Mitigating the risk of micropollutants in the environment
Lead Research Organisation:
Newcastle University
Department Name: Civil Engineering and Geosciences
Abstract
The vision of this research is to achieve a chemical safe world where the benefits of modern products and processes can be enjoyed by all without undue detriment to the planetary ecosystem on which all life depends. It aims to improve our understanding and prediction of a key uncertainty (i.e. microbial biotransformation) that underpins ways in which society can reduce the risks posed by potentially hazardous chemicals to environmental and human health. Such chemicals are manufactured and present in many everyday products that benefit the health and well-being of consumers world-wide, and the economic prosperity and productivity of societies, examples include: personal care, domestic and hygiene products; pesticides; pharmaceuticals; and plastics. Environmental and human exposure to these chemicals can occur throughout the life cycle of a product; from its manufacture, distribution and use, to exposure after disposal and breakdown of the product. There has been widespread concern about the pervasive use of chemicals and their potential dangerous side-effects on wildlife and humans ever since Rachel Carson's landmark book in 1962 about the environmental hazards of the pesticide DDT. For instance, the 'feminising' effects on fish populations caused by low concentrations of natural and synthetic estrogens (e.g. in the contraceptive pill) and their chemical mimics (so-called micropollutants) is well publicised. It is widely suspected, though not proven, that many micropollutants are linked to cancers, reproductive and developmental diseases in humans. In fact there has been a relative rise in the incidence of such chronic diseases in the last two decades, making them surpass infectious diseases as the biggest global killer. These facts together with other case studies of environmental, occupational and consumer hazards, have led the European Union to enact the precautionary principle in a number of comprehensive legislative directives including chemical regulation and management of the water environment to protect the environment and human health. Analysis has shown that the benefit of such measures far out way their costs.The ways in which we can reduce risks to these chemicals are: i) by identifying hazardous chemicals and restricting their manufacture, distribution and use more effectively - so called chemical regulationii) by improving engineered technologies to remove hazardous chemical pollutants when they are released into the environment e.g. wastewater treatment worksiii) designing chemicals that have no hazardous properties - so called green chemicals . Microbial biotransformations, such as biodegradation by bacteria, play a direct and key role in each of these risk reduction strategies. In chemical regulation (i above), biodegradation is one of the most important factors in determining the extent and likelihood that a given chemical will persist in the environment (air, water, soil and sediment) and therefore the likely concentration to which wildlife and humans will be exposed. Known hazardous (toxic) chemicals tend to persist longer than non-hazardous ones. Biodegradation is also a central process in which many engineered technologies remove chemical pollutants (ii above). We also need to evaluate biodegradation in order to understand what chemical structures are resistant to biodegradation, and thereby avoid their use in the design of new products (iii above). This research has two objectives towards providing greater certainty and improvements in risk mitigation strategies:1. To build a world class team to tackle this challenging issue.2. To discover the fundamental rules that govern micropollutant biotransformation through case studies.The research will benefit policy-makers, governmental regulatory agencies, the chemical and water industries, and eventually the whole of society as this scientific understanding improves ways in which chemical risks are managed.
