Research interests
I am interested in a broad range of topics from anthropogenic impacts on marine ecosystems and how those impacts affect humans in return, to conservation science, marine ecology and Geographical Information Systems.
For my undergraduate dissertation, I assessed levels of endocrine-disrupting chemicals in intertidal sediment. For my MSc thesis, I researched the effect of tidal light variation on the behaviour of the common starfish Asterias rubens. I have also been involved in a small-scale project assessing the health of artificial reefs compared to natural coral reefs in an area of high human (diver) pressure.
I chose this PhD project for its interdisciplinary nature and because marine plastic pollution is an issue I feel passionate about.
PhD Supervision
Dr. Malcolm Hudson (main supervisor), Prof David Coggon, Prof Stuart Harrad (University of Birmingham), Dr Chris Hauton, Dr Antony Jensen, Prof Andrea Russell
MPhil/PhD research
Microplastics in the marine environment and possible risks to human health.
This work is funded by the Leverhulme Trust Doctoral Training Scheme/SMMI, the Faculty of Engineering andn the Environment EPSRC Doctoral Training Grant with additional research costs covered by the Blue Marine Foundation.
Research projects
Microplastics in the marine environment and possible risks to human health.
Marine microplastic pollution is ubiquitous and possibly harms marine organisms and humans. Working together with the Blue Marine Foundation in their efforts to restore the Solent native oyster population, the PhD project is going to assess microplastic body burden of the native oyster Ostrea edulis. Further to this, the effects of microplastic ingestion by marine bivalves on those organisms will be investigated. The third part to this PhD project is to find out how humans might be affected through consumption of marine organisms that previously ingested microplastics.
Research group
Centre for Environmental Sciences
Affiliate research group
Centre for Environmental Sciences
Miss Christina ThieleEngineering, University of Southampton, Highfield, Southampton. SO17 1BJ United Kingdom
Room Number: 25/2019