Juan Carlos Fernández-Caliani studied Geology at the University of Seville (Spain) where he received his BSc in 1987. He obtained his PhD at the University of Seville in 1994 and was awarded an honorary degree of Doctor of Earth Sciences. In his current position as an Associate Professor at the University of Huelva (Spain), his research focuses primarily on the sources, fate, and cycling of trace elements in the soil system, with an emphasis on the dynamics of heavy metals in abandoned mine lands and their potential impacts on the environment and human health.