In this blog post, we meet Devyani Chakravarty, our newest PhD student to join the Biospheric Microplastics team.

What is your background?

Most of my academic background is in marine sciences. I completed my Bachelor’s degree as a B.Sc. (Honors) course in Zoology from India. Immediately after its completion, I enrolled and completed a master’s in science degree in Marine Sciences which included studies in all aspects of Marine Science like geography, biology, chemical as well as physical oceanography.

I also have a master’s by Research degree (MRes) in the subject of marine biology, completed from the University of Plymouth in which I did my dissertation in a topic very similar to my PhD area of research, Which was looking at the effect of simultaneous exposure to both microfibres and warming waters on the respiratory physiology of the shore crab Carcinus maenas.

I have now started my PhD here at the UWE from October 2023 and will be looking at the effect of warming waters and microplastics on UK river systems. During my academic studies in India, I have participated in various national level conference on ecology, helped in field sampling in near-shore areas and also gone on training expeditions onboard the Indian research vessel Sagar Kanya, traversing the Indian Ocean along the shores of India and Sri Lanka.

What was is your inspiration?

My major inspiration was my fascination towards the aquatic environment and a wish to help the world be a better place. I have always been astonished at the unique nature of the aquatic environment and the many secrets it holds. But while venturing into the world of aquatic studies, I also understood its importance in our lives. We may see the aquatic environment as a separate habitat, disconnected from us, but as it is evident from the many studies and articles, unbeknownst to us, it is very much entangled with our lives and largely driving the earth’s climate conditions.

Even though water is a crucial part of our lives and is a necessity to survive, the aquatic ecosystems operate in a unique way, and are in many ways alike and in many more ways different than the terrestrial ones. But while it is truly fascinating to learn about its secrets, there is now a dire need and a priority to preserve and protect it from human induced stressors which, if not studied and reflected upon, can damage the aquatic environment beyond any hope of repair. So, I started focusing my study on how we are affecting them and hence, ultimately how we can reduce the damage caused by us all the while not hamper the human community’s development.

During my MRes degree I understood the urgency to study the effect of microplastics on the water bodies as microplastics are already present in large amounts in the aquatic ecosystems and will likely be a significant part of it in for along period. So, it became apparent that there is urgent need to understand how these microplastics will interact with the ecosystem and will its toxicity be dependent on other environmental stressors. Multi-stressor studies not only give a more realistic idea of the lethality of the stressors, it also will help better understand the functionality of the natural environment in an anthropogenically altered environment.

What are you currently working on?

I am currently studying the effects, or the potential harm caused to the rivers of United Kingdom by exposure to two major anthropogenically induced stressors, that is warming waters due to climate change, and microplastic pollution. My Study will be focusing on the eco-toxicological effects of the two stressors separately as well as when combined on the river-dwelling species and thus, compare the overall harm being caused currently as well as the future potential harm caused to the UK river ecosystems due to these two stressors.

This study will induce realistic results that will show the actual extent of damage being caused to the natural aquatic environment with the help of carefully designed experimental laboratory conditions and help understand whether the two stressors are synergistic, antagonistic or simply additive in terms of toxicity. Understanding how the stressor interact can help determine the true extent of their threat which will be useful in forming policies and plans to tackle these threats in the short as well as long term based on the severity and help prioritising the actions to be taken towards these environmental threats.

Future Plans

After the completion of this PhD, I Plan to further my research on multi-stressor studies, typically focusing on how various microplastics and their associated additive chemicals interact with other major environmental stressors like ocean acidification and metal pollution and help mitigate appropriate action plans.

I also plan to work with the major industrial companies to form more sustainable and environment friendly products to control the human waste and ensure a liveable earth for the future generations. I believe Science and research is the stronghold needed to tackle the global environmental challenges we face today and, in our future, and I wish to contribute to it to my greatest potential.

Alex King has recently joined the team as a PhD Student. Below Alex shares a bit on her background and her work:

Tell us a bit about your background?   

I studied biology at Cardiff University and have worked since within the environment and conservation sector. My specialism lies in freshwater ecology and crayfish. I worked as UK conservation officer for the native species department at Bristol Zoo which worked to protect native species with a focus on a white clawed crayfish breeding and reintroduction programme. Here, I had the opportunity to attend an international crayfish conference and through networking was offered a job working on a nationwide project researching crayfish eDNA with the coordination centre for crayfish based at a University (FHNW) in Basel. I worked in Switzerland for three years on many research projects and gained experience and knowledge in a wide range of topics.  

