RED-ALERT RESEARCH Issue 7 Summer 2026
News from the NERC Centre for Doctoral Training in Real-Time Digital Water-Based Systems
CONTENTS 01
Welcome to Summer Issue 7
02
Red-ALERT Spotlights
03
Student News
06
CDT News
06
Student publications
*** Please send your updates for the Autumn 2026 issue
A message from our Newsletter Editors … As we move into a new academic year, the Red-ALERT community has had another busy few months, with students taking part in conferences, training, engagement events and fieldwork. It has been great to see the range of opportunities being undertaken across the different cohorts and institutions. This also marks an exciting new chapter for the CDT as we welcome the third and final cohort to Red-ALERT. We look forward to seeing the community continue to grow, with plenty of opportunities ahead for collaboration, training and sharing research across disciplines. We hope you enjoy this issue of Red-ALERT Research and catching up on some of the achievements and activities from across the CDT over the summer. Best wishes, Eleanor Kirk, Sian Davies, James Milton and Rosie Elliott
SCAN ME
Email Website Bluesky
Catch up with all issues of “Red-ALERT Research” online
1
Thank you to Phil Reay Photography accredited for our newsletter cover imagery
Red-ALERT Spotlights CDT Manager
Cohort 2 Student
Paula Buxton
Sogol Forghani
(Red-ALERT CDT Manager, University of Bath)
(Red-ALERT Cohort 2 Student, University of Bath)
Tell us about your role within the CDT? It’s a very wide-ranging role, covering everything from recruitment and student support to training events, conferences, finances and reporting to our funder, NERC. My work often involves being in the middle, bringing together people, resources, or support from different institutions. As the only professional services member of staff, I have to wear many different hats. No two days are the same!
What inspires your research? I’m driven by a question: does the design actually work? Every experiment, simulation, or prototype is a small step toward answering that question. What keeps me motivated is breaking a large research challenge into smaller, achievable goals and making steady progress each day. Seeing an idea gradually become something that works is the most rewarding part of research.
Looking back over CDT development, what are your most memorable moments? Having been involved from the very beginning, it’s amazing to see our cohorts come together from nothing, and seeing students grow and change; that’s why we’re doing this. It’s a great feeling when you see students getting to know one another, and start to gel and click. A particularly memorable moment for me this year was seeing our two cohorts having a laugh and dance at our conference, that’s great! What advice would you give on making the most of your PhD? If there’s something that you want to get out of your PhD, please speak to your supervisor or your CDTs professional service staff. Ask the question whatever it may be; ‘can we do more of this training or can we do this event?’, because ultimately our main aim is to provide our students with the most comprehensive training and support we can.
What attracted you to your PhD project? During my master's degree, I worked on biosensors and became fascinated by how they bring together chemistry, physics, biology, mathematics, and engineering to solve realworld problems. That interdisciplinary nature motivated me to continue with a PhD, where I can combine knowledge from different fields to develop practical sensing technologies. What are you most excited about within your PhD experience? I’m most excited about building a working prototype and validating the concepts I develop, that will actually perform in practice. Beyond the technical side, I also enjoy collaborating with researchers from different disciplines, as those interactions often lead to new ideas and better solutions.
2
Student News Prapti Chakraborty, (Cohort 2 Chemistry student at the University of Bath) on attending the Women in Chemistry Conference, at the University of Bristol In May, I presented a poster about my work at the Women in Chemistry (WiChem) Conference, at the University of Bristol. During this time, I spoke about the surface chemistry and sensing interfaces I’ve been working on for my PhD. The conference covered topics in synthesis of complex compounds, simulations for understanding biochemical interactions, and how these reactions can impact day to day life and activities! It was really inspiring to also watch a great set of women who pioneer in the field. This was an amazing opportunity for me to meet chemists and researchers working in really interesting areas of chemistry and biochemistry!
Elizabeth Witcombe, (Cohort 2 Biosciences student at Cardiff University) on attending GW4 Network training with Welsh Government
3
It was particularly interesting to hear about how research feeds into European Commission policy making and the different roles required to bridge the gap between scientific literature and making a real-world impact. It was also great to visit the Senedd to see where the decisions are being made and understand more about the processes behind that decision making. Overall, it was a really interesting few days and helpful in understanding how we will influence shaping policy through our own research in the future.
In June, I had the opportunity to take part in a ‘Science to Policy’ course run by the GW4+ Doctoral Training Program, alongside some fellow Red-ALERT students. It was a great opportunity to learn about how research contributes to policy and meet experts across different fields to hear about their roles. We were able to hear from Professor Jas Pal Badyal, the Chief Scientific Advisor for the Welsh Government, who spoke about his career and how he ended up in his role and what his responsibilities are in bridging research with policy.
