Centre for Doctoral Training: Freshwater biosciences and sustainability
Explore the dynamic, co-designed research projects driven by FRESH postgraduate researchers.
Since October 2018 the NERC Centre for Doctoral Training in Freshwater biosciences and sustainability (FRESH CDT) has provided a world-class doctoral research and training environment, harnessing expertise from the GW4 universities as well as the UK Centre for Ecology and Hydrology and British Geological Survey. The FRESH CDT builds on the GW4 legacy in exemplary doctoral training by collaborating with stakeholders to provide students with the theoretical and applied capability to tackle the complexity of freshwater challenges and develop and apply pioneering science across disciplines.
For more information about the FRESH CDT, contact fresh@cardiff.ac.uk.
Doctoral research projects
| PhD researcher | Project title | Home institution | Stakeholder partner |
|---|---|---|---|
| Inge Elfferich | Using in situ sensors to monitor ecosystem health in freshwater catchments | Cardiff University | Dŵr Cymru Welsh Water |
| Claire Robertson | Beyond the surface: Enhancing freshwater pond ecosystem assessment through eDNA metabarcoding (2024) | UK Centre for Ecology and Hydrology; Cardiff University | Freshwater Habitats Trust |
| Agnethe Olsen | Bridging ecology and technology: Using citizen science and artificial intelligence to track fish health | Cardiff University | Wye & Usk Foundation |
| Daniel McDowell | One man's meat is another's poison: Exploring the effect of trematode perturbation on an aquatic community (2024) | Cardiff University | Natural History Museum |
| Ben McClay | Cascading effects of micro- and nano-plastics on lipid quality and transfer through freshwater planktonic ecosystems | Cardiff University | Cardiff Harbour Authority |
| Kosta Manser | The electric ecology of freshwater habitats | University of Bristol | |
| Harry Layfield | Diversity and Speciation of Invertebrates in Freshwater Habitats (2024) | University of Bristol | Department of Fisheries, Republic of Malawi |
| Joshua Rainbow | Integrated Biosensor Platform for Detection of Waterborne Pathogens: Improving Public Health (2023) | University of Bath | Public Health England |
| Tomo Homan | High resolution modelling of fate and transport of organic micropollutants and their effect on ecosystems in small rivers | University of Bath | Wessex Water |
| Laura Hayes | Cryptosporidium movement in water- impact of eutrophication and climate change on the zoonotic disease agent | Cardiff University | Public Health Wales |
| Jack Greenhalgh | Developing two non-invasive survey techniques for freshwater ecosystems: Environmental DNA and ecoacoustics (2022) | University of Bristol | Applied Genomics |
| Rory Burford | Of Metals and Matter: Biogeochemical impacts of acid rock drainage on glacial rivers in the Cordillera Blanca, Peru (2024) | University of Bristol | Global Challenges Research Fund |
| Costanza Zanghì | The combined effects of multiple environmental stressors on predator-prey interactions in freshwater habitats (2024) | University of Bristol | Freshwater Habitats Trust |
| Emma Pharaoh | Long-term river invertebrate trends in England and Wales (2024) | Cardiff University | Natural Resources Wales; Environment Agency |
| Duncan O'Brien | Complexity and regime shifts: testing the predictability of ecosystem transitions (2024) | University of Bristol | State of Israel Water Authority |
| Luke Lear | The ecology and evolution of bacterial virulence (2022) | University of Exeter | Environment Agency |
| April Hayes | Investigating selection for antimicrobial resistance by non-antibiotic drugs in microbial communities (2023) | University of Exeter | AstraZeneca |
| Elliot Druce | Freshwater Picocyanobacteria and their Organic Diet: An Investigation into Organic Nitrogen Assimilation in Freshwater Picocyanobacteria (2023) | University of Bristol | natural England |
| Toby Champneys | The Role Of Behavioural Mechanisms In The Invasion Success And Impact Of Nile Tilapia (Oreochromis Niloticus) In Tanzania (2023) | University of Bristol | Global Challenges Research Fund |
| Hebe Carmichael | Gaining Mechanistic Insights into multiple stressor effects using freshwater microbial communities (2024) | University of Exeter | Freshwater habitats Trust |
| Ashley Bell | Composition, diversity and response dynamics of fish skin microbiomes under environmental stress, including antibiotic exposure (2024) | University of Exeter | Cefas |
| Daniel Osmond | Adapting to life in metal polluted rivers: implications for conservation, genetic diversity and fisheries management in the brown trout (Salmo trutta) (2024) | University of Exeter | Westcountry Rivers Trust; Wildlife Conservation Trust |
| Victoria Hussey | Investigating nutrient cycling, retention and bioavailability of effluents discharged from constructed wetlands: optimising wetland management to reduce emerging risks to freshwaters (2024) | University of Bristol | British Geological Survey; Wessex Water |
| Katharine Moss | Understanding the ecological role of organic matter in urban freshwaters | UK Centre for Ecology and Hydrology; University of Bristol | Thames21 |
| Fin Ring-Hrubesh | Assessing the impact of peatland restoration on freshwater ecosystems | University of Bristol | Brecon Beacons National Park |
| Chris Webb | Determining nutrient fluxes and sources driving lowland drinking water reservoir ecosystem response (2024) | University of Bristol | Bristol Water |
| Annalise Hooper | Environmental triggers for geosmin and 2-MIB production in drinking water reservoirs (2023) | Cardiff University | Dŵr Cymru Welsh Water |
| Guglielmo Sonnino Sorisio | Fish Swimming Dynamics and Behaviour in the Vicinity of a Fish Exclusion Screen | Cardiff University | Environment Agency |
| Fiona Joyce | Effects of land use on the resilience of stream invertebrates to climate change (2023) | Cardiff University | Forest Research; Woodland Trust |
| Damiano Duci | Talking Algae: an early warning system for water equality threats | University of Bath | Wessex Water |
| Emma Vaughan | Speciation of emerging contaminants in wetland systems | University of Bath | Wessex Water |
| Kye Davies | Quantifying the impact of beaver reintroduction on aquatic ecology | University of Exeter | Devon Wildlife Trust |
| Franciszek Bydałek | The microbial ecology and fate of pathogens in constructed wetlands (2023) | University of Bath | Wessex Water |
| Gareth Bradbury | Can beaver-modified ecosystems mitigate water quality deterioration caused by both point and diffuse source pollution? | University of Exeter | National Trust |
Cyanobacteria in our drinking water can produce “taste and odour” compounds which, while not dangerous, are unpleasant. Work at the universities of Cardiff and Bath aims to better understand, and eventually predict, the blooms of cyanobacteria that produce these compounds