What inspired you to focus on your area?  

Throughout my time working in Switzerland, I gained a great love for research. I participated in a microplastic project which developed my interest within this area. After moving back to the UK, I actively sought a job researching microplastics and was lucky enough to be offered a PhD at UWE Bristol investigating airborne microplastics. 

Can you tell us what you’re currently working on?

I began my PhD in April this year, so it is still in the early days, but my PhD aims to create a large, harmonised database of characterised airborne microplastics with comparative validation using a nationwide citizen science laboratory and field study and Welsh air quality monitoring systems to provide policy recommendations for key stakeholders. The PhD is partly funded by the Welsh government so I hope that my PhD can be highly influential in reducing airborne microplastics and improving air quality. 

What are your future plans?  

I don’t know what the future holds for me, but I have always tried to make the most of any opportunities I get so if offered the chance to continue research I would love to do so. I thoroughly enjoy the working environment within academia and the responsibility of seeing the ‘full life cycle’ of a project from start through to completion.

The Biospheric Microplastics Research Cluster (BMRC) aims to address critical gaps in the microplastics research landscape, notably the association between environmental exposure to microplastics through source, pathway, receptor relationships, and their potential to cause harm. Microplastic pollution is a considerable emerging health and ecological crisis on a global scale.

The BMRC brings together expertise from multiple disciplines, all of which play a crucial role in understanding the impact of microplastics on human and ecosystem health, expanding research excellence and enhancing teaching across the university landscape.

Meet the team involved with the cluster:

Dr Ben Williams: Senior Research Fellow: Air Quality Management Resource Centre

Ben is co-lead of the cluster. He has over 15 years experience in environmental sampling, measurement, analysis and apportionment of air pollution and other airborne components. His PhD focused on the development of a method for the source apportionment and mapping of fugitive PM from industrial facilities using geochemical fingerprinting and environmental forensic approaches.

Ben has worked on research projects for national and international research councils, national and local authorities and private organisations (as PI, Co-I and PDRA). He is currently PI of the UKRI funded Homes Under the Microscope study, an airborne microplastics co-creation and citizen science project, and is also developing airborne DNA collection approaches to aid conservation and biodiversity assessments.

Ben leads the Yr1 Analysing Environmental Change module and the Yr3 Practicing Waste Management Module within the Environmental Management BSc, and supervises undergraduate and postgraduate research projects. He regularly engages with media organisations in both Welsh and English.

Dr Stephanie Sargeant: Senior Lecturer – Environmental Science

Stephanie is the other co-lead for the cluster. Her main research interests are in marine microbial ecology, aquatic biogeochemistry and understanding the cycling of organic matter and nutrients in aquatic systems.

She also has research projects investigating the impact of microplastics on the environment and human health and in the application of environmental DNA (eDNA) for species monitoring and conservation.

She is passionate about supporting the next generation of environmental scientists, widening our scientific understanding of aquatic microbial ecology and working to provide solutions to environmental issues. She contributes to a number of environmental programmes at undergraduate and postgraduate levels across UWE Bristol.

Dr Freya Radford: Senior Lecturer in Environmental Sciences (Marine)

Freya joined the team as a Biospheric Microplastics Research Fellow. Her research interests are in the quantification and impacts of emerging anthropogenic contaminants. She is particularly interested in microplastics and their presence across the environment from terrestrial to marine systems. This involves using novel extraction methods and a range of analytical techniques (FTIR and Raman microscopy, and GCMS) to identify and characterise these plastics. She is also interested in the ecotoxicological impacts of microplastics, particularly in combination with other external stressors.

Freya recently completed her PhD which focused on microplastic contamination in soils. This ranged from developing analytical methods for extracting microplastics from soils to quantifying and characterising microplastics in soils with a focus on sewage sludge as a source.

She also has experience working on microplastic projects in tropical seagrass systems and identifying microplastics in wastewater treatment plants.

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This research cluster is funded through the Expanding Research Excellence scheme at UWE Bristol. The scheme aims to support and develop interdisciplinary, challenge-led research across the University. It is designed to bring together research clusters or networks that will work together to respond to challenges (local, regional, national, global) aligned with major research themes.