PhD opportunity: One Health evaluation of impacts from hazardous chemicals on rivers’ health

We need to stop hazardous chemicals from reaching our rivers due their impacts on the environment and human health.

Pharmaceuticals, household derived chemicals (endocrine disrupting chemicals leaching from plastics and household products such as PFAS and flame retardants) in the environment are mainly attributed to the discharge of treated effluent from wastewater treatment works. Veterinary and agricultural chemicals (e.g. pesticides, veterinary antibiotics, fungicides) are mainly linked with farm runoff, and metals and polyaromatic hydrocarbons with road runoff. They all contribute to the environmental burden in our rivers leading to a loss of biodiversity and severe ecological impacts. The current situation is unsustainable and needs disruptive change. To reduce the load of hazardous chemicals in the environment, greater control of pollution sources is needed. The intention of this project is to provide the data and evidence to help prompt that change.

This project will focus on the application of water fingerprinting approaches using cutting-edge mass spectrometry techniques in the analysis of wide-ranging hazardous chemical groups: chemicals leaching from plastics, PFAS, antibiotics, pesticides and road runoff chemicals in Cam and Wellow Rivers to understand key contributing sources to river pollution, verify risk, and to establish mitigations strategies.

The student will use our new and well-funded Bath’s Centre of Excellence in Water-Based Early-Warning Systems Mass Spectrometry Facility (including state-of-the-art analytical separation approaches: e.g. liquid chromatography, gas chromatography, supercritical fluid chromatography with powerful targeted and non-targeted mass spectrometry techniques: QQQ, QTOF-HRMS, MRT).

More information and how to apply

Written by

helena

January 13, 2026