomplished a project on the ice nucleation activity of dust particles and their influence on climate change, evaluating the effect of different fractions of saline-lacustrain sediments on cloud formation. She has recently been focusing on dust source stabilization using both locally available and environmentally safe mulches, as well as the role of soil organic matter in combating wind erosion. In 2024, she received an ETH4D grant to research the improvement of soil organic matter as a key indicator of soil quality in semi-arid regions.
Research Project
Susceptibility of Terrestrial Ecosystems to Degradation: The Interactive Effects of Land Use and Climate Change
The desiccation of salt lakes, driven by both climate change and unbalanced water use by agricultural sectors in arid and semiarid regions, is increasingly leading to the formation of new dust sources around the world. The detachment and wind transport of saline aerosols not only influence cloud formation at higher altitudes but also reduce soil fertility when deposited on agricultural lands, thereby threatening food security. This project focuses on the role of fine aerosol particles, originating from both degraded saline agricultural lands and the dried bed of Urmia Lake (northwest Iran), in cloud formation. It aims to develop a proposal to enhance soil organic matter—a key indicator of soil quality—in a semi-arid context, emphasizing regenerative land management practices.
Research Interests:
aerosol science; cloud formation; salt lake desiccation; climate change; water management; agriculture; food security; soil fertility; dust emissions; saline soils; land degradation; regenerative land management; soil organic matter.