Dr. Sam Harrison

I am an environmental modeller with a background in quantum physics. My core research centres on aquatic and terrestrial contaminants such as microplastics, nanomaterials, pharmaceuticals and metals and, more specifically, creating geospatial models of their fate, speciation and bio-uptake. I lead the development of the NanoFASE model, a spatiotemporal model of nanomaterial fate and bio-uptake. My work frequently involves assessing the relevance of such models to regulators and industry, tackling issues around how complex model output can be best used in robust, evidence-based decision making. I currently lead the FRAGMENT-MNP and EMIFACT-MNP projects, which are developing models of micro- and nanoplastic degradation, fragmentation and emissions. I also lead a work package in EU Horizon Europe project ETERNAL, where we are working to reducing the environmental impact of pharmaceuticals.

I am interested in how integrated modelling can help us to better quantify the impacts of environmental change, and how the latest software tools, infrastructures and best practices can aid this. I am a keen advocate of, creater of and contributor to open source software and open science. I am a 2022 Fellow of the Software Sustainability Institute, a Fellow of NERC's Constructing a Digital Environment Expert Network and a member of the Centre of Excellence in Environmental Data Science (CEEDS). I lead a NERC Global Partnerships Seedcorn Project, which is aiming to bring together an international community of practice around the digital tools supports environmental modelling.

Outside of the computational sciences, I have an active interest in synchrotron science and have used x-ray absorption spectroscopy to investigate chemical speciation of nanomaterials in soils and plants.

Find out more on my personal website, or find me on GitHub, Mastodon or LinkedIn.