Planned Impact
Our project partners will benefit most immediately from the research as they will have greater access to the knowledge and data that we generate, the expertise and facilities we possess, and the technologies and tools that we develop. Our project partners are; - AstraZeneca (in particular their regulatory ecotoxicology lab, Brixham Environmental Laboratory), which is a world-leading pharmaceutical company; - Northumbrian Water Ltd., a large water and sewerage service provider; - Unilever, a global domestic, personal, and food-product company; and - UK Water Industry Research Ltd., an organisation subscribed by UK water operators to facility research on one voice issues. The other primary beneficiaries of the research will be other chemical and water industries, their representatives (e.g. UKWIR, the European Chemical Industries Council), their governmental regulators (e.g. the Environment Agency, Health and Safety Executive, and Defra in the UK), and decision-makers in the UK and elsewhere. The immediate wider tangible benefits of the research will be: 1. greater dialogue between the chemical and water industry and their regulators 2. a knowledge base with which to; o improve the prioritisation, screening and hazard classification of chemicals, through a combination of improved internationally-recognised regulatory tests, strategies and predictive models o reduce micropollutant pollution with little or no extra energy/carbon costs by effectively operating existing wastewater treatment works or appropriate cost-effective decisions on investing in new technologies o provide sound evidence for better decision-making (policy) on appropriate micropollutant mitigation strategies o generate an information database of the effect that chemical structures have on the fate of micropollutants 3. the provision of highly qualified, skilled and interdisciplinary environmental engineers and scientists trained to lead organisations and take on future societal challenges In the medium to long term this will lead to: 1. new information, guidance, tools (e.g. software/computer models) and technologies (water and wastewater treatment) to better manage the risks posed by chemicals. 2. greener chemicals that have the beneficial functions required for the consumer, without any of the detrimental side-effects to the environment or human health. This could be a source of economic prosperity for chemical and water industries, and regulators in the UK and elsewhere. Some of our partners are international but UK based companies that are well placed to be at the forefront of such benefits. Overall it should improve the competitiveness of UK and international chemical companies operating in the European Union by streamlining the manufacture of chemicals in favour of less hazardous ones. In the long-term our science will help to implement the precautionary principle in a sustainable way with respect to chemical hazards thus: 1. improving the environment in which we live, thereby reducing costs to clean it up 2. improving the health, wealth and well-being of society as a consequence of preventative measures to reduce risks to health and the environment posed by hazardous chemicals.
Organisations
- Newcastle University (Lead Research Organisation)
- British Council (Collaboration)
- Unilever (Netherlands) (Collaboration)
- Swiss Federal Institute of Aquatic Science and Technology (Collaboration)
- AstraZeneca (United Kingdom) (Collaboration, Project Partner)
- CENTRE FOR ENVIRONMENT, FISHERIES AND AQUACULTURE SCIENCE (Collaboration)
- Department For Environment, Food And Rural Affairs (DEFRA) (Collaboration)
- Shell International Petroleum (Collaboration)
- Environment Agency (Collaboration)
- Northumbrian Water (Collaboration)
- European Centre for Ecotoxicology and Toxicology of Chemicals (ECETOC) (Collaboration)
- Unilever (United Kingdom) (Project Partner)
- Northumbrian Water Group plc (Project Partner)
- UK Water Industry Research (Project Partner)
People |
ORCID iD |
Russell Davenport (Principal Investigator) |
Publications
Harthern-Flint SL
(2021)
Experimental and Genomic Evaluation of the Oestrogen Degrading Bacterium Rhodococcus equi ATCC13557.
in Frontiers in microbiology
Komolafe O
(2019)
Quantification of polybrominated diphenyl ether (PBDE) congeners in wastewater by gas chromatography with electron capture detector (GC-ECD)
in Analytical Methods
Komolafe O
(2021)
Occurrence and removal of micropollutants in full-scale aerobic, anaerobic and facultative wastewater treatment plants in Brazil.
in Journal of environmental management
Komolafe Oladapo Opemido
(2018)
Investigating micropollutant removal in sustainable biological wastewater systems
Kowalczyk A
(2015)
Refinement of biodegradation tests methodologies and the proposed utility of new microbial ecology techniques.
in Ecotoxicology and environmental safety
Markiewicz M
(2017)
Primary degradation of antidiabetic drugs.
in Journal of hazardous materials
Martin T
(2018)
Improving the ecological relevance of aquatic bacterial communities in biodegradability screening assessments
in Science of The Total Environment
Martin TJ
(2017)
High Throughput Biodegradation-Screening Test To Prioritize and Evaluate Chemical Biodegradability.
in Environmental science & technology
Martin TJ
(2017)
Environmentally Relevant Inoculum Concentrations Improve the Reliability of Persistent Assessments in Biodegradation Screening Tests.
