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Research Project: Source tracking and risk assessment of human pathogens in riverine water.
Lead Supervisor: Dr Kata Farkas
External Partner: Dwr Cymru, Welsh Water

This is an exciting opportunity to make a difference in environmental pollution management for the protection of human and animal health. The project will utilise the latest molecular diagnostic technologies and modelling tools to explore human and animal-derived viral pollution in the aquatic environment to streamline risk management efforts. Due to increasing levels of urbanisation, agricultural activities and climate change, the number of waterborne and foodborne illnesses are increasing worldwide. Specifically, the rise in human and animal populations has resulted in increasing amounts of human and animal-derived wastewater entering the aquatic environment. Furthermore, due to the increasing frequency of storm events, more untreated wastewater and storm water is entering our rivers and coastal waters.

Many of these pathogens are extremely stable in the water environment, and hence able to infect people who use water bodies for drinking, recreational activities or those who consume seafood derived from contaminated harvesting zones. The aim of this PhD is therefore to develop novel molecular methods to monitor and distinguish human, animal and zoonotic pathogens in wastewater and in riverine water. The student will also conduct field sampling for the validation of methods and data collection for source tracking and modelling to estimate and mitigate the risks of microbial pollution to in investigate the relative contribution of human and animal pathogens.

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