Airborne ultrafine particles in Australian cities. There is an acute deficiency of knowledge in Australia on urban airborne ultrafine particles, originating from transport and other anthropogenic sources, which pose significant health and environmental risks. The aim of this project is to address this deficiency by an extensive multi-city, cross-disciplinary study using state of the art instrumentation and data analytic techniques. The outcome will be an in depth, quantitative insight into the c ....Airborne ultrafine particles in Australian cities. There is an acute deficiency of knowledge in Australia on urban airborne ultrafine particles, originating from transport and other anthropogenic sources, which pose significant health and environmental risks. The aim of this project is to address this deficiency by an extensive multi-city, cross-disciplinary study using state of the art instrumentation and data analytic techniques. The outcome will be an in depth, quantitative insight into the characteristics of the particles, their sources and spatial and temporal variation across different urban areas and time scales. Further, the impacts of changing fuels, vehicle technologies, and climate on future trends of the particles will be elucidated.Read moreRead less
Improved monitoring of aquatic pollutants in national water resources. Clean water is predicted to become the world’s most valuable asset during this century, necessitating the improved monitoring of Australia’s limited water resources. Using a new and integrated monitoring approach, this project expects to develop and implement novel passive sampling technologies to monitor a range of water pollutants, specifically toxic ionised organic chemicals of emerging concern. The outcomes of this projec ....Improved monitoring of aquatic pollutants in national water resources. Clean water is predicted to become the world’s most valuable asset during this century, necessitating the improved monitoring of Australia’s limited water resources. Using a new and integrated monitoring approach, this project expects to develop and implement novel passive sampling technologies to monitor a range of water pollutants, specifically toxic ionised organic chemicals of emerging concern. The outcomes of this project will create cost-effective tools to advance the detection of emerging chemicals in drinking, ground, surface and waste waters. The technology will benefit millions of Australians by safeguarding essential water resources.Read moreRead less
Understanding Australia by analysing wastewater during the Census 2021 . This project aims to utilise the Australian Census 2021, a unique opportunity to link exposure to chemical and biological hazards with catchment socio-demographic data via systematic wastewater analysis. The project is expected to advance our capabilities to identify emerging hazards and understand factors that affect spatiotemporal trends in hazards across Australia. Moreover, in a world first, the project aims to assess c ....Understanding Australia by analysing wastewater during the Census 2021 . This project aims to utilise the Australian Census 2021, a unique opportunity to link exposure to chemical and biological hazards with catchment socio-demographic data via systematic wastewater analysis. The project is expected to advance our capabilities to identify emerging hazards and understand factors that affect spatiotemporal trends in hazards across Australia. Moreover, in a world first, the project aims to assess chemical fate on a national level by linking sales/use with fate and release from wastewater treatment plants and assess treatment efficiency at >100 plants around Australia. The project expects to provide insight for government, wastewater managers and industry into hazards that may affect environmental and human health.Read moreRead less
Understanding and controlling bioavailability: passive dosing of persistent organic pollutants into recombinant cell bioassays. Bioassays with mammalian cell lines may replace animal testing in chemical risk assessment if issues with limited sensitivity can be overcome for very hydrophobic chemicals such as polychlorinated dibenzodioxins. The project will solve this problem by developing a polymer-release dosing technique that assures defined and constant exposure.