in Environmental science & technology
Description | The main objectives of this research were i) to build a research team that both improve research capacity, knowledge and expertise in the field of micropollutant risk mitigation. ii) develop a strategy through case studies with which to understand the rules that govern micropollutant biotransformation through: discovering genes involved in micropollutant degradation; developing predictive models for biodegradation; examining the extent of micropollutants in low to middle income countries; investigating and developing sustainable engineering solutions to help reduce micropollutant concentrations; and provide expert dialogue with academia, industry and regulators. The project was aimed at gathering scientific evidence in three areas of risk mitigation; i) identifying hazardous (persistent) chemicals and restricting their manufacture, distribution and use more effectively - so called chemical regulation ii) improving engineered technologies to remove hazardous chemical pollutants when they are released into the environment e.g. wastewater treatment works iii) designing chemicals that have no hazardous properties - so called "green chemicals" The Challenging Engineering award allowed the building of a research group and the development of allied research (objective 1). The award certainly helped to provide the impetus to win further research awards and the research group peaked at 15 members during the award. Four postgraduate students directly linked to the project successfully gained their PhDs and further allied student project also gained a PhD. Some prior members developed or are developing their own independent research paths in allied topics in the same of other research institutes. Others have followed a career into environmental policy and the pharmaceutical industry. Many of the objectives under objective 2 have been met, though some of the formal outputs are yet to be published, since the postgraduate student research periods extended beyond the official project end or because further research evidence was needed. These will be forthcoming in the current year and beyond. Progress was made on identifying genes important in estrogen degradation through a combination of bioinformatics approaches, with some good evidence of their role in the biodegradation pathway (publications currently in draft). The same strategy could be used to identify putative genes involved in other biodegradation pathways. The natural and synthetic estrogens are some of those micropollutants for which there is currently much evidence of their potent effect on biota and the environment. Two of the estrogens are the first natural hormone and pharmaceutical chemicals for which there is prospective legislation limiting their concentration in water bodies. We have investigated how flow patterns in existing wastewater treatment plants could be modified relatively inexpensively to help reduce the concentrations of the estrogens and other pollutants in receiving watercourses to values below the prospective legislation (Coello-Garcia et al., 2019, Water Research). This may circumvent or reduce the need of expensive and energy-intensive additional treatments that are currently being piloted for implementation. We have also shown that microbial diversity plays an important role in the ability of different wastewater treatment plants to degrade some estrogens. We have developed statistical models that can predict how different chemical structures influence biodegradation rates (Acharya et al., 2019a,b, Water Research) and how it relates to the catabolic potential of an environment determined through the abundance of catabolic genes (publication drafted). Such models may be useful in replacing expensive laboratory biodegradation tests required for the regulatory registration of chemicals. We have studied the fate of different classes of micropollutant through three different types of wastewater treatment plant in Brazil (a low to middle income country, Oladapo et al., 2021, J. Environ. Management). This is one of the first few studies to examine the fate of micropollutants in South America and to compare micropollutant fate in low energy and energy-intensive wastewater treatment technologies. We have made significant progress in the improvement of the reliability of biodegradation screening tests for identifying persistent chemicals, which could help to reduce unnecessary further fish testing and other costly tests (Ott et al., 2019, 2020, Science of the Total Environment, 2021 Environmental Science and Technology). This would help to identify those chemicals of most concern to human health and the environment quicker. The test has been accepted as international guideline tests under the Convention for Protection of the Marine Environment of the North East Atlantic (OSPAR). It is also being considered as an international standard persistence and biodegradation test via the OECD, and has passed the first hurdle in that process. |
