Our research

Understanding the risk from chemicals is pivotal for ensuring their sustainable use while protecting people, the environment and delivery of ecosystem services.

Our research aims to provide the scientific understanding needed to develop chemical hazard and risk assessment, understand the effects that pollutants have, and develop effective mitigation and restoration strategies. Our work covers a wide range of inorganic and organic chemicals that are released to land, freshwater and the atmosphere, and includes understanding the potential risks associated with engineered nanoparticles, plastics and pharmaceuticals linked to the development of antimicrobial resistance.

World-class science and innovation

  • The Predatory Bird Monitoring Scheme (PBMS) quantifies contaminants in sentinel birds of prey. This work helps us understand how and why environmental concentrations of pollutants vary spatially and temporally, and the risks they pose to wildlife.
  • Plastics research to understand the sources, transport and effects of microplastics (plastics <5mm) in freshwater and terrestrial systems. Microplastics in oceans are well studied, but there is less information on their presence in soils, rivers and lakes, where they can be ingested by organisms and lead to the uptake of associated chemicals such as plasticisers.
  • Understanding the extent to which pharmaceuticals, metals, biocides and herbicides contribute to driving antimicrobial resistance in the environment.
  • Providing modelling tools to assess the water quality status across Europe and North Africa with the capability to assess the implications of proposed policy initiatives and climate change.
  • Through a series of UKRI and EU-funded projects we work to establish specialised risk assessment methods for nano-enabled materials and products. We determine how their environmental distribution, concentration, form and toxicity relate to the different physical and chemical properties of nanoparticle-containing materials used in everyday products (e.g. healthcare, electronics and cosmetics).

Contact

Science Area Head: Dr Claus Svendsen

Research Development Manager: Dr Colin Mackechnie

Science Area Coordinators: Christine Balmer and Carolin Schultz

Science Groups

Our facilities