Estimating per capita use and release of chemicals by wastewater analysis. This project aims to systematically collect and analyse wastewater to assess human exposure to chemicals including drugs, pharmaceuticals, lifestyle chemicals and environmental pollutants. By combining temporal sampling from key sewage treatment plants with comprehensive nationwide sampling over the week of the 2016 census day, the project expects to estimate the per-capita human exposure to chemicals in the Australian po ....Estimating per capita use and release of chemicals by wastewater analysis. This project aims to systematically collect and analyse wastewater to assess human exposure to chemicals including drugs, pharmaceuticals, lifestyle chemicals and environmental pollutants. By combining temporal sampling from key sewage treatment plants with comprehensive nationwide sampling over the week of the 2016 census day, the project expects to estimate the per-capita human exposure to chemicals in the Australian population. Accurate and objective per-capita based consumption and release estimates for a wide range of chemicals is intended to provide a baseline against which to measure changes in our chemosphere.Read moreRead less
Reducing glyphosate exposure from high use practices. This project aims to investigate methods of reducing occupational exposure to glyphosate, a ubiquitous pollutant of emerging concern. This will be achieved through developing new cost-effective analytical and sampling tools and refining methods for integrating human exposure (biomonitoring) data with surveillance data on the pathways of glyphosate exposure from high use. The project will generate new targeted knowledge on (sub) population-spe ....Reducing glyphosate exposure from high use practices. This project aims to investigate methods of reducing occupational exposure to glyphosate, a ubiquitous pollutant of emerging concern. This will be achieved through developing new cost-effective analytical and sampling tools and refining methods for integrating human exposure (biomonitoring) data with surveillance data on the pathways of glyphosate exposure from high use. The project will generate new targeted knowledge on (sub) population-specific chemical exposures in Australia, and globally. Such data are critical to inform public health and chemical regulation policy, and provide clear guidance aimed at reducing exposures, to assess the effectiveness of existing regulations, and provide a framework for implementing surveys in the future.Read moreRead less
A novel path to environmental and human health risk assessment of transformation products. Chemical pollution is a threat to our rivers and drinking water supplies. Degradation during water treatment and in the environment may lead to persistent and toxic transformation products. This project will provide a practical and cost-efficient risk assessment strategy for transformation products - to help ensure that our drinking water is safe.
A balancing act: Resolving coastal wetland water, carbon and solute fluxes. Coastal wetlands offer an impressive capacity to regulate the Earth’s climate by altering the way carbon dioxide is extracted from the atmosphere and stored while simultaneously influencing the water cycle, thus providing ecosystem services such as carbon storage, abating flood waters, improving water quality and protecting the coastline from sea level rise. This project aims to address the current gaps in understanding .... A balancing act: Resolving coastal wetland water, carbon and solute fluxes. Coastal wetlands offer an impressive capacity to regulate the Earth’s climate by altering the way carbon dioxide is extracted from the atmosphere and stored while simultaneously influencing the water cycle, thus providing ecosystem services such as carbon storage, abating flood waters, improving water quality and protecting the coastline from sea level rise. This project aims to address the current gaps in understanding the critical exchanges of water and greenhouse gases (GHGs) combining field methodologies and hydrological models, under different climatic conditions. The intended outcomes will benefit management of GHG emissions, coastal flooding and vulnerable groundwater dependent habitats.Read moreRead less
Investigation of endocrine disruption in Australian aquatic environments. Water is a vital resource. The disposal of wastes is often associated with the release of contaminants like endocrine disruptors into the environment. These contaminants can impact the health of our waterways and lead to potential risks to fish populations and ultimately public health. The hazards resulting from endocrine disruptors have been well defined globally and to a lesser extent in Australia in the last decade, how ....Investigation of endocrine disruption in Australian aquatic environments. Water is a vital resource. The disposal of wastes is often associated with the release of contaminants like endocrine disruptors into the environment. These contaminants can impact the health of our waterways and lead to potential risks to fish populations and ultimately public health. The hazards resulting from endocrine disruptors have been well defined globally and to a lesser extent in Australia in the last decade, however we have very limited information about possible effects in Australian waterways or reservoirs. This research project will investigate the state of endocrine disruption in our waters. The knowledge gained will address this gap and provide a benefit to the national community, risk managers and importantly our waterways.Read moreRead less
Exposure mapping - combining wastewater analysis with human biomonitoring. This project aims to develop a spatial and temporal understanding of chemical exposure in the Australian population. The project will use wastewater samples collected from over 100 catchments (65% of Australian population) during the 2016 Census to spatially resolve human exposure to chemicals. These data will then form the basis for focused human biomonitoring using pooled surplus pathology samples. The integration of ....Exposure mapping - combining wastewater analysis with human biomonitoring. This project aims to develop a spatial and temporal understanding of chemical exposure in the Australian population. The project will use wastewater samples collected from over 100 catchments (65% of Australian population) during the 2016 Census to spatially resolve human exposure to chemicals. These data will then form the basis for focused human biomonitoring using pooled surplus pathology samples. The integration of wastewater and biomonitoring data will allow the creation of a national hazard specific exposure map that can be compared with geospatial data on disease risk and socioeconomic indicators (via ABS information). The benefits include the capability to identify and manage exposure risks to public health.Read moreRead less