Exploitation Route | Through further research council funding and specific research collaborations with industry and regulators. Applications to introduce new tests into international regulation. |
Sectors | Agriculture, Food and Drink,Chemicals,Environment,Pharmaceuticals and Medical Biotechnology |
Description | The Challenging Engineering award has been used alongside other funding from the Eurpean Chemical Industry Council (Cefic) to further develop more accurate and reliable tests that screen chemicals for their potential to be persistent in the environment - a recognised hazard for which chemicals can be regulated under the Registration Evaluation Authorisation and restriction of Chemicals (REACH) directive. Current tests result in many false negative results from chemicals that then require further expensive testing and the use of fish testing. We estimate that our test, if used, could save more than 600 fish and approximately $75,000 for each false negative chemical that avoids further unnecessary testing. The science has been published and further cited in regulatory guidance documents and technical documents from regulatory agencies and non-governmental organisations. Part of this research has resulted in a new screening test for chemical persistence in seawater that is receiving strong support by the UK authorities for submission as a new test guideline. It has been accepted as a new test by the Convention for the Protection of the Marine Environment of the North-East Atlantic (OSPAR) Commission (supported by Cefas). It is currently being supported by the UK government (Defra) through as a potential new international standard test guideline under the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), and is currently progressing through this process. |
First Year Of Impact | 2020 |
Sector | Chemicals,Environment |
Impact Types | Societal,Economic,Policy & public services |
Description | Citation in German Environment Agency technical review/report |
Geographic Reach | Multiple continents/international |
Policy Influence Type | Citation in other policy documents |
URL | https://echa.europa.eu/documents/10162/23047722/ir_csa_r7b_pbt_caracal_draft_en.pdf/1526c738-afa2-8b... |
Description | Citation in regulatory guidance document for chemical risk and hazard assessment |
Geographic Reach | Europe |
Policy Influence Type | Citation in other policy documents |
URL | https://echa.europa.eu/documents/10162/13632/information_requirements_r7b_en.pdf |
Description | New biodegradation test method included in the Convention for the Protection of the Marine Environment in the North East Atlantic (OSPAR) for testing of chemicals. |
Geographic Reach | Europe |
Policy Influence Type | Citation in other policy documents |
Impact | The test is now available to those industrial companies wishing to use and potentially release chemicals into the North Atlantic. This will allow more accurate screening of chemicals, which can avoid expenditure on more expensive tests and potentially the use of animal tests with an associated cost saving of $75,000 per chemical. It will also enable the process to better identify those chemicals most likely to do harm in the environment. |
Description | Bright IDEAS |
Amount | £248,333 (GBP) |
Funding ID | EP/M017737/1 |
Organisation | Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) |
Sector | Public |
Country | United Kingdom |
Start | 01/2015 |
End | 12/2017 |
Description | British Council Newton Fund |
Amount | £80,000 (GBP) |
Funding ID | 331945729 |
Organisation | British Council |
Sector | Charity/Non Profit |
Country | United Kingdom |
Start | 04/2018 |
End | 03/2020 |
Description | Business Engagement Funding (IAA) |
Amount | £5,944 (GBP) |
Organisation | Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) |
Sector | Public |
Country | United Kingdom |
Start | 06/2020 |
End | 05/2021 |
Description | CEFIC LRi |
Amount | £42,000 (GBP) |
Funding ID | ECO11.3 |
Organisation | International Council of Chemical Associations (ICCA) |
Department | European Chemical Industry Council (CEFIC) |
Sector | Charity/Non Profit |
