Staff Members

Home » Prof Hassina Mouri
Hassina Mouri

Prof Hassina Mouri

Professor
Name: Hassina Mouri
Location: C1 Lab 410 Auckland Park Kingsway Campus
Department of Geology Staff  Staff Members

Contact Details:
Tel: +27 (0)11 559 4706

Email: hmouri@uj.ac.za

About Prof Hassina Mouri

Awards

  • 2022: UNESCO Chair – Medical Geology in Africa
  • 2019: NRF B Rated Researcher
  • 2014: NRF C Rated Researcher
  • 2014: Dux Award (GIBS-UP/University of Johannesburg Vice-Chancellor Executive Leadership Development Program Award)
  • 2013: Stimulus Chapter Award – International Medical Geology Association.
  • 2010: African Union & European Union Joint Prestigious Women in Science Regional Award (Earth and Life Science).

Background Information

Hassina Mouri has an internationally recognised educational background. She studied and worked in different institutions on three continents (Africa, Europe and America). She is a metamorphic petrologist whose main fields of expertise are the Archaean High to Ultra-High Temperature (UHT) granulites and radiogenic isotope geology (U-Pb and Sm-Nd). Before joining UJ, Dr Mouri has studied and worked at several institutions, including University Paris; Museum National d’Histoire Naturel Paris; University of Helsinki; Geological Survey of Finland; Swedish Museum of Natural History; University of Minnesota and University of Pretoria. She worked in several geological environments, including Archaean granulites from the Hoggar Shield, Algeria; Svecofennian Paleoproterozoic migmatites, Finland; British Columbia granulites and migmatites, Canada; EGB granulites, India; Limpopo and the Namaqualand metamorphic belts, South Africa.

Since 2013, she started developing the discipline of Medical Geology. She focuses mainly on issues related to the African continent. She supervised several PG (M and D) students from different African countries, including Namibia, Ghana, Nigeria, Kenya and South Africa.

Prof Mouri has been invited to co-organise, chair scientific sessions and present her work at several international conferences. The most recent contribution was her invitation to the World Science Forum in Cape Town, in December 2022. Prof Mouri’s work is published in several international journals (profile available on Google Scholar, all 1st authors are PG students).

She was/is involved in several international committees and programs. This includes Secretary General of the Geological Society of Africa (2008-2012), Chair of the Organising Committee of the 23rd Colloquium of African Geology, organised for the first time in South Africa (University of Johannesburg) in January 2011, Councillor for the International Union of Geological Sciences (IUGS, 2012-2016), Vice President for the same union (2020-2024), Councillor for the International Medical Geology Association (IMGA, 2013-2015), member of of the advisory committee of the International Geological Congress (IGC) Korea, 2024.

In 2014 and 2018, she organised the 1st and 2nd International Symposia in Medical Geology in Africa (ISMGAf) at the University of Johannesburg in South Africa.

Research Interests

Teaching Responsibilities

  • Mineralogy: 1st Year (2008 – 2012)
  • Metamorphic Petrology: 2nd Year and Honours (2008 – 2022)
  • Field School – 1st Year
  • Medical Geology: Honours (2013 – present)

Recent Publications (names in blue as 1st authors are postgrad students and postdoctoral fellows)

  • Malepe RE , Candeias C and Mouri H (2022). Geochemical composition and potential health risk of geophagic materials: The case study of Limpopo Province, South Africa, International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health (accepted).
  • Malepe RE, Candeias C and Mouri H (2022). Geophagy and its potential human health implications – A review of South African cases.
  • Gevera PK, Dowling K , Gikuma-Njuru P , Mouri H (2022). Public Knowledge and Perception of Drinking Water Quality and Its Health Implications: An Example from the Makueni County, South-Eastern Kenya, International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health 19 (8), 4530.
  • Gevera PK, Cave M, Dowling K, Gikuma-Njuru P, Mouri H (2022). Potential fluoride exposure from selected food crops grown in high fluoride soils in the Makueni County, south-eastern Kenya, Environmental Geochemistry and Health, 1-15.
  • Tomašek I, Mouri H, et al. (2022). Naturally occurring potentially toxic elements in groundwater from the volcanic landscape around Mount Meru, Arusha, Tanzania and their potential health hazard, Science of the Total Environment 807, 150487.
  • Gevera PK, Mouri H (2021). Geochemical and mineralogical composition of geophagic materials from Baringo town, Kenyan Rift Valley and their possible health effects on the consumers, Environmental Geochemistry and Health 43 (11), 4831-4846.
  • Mouri, H (2021). Medical Geology In Africa: An example of an educational and research initiative at the University of Johannesburg, South Africa. In Selinus, O., Siegel, M., and Finkelman, R. (Ed.) Practical Applications of Medical Geology. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-53893-4_27
  • Mouri H (2020). Medical Geology and its relevance in Africa. South African Journal of Science. 116(5/6). https://doi.org/10.17159/sajs.2020/7699
  • Sanyaolu M, Mouri H, Odukoya M, Selinus O (2020). Source and pathways of iodine in the natural environment and its health effects on the thyroid gland: a review. In Selinus O, Siegel M, Finkelman R (Ed.) Practical Applications of Medical Geology, 565-613.
  • Gevera P, Cave M, Dowling K, Njuru P, Mouri H (2020). A review on the occurrence of some potentially harmful elements in the natural environment: the south-central Kenya region. In Selinus O, Siegel M, Finkelman R (Ed.) Practical Applications of Medical Geology, 637-670.
  • Gevera P, Cave M, Dowling K, Gikuma-Njuru P, Mouri H (2020). Naturally Occurring Potentially Harmful Elements in Groundwater in Makueni County, South-Eastern Kenya: Effects on Drinking Water Quality and Agriculture. Special issue “Perspectives on Environment and Human Health”. Geosciences 10 (2), 62.

  Participation at International Conferences (recent)

  • Mouri, 2022. Invited theme Speaker and panel discussion member on the role of Medical Geology at the World Science Forum, 6-9 December 2022, Cape Town, Thematic session “Costing the Earth: Geoscience for Sustainable Human Progress”
  • Mouri, 2022. Keynote Speaker at the International Conference on Science and Sustainable Development/2-Day Workshop, Nigeria, October 12-14/2022
  • Mouri, 2022. Invited Speaker, Geological Society of America, Colorado, October 9th to 12/2022
  • Mouri, 2022. Keynote Speaker at the International Event on “Global Geochemical Baselines, Assessing the geochemistry of life’s most vital Earth resources” organised in celebration of the 60th Anniversary of the International Union of Geological Sciences, October 10th, 2022
  • Mouri, 2022. Keynote Speaker, International Water Day, March 2022 (https://iugs60.org/world-water-day/)
  • Mouri, 2022. Invited honorary Speaker at the 3rd Colloquium on the Magheribide organised by the Geological Survey of Algeria and University of Setif, Algeria, 10-13th December, 2022
  • Mouri, 2021. Keynote Speaker, CGS conference, March 2021

  Conferences/Scientific Sessions Organised

  Press Releases/Media

  Social Media

Facebook: Medical Geology in Africa @ UJ
LinkedIn
Twitter
Google Scholar