Pictured – Maddy McCarthy (Cohort 1 aligned, Bath),Elizabeth Witcombe (Cohort 2, Cardiff), Eleanor Kirk (Cohort 1, Exeter), Erica Boston (Cohort 1, Exeter), Joseph Beaney (Cohort 1, Bath), Nathan Strathdee (Cohort 2, Exeter), Charlotte Moreira (Cohort 2, Exeter), Rosie Elliott (Cohort 2, Bath/UKCEH)
Image 1 sourced by Prapti Chakraborty, image 2 taken by Eleanor Kirk, image 3 soucred by Eleanor Kirk
Eleanor Kirk, (Cohort 1 Biosciences student at the University of Exeter) on attending the One Health Surveillance Partnership Workshop at the University of Bath In June, I took part in the ‘One Health Surveillance Partnership Workshop’ at the University of Bath. Organised by Dr Corey Holt, the workshop brought together representatives from academia, industry and government to discuss the concept of One Health through a series of insightful keynote talks and collaborative sessions. Some of the talks I found particularly interesting were from Professor Grant Stentiford, Chief Scientific Advisor at CEFAS, who led with an engaging start to discussions. It was also fascinating to hear how One Health approaches are being implemented in practice, with Kevin Brooks from One Health Enterprise Network discussing the TESTBED Dorset initiative. Overall, a fascinating day and valuable experience to be involved in. Joseph Beaney and Prapti Chakraborty, (Cohort 1 and Cohort 2 Chemistry students at the University of Bath) on participating in Pint of Science in Bath Prapti Chakraborty – “I was an event manager for the Tech Me Out event for Pint of Science. We organised three days for the events and had speakers from a wide range of topics. It was an amazing opportunity to interact with the public and tell them about all the amazing science that is happening at the University!” Joseph Beaney – “I gave a talk on water quality, giving insights into how wastewater is treated and what is required by law to be removed before water is returned to the river, and how the research in Red-Alert and CWBE is developing a deeper understanding of environmental pollutants and monitoring technologies. There was a great turnout of people from lots of different sectors and interests.” Image 1 sourced by Eleanor Kirk, image 2 taken by Eleanor Kirk, image 3 sourced by CWBE, image 4 sourced by Prapti Chakraborty
4
Nathan Strathdee, (Cohort 2 Biosciences student at University of Exeter) on his time in British Columbia, Canada Over the past two months I've been fortunate to undertake a research placement through a University of Exeter research student fellowship in British Columbia through the University of British Columbia Okanagan.
Fire is a natural, expected part of many landscapes across British Columbia. But as climate change drives larger and more frequent wildfires across many parts of the world, this balance is shifted. Runoff and precipitation in post-fire catchments increases supply of metals, organic material and nutrients to waters which are often relied upon for drinking water, irrigation, fisheries and ecosystems. I worked on a project involved in investigating the long-term impact of wildfires on rivers, including training a machine-learning model to track changes in large wood accumulation (logjams) from satellite imagery, and completing a catchment wide sampling campaign for a whole host of physicochemical parameters. I learnt a great deal from the people and landscapes of western Canada. It was a fantastic experience, and I even got to see a Timber Wolf (pictured) and a bear! James Milton, (Cohort 2 Biosciences student at the University of Exeter) on attending the NEOF Metabarcoding and environmental DNA Course
5
In July, I visited the NERC Environmental Omics Facility (NEOF) at the University of Sheffield to undertake a Metabarcoding and Environmental DNA Training Course. The course provided practical training in DNA extraction, quantification and PCR which I will be using during my PhD, alongside a subsequent bioinformatics component on analysis of sequencing data. The training gave me valuable experience, directly related to my research. It was also unexpected and a welcome surprise to see fellow Red-ALERT PhD student, Patrizio Feliziani attending the course which provided a great opportunity to catch-up. Image 1, 2 & 3 sourced by Nathan Strathdee , image 4 accredited to James Milton
Centre for Doctoral Training News Training Events Update The next CDT training course for Cohorts 2 & 3 will be, ‘Water-Based Early Warning Systems – Enabling Technology’ and will be hosted at the University of Bath by Professor Barbara Kasprzyk-Hordern and Professor Pedro Estrela, from 2nd-6th November 2026. This training course will involve talks from academics including Professor Ed Feil and Dr Corey Holt, alongside a fieldtrip to wastewater treatment works hosted by Wessex Water, and river sampling training facilitated by Research Associate, Dr Nicola Ceolotto. The following course, ‘Ecosystem Services & Socio-ecological Systems’, will be hosted by Professor Isabelle Durance and Professor Andy Weightman at Cardiff University in December 2026. More details on specific training schedules will be released soon.
Newsletter Updates Our editorial team will be changing as we dive into the next academic year, with our cohort 1 members Eleanor and Sian letting go of the reigns and handing over their roles to members of the new cohort 3 alongside James and Rosie remaining from cohort 2. Eleanor Kirk & Sian Davies – “We’ve really enjoyed having the opportunity to see the growth and achievements of students across the different cohorts and institutions. One of the things we’ve loved most is interviewing students, academics and staff, and hearing the passion and motivation behind what they do. Often, what we can fit into the newsletter is only a small portion of the stories, advice and enthusiasm shared with us. It’s been a privilege to hear these experiences and share them with the wider CDT community.”
Student Publications One Health Water-Based Epidemiology: The Chemical Perspective Byrnes, N.A., Beaney, J., Ceolotto, N., Elabbadi, D., Elliss, H., Faill, B., Hawkins, E., Ranathunge, B. and KasprzykHordern, B., 2026. TrAC Trends in Analytical Chemistry, p.119051. Fate and transport of viruses, bacteria and antimicrobial resistance associated with wet wipes and microplastics through wastewater treatment to coastal waters Kevill, J.L., Knight, M.E., Jain, Y., Marsden, K.A., Williams, R.C., Herridge, K., Courtene-Jones, W., Robins, P., Malham, S.K. and Jones, D.L., 2026. Water Research, p.126281. Suitability of bacterial and viral markers for faecal source tracking in the coastal environment Farkas, K., Woodhall, N., Herridge, K. and Jones, D.L., 2026. Journal of Applied Microbiology, 137(6), p.lxag140. Wastewater surveillance as an early warning system for fungal pathogens Padmakumar, P., Winrow, A., Hepo-Oja, P., Usher, J., Feil, E.J., Davidson, H.C., Bicanic, T., Jones, D.L. and Rhodes, J., 2026. PLoS Pathogens, 22(8), p.e1014475. The potential issue: Obstacle of coagulation process in removing frozen-aged microplastics He, Y., Li, X., Wang, X., Huang, L., Zhang, Y., Zhang, Y., Chen, J. and Zhang, J., 2025. Journal of Environmental Chemical Engineering, p.120888.
6