Country | Belgium |
Start | 03/2018 |
End | 04/2019 |
Description | CEFIC LRi extension award |
Amount | £146,709 (GBP) |
Funding ID | ECO11.2 |
Organisation | International Council of Chemical Associations (ICCA) |
Department | European Chemical Industry Council (CEFIC) |
Sector | Charity/Non Profit |
Country | Belgium |
Start | 11/2016 |
End | 07/2017 |
Description | Cefic LRi |
Amount | € 50,000 (EUR) |
Funding ID | ECO11.2 |
Organisation | International Council of Chemical Associations (ICCA) |
Department | European Chemical Industry Council (CEFIC) |
Sector | Charity/Non Profit |
Country | Belgium |
Start | 01/2016 |
End | 04/2016 |
Description | DST UKIERI Thematic Partnership |
Amount | £26,000 (GBP) |
Funding ID | IND/CONT.G/17-18/48 |
Organisation | British Council |
Sector | Charity/Non Profit |
Country | United Kingdom |
Start | 04/2018 |
End | 03/2020 |
Description | EPSRC Impact Acceleration Award |
Amount | £70,000 (GBP) |
Organisation | Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) |
Sector | Public |
Country | United Kingdom |
Start | 04/2019 |
End | 11/2019 |
Description | EPSRC STREAM EngD/Industrial |
Amount | £60,000 (GBP) |
Organisation | Northumbrian Water |
Sector | Private |
Country | United Kingdom |
Start | 10/2011 |
End | 09/2016 |
Description | EPSRC STREAM EngD/Industrial |
Amount | £60,000 (GBP) |
Organisation | Northumbrian Water |
Sector | Private |
Country | United Kingdom |
Start | 10/2016 |
End | 09/2020 |
Description | EU Marie Sklodowska-Curie Global Fellowship |
Amount | £172,353 (GBP) |
Funding ID | 660815 (ReArrhenius) |
Organisation | European Commission |
Sector | Public |
Country | European Union (EU) |
Start | 04/2016 |
End | 03/2019 |
Description | Follow-on industrial funding extension |
Amount | £88,000 (GBP) |
Organisation | AstraZeneca |
Sector | Private |
Country | United Kingdom |
Start | 02/2017 |
End | 10/2017 |
Description | Global Innovation Initiative |
Amount | £150,000 (GBP) |
Organisation | British Council |
Sector | Charity/Non Profit |
Country | United Kingdom |
Start | 04/2014 |
End | 03/2017 |
Description | IMAGINE: INNOVATIVE TECHNOLOGIES FOR RAPIDLY SURVEYING, MAPPING AND COMMUNICATING WATERBORNE HAZARDS |
Amount | £477,153 (GBP) |
Funding ID | EP/P028527/1 |
Organisation | Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) |
Sector | Public |
Country | United Kingdom |
Start | 05/2017 |
End | 04/2020 |
Description | Industrial funding |
Amount | £181,942 (GBP) |
Organisation | AstraZeneca |
Sector | Private |
Country | United Kingdom |
Start | 05/2014 |
End | 04/2016 |
Description | Institute of Agri-Food Research Innovation studentship |
Amount | £57,880 (GBP) |
Organisation | Fera Science Limited |
Sector | Public |
Country | United Kingdom |
Start | 10/2016 |
End | 09/2019 |
Description | Institute of Agri-Food Research Innovation studentship |
Amount | £58,000 (GBP) |
Organisation | Fera Science Limited |
Sector | Public |
Country | United Kingdom |
Start | 10/2018 |
End | 09/2021 |
Description | Internal Studentship - Joint bioinformatics for micropollutant degradation pathways |
Amount | £50,000 (GBP) |
Organisation | Newcastle University |
Sector | Academic/University |
Country | United Kingdom |
Start | 10/2015 |
End | 09/2018 |
Description | Promoting the use of next generation sequence technologies for soil quality assessment and environmental monitoring |
Amount | £25,000 (GBP) |
Organisation | Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) |
Sector | Public |
Country | United Kingdom |
Start | 01/2011 |
End | 06/2012 |
Description | Royal Society International Exchange |
Amount | £120,000 (GBP) |
Funding ID | IEC\R3\183073 |
Organisation | The Royal Society |
Sector | Charity/Non Profit |
Country | United Kingdom |
Start | 03/2019 |
End | 03/2021 |
Description | Strategic Equipment Process |
Amount | £1,196,635 (GBP) |
Funding ID | EP/P001564/1 |
Organisation | Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) |
Sector | Public |
Country | United Kingdom |
Start | 07/2016 |
End | 06/2019 |
Description | Collaboration with AstraZeneca |
Organisation | AstraZeneca |
Country | United Kingdom |
Sector | Private |
PI Contribution | Investigating the development of a high throughput biodegradation screening assay |
Collaborator Contribution | Provided funding chemical expertise and regulatory knowledge |
Impact | Publication (see publications) |
Start Year | 2014 |
Description | Collaboration with Defra and EA for submission of new biodegradation test for persistence to OECD |
