A chemist by training. Joseph Govan studied nanochemistry under professor Yurii Gun´ko in Trinity College Dublin in Ireland. After a postdoc in the same institution he moved to Chile and performed postdoctoral work with professor Humberto Palza and then Professor Federico Tasca. Since 2020 he has been a faculty member in the department of engineering and soils of the faculty of agricultural science of the University of Chile . His research interests include nanomaterials, nanochemistry the use of nanomaterials in agriculture, nanofertilizers, sustainable nanotecnology, chirality in nanosystems, and nanotechnology for environmental remediation.