Jessica Stead

PhD Studentship in pathways, sources and sinks of microplastics in coastal environments

Hi, I'm Jessica Stead and I am a Leverhulme Trust Doctoral scholar studying within the Southampton Marine and Maritime Institute, University of Southampton.

I am a first year PhD student based at the National Oceanography Centre Southampton, looking at microplastics in salt marshes.

Having carried out a study in the effects of microplastics on sediment erosion during my undergraduate degree, I have moved into a focus on how microplastics are becoming entrained within sediments. There is still limited knowledge on how microplastics are incorporated into sediments, and how microplastics behave in aquatic systems. Using techniques such as sediment coring and sediment dating, alongside laboratory work and modelling, I aim to improve our knowledge of the pathways microplastics take into coastal sediments.

Supervisory Team: Prof A Cundy; Dr MD Hudson; Dr CEL Thompson; Prof ID Williams; Prof AE Russell.