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Research area(s)

Research Activities: My research covers a range of topics related to the development and application of analytical techniques for the determination of environmental contaminants in wastewater, sewage sludge, body fluids and human tissue and in environmental samples including surface waters, sediment, soil and biota. My work can be divided into the following areas:

• Development of analytical methods to determine environmental contaminants in wastewater and the aquatic environment. Focus on emerging contaminants e.g. endocrine disrupting compounds, pharmaceutical and personal care products, pesticides and pesticide metabolites and natural ecotoxins.
• Development of methods for assessing animal and human exposure to compounds in the environment by analysis of body fluids and tissue samples. Data is used to determine whether exposure to particular contaminants has taken place and to determine the magnitude of, and temporal variations in any exposure.
• Determination of the removal of priority pollutants and emerging hazardous substances in conventional wastewater treatment plants and by advanced tertiary treatment.
• The determination of the fate and behaviour of biologically active chemicals in the aquatic and terrestrial environment using non-target screening, effect-directed analysis and high resolution MS and MS/MS based techniques.
• Determination of the formation and occurrence of disinfection-by-products (and trace contaminants) in raw and potable water e.g. haloacetic acids, perfluorinated organics, nitrogented and halogenated DBPs.
• Development of new strategies in data interpretation using spectral and chromatographic deconvolution and chemometric methods to address unknown hazards or “unknown unknowns”.  

Key funding from 2000 to present:

• 2000 - 2003 Natural Environment Research Council awarded £85K for a two year project to determine steroid oestrogens in wastewater, river water and river sediments
• 2002 – 2003 Endocrine Disrupters in Sewage Sludge – Funding £84K (Funded by United Kingdom Water Industry Research)
• 2003 – 2004 Endocrine Disrupters in Sewage Influent : Analytical Method Development – Funding £37K (Funded by United Kingdom Water Industry Research, Sponsored by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
• 2004 A review of Analytical methods to determine steroid oestrogens – Funding £12K (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
• 2005 Unification of Analytical Methods to determine steroid oestrogens in surface waters, crude and treated sewage to meet the Environment Agency PNEC requirements, research in collaboration with the Environment Agency – Funding £27K (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
• 2005 – 2009 EDC demonstration programme – Funding total value ca £2.7M over 3 years (Severn Trent Water, Southern Water, Northumbarian Water and Dwr Cymru Welsh Water)
• 2005 – 2007 Decamethylcyclopentasiloxane (D5) in the aquatic environment – Funding ca£120K (Unilever Safety & Environmental Assurance Centre)
• 2005 – 2009 Fate and behaviour of Pharmaceuticals in wastewater – Funding ca£110K (Pfizer Global)
• 2005 – 2012 Trace Organics in waste water (various contracts, e.g. Tamiflu, drugs of abuse, pesticides, DBPs) - T&D Severn Trent Water ca£2.5M over 6 years
• 2008 – 2010 Nitrosamines in drinking water - Funding ca£165K (Drinking Water Inspectorate) with WRc plc
• 2008 – 2009 PFOS in drinking water – Funding ca£80K (Drinking Water Inspectorate) with WRc plc
• 2009 – 2010 Perchlorate in drinking water - Funding ca£80K (Drinking Water Inspectorate) with WRc plc.
• 2010 to 2012 Haloacetic Acids in drinking water by ICMSMS - Funding ca£22K (Drinking Water Inspectorate) with WRc plc
• 2010 to 2012 Monitoring of Nitrogenated Disinfection By-Products in Drinking Water – Funding £95K Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) / Drinking Water Inspectorate (DWI) with Dr Michael Templeton, Prof Nigel Graham (Imperial College London) and Dr Howard Weinberg (University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, USA)
• 2010 – 2012 Chemicals investigation programme – Funding total value ca £3.1M over 3 years (Thames Water, Southern Water, Yorkshire Water, Dwr Cymru Welsh Water)
• 2013 - 2016 A comparative study on the IC-MSMS and methylation GEECD methods of analysis of haloacetic acids - Funding £89,000 Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA)/Drinking Water Inspectorate (DWI). Principal Investigator
• 2014 - 2016 A Decoy Artificial Snail host to control Schistosoma mansoni - Funding $100,00, Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. Co-Investigator. Dr Edwin Routledge (PI)

Research Interests

analytical techniques; organic mass spectrometry, environmental contaminants; wastewater treatment; sewage sludge; disinfection-by-products; surface waters; sediment; soil; biota.