I lead the area of Human and Animal Pathogens and Antimicrobial Resistance in the Environment at the James Hutton Institute, drawing together interdisciplinary research in this highly topical field. I manage a team of Catchment Microbiologists with skills from environmental metagenomics and high throughput q-PCR to culture based assays. An experienced project manager, I deliver and contribute to a portfolio of projects. Current projects include leading RESAS (Scottish Government) (£1.25M) “AMR Flows from Environment to Food-Chain” – here I integrate microbiology, environmental chemistry, social science and modelling to address the risk of AMR arising from environmental sources entering the food chain – and “Emerging Water Futures” where my team
combines comprehensive monitoring of two catchments for emerging biological and chemical contaminants and subsequent quarterly assessment of nation-wide sites. I work closely at the interface with policy and recently undertook a Centre of Expertise for Waters (Scottish government- funded) Policy Fellowship “Antimicrobial resistance in Scotland’s waters – Status and Solutions” and have led and contributed to numerous projects (NERC, EU, International) on AMR and pathogens, relating to soils, waters, slurries and manures, many of which have emphasis on what and how to monitor and integrating catchment microbiology with risk models.
I also have an interest in water treatment and reuse, private water supplies and constructed wetlands.