Organisation | Department For Environment, Food And Rural Affairs (DEFRA) |
Country | United Kingdom |
Sector | Public |
PI Contribution | We have submitted a biodegradation test for persistence developed by my team with the support of Defra to the OECD Guidelines for Testing of Chemicals. |
Collaborator Contribution | They have helped to provide, curate, and put together evidence for the application and presented it on our behalf (Chris Green, OECD WNT member for UK) and expert help from (Dr Pippa Curtis-Jackson, Environment Agency) |
Impact | None at present. |
Start Year | 2020 |
Description | Collaboration with Defra and EA for submission of new biodegradation test for persistence to OECD |
Organisation | Environment Agency |
Country | United Kingdom |
Sector | Public |
PI Contribution | We have submitted a biodegradation test for persistence developed by my team with the support of Defra to the OECD Guidelines for Testing of Chemicals. |
Collaborator Contribution | They have helped to provide, curate, and put together evidence for the application and presented it on our behalf (Chris Green, OECD WNT member for UK) and expert help from (Dr Pippa Curtis-Jackson, Environment Agency) |
Impact | None at present. |
Start Year | 2020 |
Description | Collaboration with Northumbrian Water Ltd |
Organisation | Northumbrian Water |
Country | United Kingdom |
Sector | Private |
PI Contribution | We will carry out sampling and hydraulic tracer studies on Northumbrian Water Ltd (NWL) sites. |
Collaborator Contribution | They have provided H&S training and access to any of the sites we wish to visit and data on flows, tank sizes and design data. |
Impact | See publications. Coello-Garcia et al., Water Research, 2019 |
Start Year | 2015 |
Description | Collaboration with Unilever |
Organisation | Unilever |
Country | United Kingdom |
Sector | Private |
PI Contribution | Liaison with Unilever and IITDelhi to co-ordinate a workshop around environmental risk assessment in India. |
Collaborator Contribution | Unilever are sponsoring the workshop and have been responsible for jointly leading the organisation of the workshop |
Impact | Workshop to take place in April 2016 |
Start Year | 2015 |
Description | Development of improved OECD 306 ring test |
Organisation | Centre For Environment, Fisheries And Aquaculture Science |
Country | United Kingdom |
Sector | Public |
PI Contribution | We presented data on enhancing microbial inocula concentrations and how it can improve the reliability of biodegradation tests. |
Collaborator Contribution | A workshop was held at Cefas with help from an organising committee that included AstraZeneca, Shell, Cefas and ECETOC. Through their contacts we were able to engage about 40 participants from several international Contract Research Organisations and environmental regulators. |
Impact | Further funding from Cefic LRi has been won to further develop the ring-test. Further funding is being sought with 14 CROs interested in making an in-kind contribution to the ring-test. |
Start Year | 2014 |
Description | Development of improved OECD 306 ring test |
Organisation | European Centre for Ecotoxicology and Toxicology of Chemicals (ECETOC) |
Country | Belgium |
Sector | Charity/Non Profit |
PI Contribution | We presented data on enhancing microbial inocula concentrations and how it can improve the reliability of biodegradation tests. |
Collaborator Contribution | A workshop was held at Cefas with help from an organising committee that included AstraZeneca, Shell, Cefas and ECETOC. Through their contacts we were able to engage about 40 participants from several international Contract Research Organisations and environmental regulators. |
Impact | Further funding from Cefic LRi has been won to further develop the ring-test. Further funding is being sought with 14 CROs interested in making an in-kind contribution to the ring-test. |
Start Year | 2014 |
Description | Development of improved OECD 306 ring test |
Organisation | Shell International Petroleum |
Department | Shell UK Ltd |
Country | United Kingdom |
Sector | Private |
PI Contribution | We presented data on enhancing microbial inocula concentrations and how it can improve the reliability of biodegradation tests. |
Collaborator Contribution | A workshop was held at Cefas with help from an organising committee that included AstraZeneca, Shell, Cefas and ECETOC. Through their contacts we were able to engage about 40 participants from several international Contract Research Organisations and environmental regulators. |
Impact | Further funding from Cefic LRi has been won to further develop the ring-test. Further funding is being sought with 14 CROs interested in making an in-kind contribution to the ring-test. |
Start Year | 2014 |
Description | Mitigation of risks from emerging hazards: Integration of field training, energy-conserving waste treatment and next-generation sequencing technologies. |
Organisation | British Council |
Country | United Kingdom |
Sector | Charity/Non Profit |
PI Contribution | Workshops, training events, sampling and small feasibility study. EPSRC Impact funding through Newcastle University to: ? To strengthen the collaboration that exists between NU and IITD, ? Broaden the exchange of knowledge and skills training between the two organisations ? Disseminate such knowledge to industry and regulators in both the UK and India. ? The preparation of at least one very high impact academic publication and promotional material to highlight successful UK-India initiatives. |
Start Year | 2011 |
Description | Research collaboration with EAWAG |
Organisation | Swiss Federal Institute of Aquatic Science and Technology |
Department | Department Environmental Chemistry |
Country | Switzerland |
Sector | Public |
PI Contribution | My postdoc wrote an EU Marie Skladowska Curie Global Fellowship proposal to investigate how microbial community environmental adaptation effects the application of standard Arrhenius temperature corrections factors to biodegradation rates. I approach Dr. Kathrin Fenner an ERC Fellow investigating biodegradation rates. The postdoc will take skills in molecular microbiology and next-generation sequencing to conduct experiments in EAWAG, Switzerland for two years before returning for one year to Newcastle. |
Collaborator Contribution | Dr. Kathrin Fenner and Dr. David Johnson agreed to host the postdoc and bring expertise in environmental chemistry, Bayesian estimation modelling and microbial ecology. |
Impact | One paper published in ES&T 2020 - see Further Funding for the award and amount. |
Start Year | 2014 |
Description | Cefic-ECHA workshop on Persistence |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Policymakers/politicians |
Results and Impact | Co-organiser and invited presenter at a Cefic-sponsored event co-hosted with the Environment Chemicals Agency that regulates chemicals in the EU. The workshop provided opportunity to present new scientific advances on the science of understanding chemical persistence in the environment to a mainly regulatory audience, with time for discussion and feedback. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018 |
URL | http://cefic-lri.org/events/cefic-lri-concawe-workshop-on-recent-developments-in-science-supportive-... |
Description | Organised and hosted workshop for Improving environmental fate and exposure models with new approaches to temperature correction, for industry, regulators and academia |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | Workshop for academia, industry and regulators on understanding the influence of temperature on chemical degradation and its use for temperature correction in fate and exposure models. The outcome of the workshop is intended for a short report. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
Description | Organiser and speaker at ECETOC Webinar 2020 |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | Webinar to discuss new concepts and methods that could be used in the regulatory assessment of the persistence of chemicals. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020 |
URL | https://www.ecetoc.org/event/ecetoc-webinar-moving-persistence-p-assessments-into-the-21st-century/ |
Description | Workshop |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | A workshop was held to disseminate findings from an allied Cefic LRi project ring-test towards a new international biodegradation test for persistence in the regulation of chemicals. Other presenters were invited from industry and other academic institutes. Audience members included regulators, industry, contract research organisations and academia. There were structured breakout discussions. The event came from some work partially completed on the Challenging Engineering award for the mitigation of micropllutants at manufacturing source. A workshop report will be drafted and there was an overwhelming consensus that the new method should be submitted as an international standard test guideline to the OECD. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018 |
URL | http://cefic-lri.org/events/ring-test-oecd-306-workshop/ |