Red-ALERT Reasearch Summer 2025, Issue 3

RED-ALERT RESEARCH Issue 3 Summer 2025

News from the NERC Centre for Doctoral Training in Real-Time Digital Water-Based Systems

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Welcome to Summer Issue 3

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Red-ALERT Spotlights

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Cohort 1 Student News

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CDT News

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Student publications

Thanks to our editors – Eleanor Kirk, Holly Roberts, Sian Davies *** Please send your updates for the Autumn 2025 issue

A message from our Newsletter Editors …

It has been a busy and exciting summer for Red-ALERT, with fieldwork, training workshops, conferences and outreach activities, developing skills, sharing knowledge and building collaborations.

Our community we’ll be growing soon with the addition of Cohort 2, joining us at the beginning of September. We look forward to the months ahead as the CDT continues to develop and expand to support the next generation of environmental scientists.

We hope you enjoy reading this issue of Red-ALERT Research and look forward to sharing more updates with you in the next issue!

Best wishes, Eleanor Kirk, Holly Roberts and Sian Davies

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Catch up with all issues of “Red-ALERT Research” online

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Thank you to Phil Reay Photography accredited for our newsletter cover imagery

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Red-ALERT Spotlights Executive Board Member

Cohort 1 Student

Professor Andrew Weightman

Maya Lhoste

(Organisms & Environment Division, School of Biosciences, Cardiff University)

(Red-ALERT Cohort 1 Student, School of Biosciences, Cardiff University)

What inspires you?

It is inspirational working in academia, particularly working with PhD students and early career researchers who have new inspired ideas. I’ve been lucky enough to take sabbaticals in the States early in my career and more recently at the University of Queensland.

Working alongside students and colleagues in those environments was fantastic. It is great having the freedom to follow your own thoughts, engage with others, learn from their ideas, and contribute to the research community.

What inspires you?

I’m inspired by the idea of research that makes a real-world difference. I’ve never liked the thought of working in a vacuum and I want the work I do to have direct impacts, especially in areas that are under threat. Freshwater ecosystems in the UK are facing serious challenges, and even if my contributions aren’t revolutionary, I’d be proud to play a small part in helping protect these fascinating and vital environments.

What moments stand out in your career?

In the late 1980s/early 1990s, a few papers introduced molecular approaches to investigating microbial communities for the first time. I remember reading Carl Woese’s review Bacterial Evolution and thinking this was the way to go. We secured a NERC grant using these approaches for the first time to explore deep seafloor sediments, discovering new microbial phyla and diverse deep biosphere communities.

We later applied this work to other water and sediment sources. It was an amazing period, applying new molecular methods, and it has gone on to become standard methodology now!

What attracted you to your PhD? I first encountered eDNA during my undergraduate project and found it interesting, and after completing my master's degree, I realised how much I enjoyed the research process and knew I wanted to continue in this direction. The strong sense of community in academia, especially within Red-ALERT, was also a big draw for me.

A message for new researchers?

Remember what brought you into science in the first place. Every career has peaks and troughs, and to keep going you must rediscover the excitement. Try to keep hold of that, it’s precious!

What are you most excited about?

I’m especially excited by the hands-on nature of lab work — it’s something I genuinely enjoy. The field of eDNA continues to be incredibly interesting to me, and I’m always keen to learn more about it. Throughout my studies, I’ve been driven by the idea of contributing to new science, and the opportunity to be part of ongoing research and discovery is something I find deeply motivating.

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Cohort 1 Student News Yashi Jain, (1st-year PhD in Ecotoxicology, Bangor University) on her time in the laboratory I am currently working on a project as part of a study led

by Dr Jessica Kevill, Postdoctoral Research Officer at Bangor University, exploring microplastics as transport vectors for microbes in wastewater systems. The project focuses on investigating how microbes colonise these microplastics at different stages of the wastewater treatment process. My role involves quantifying microplastics at each treatment stage and evaluating the effectiveness of the wastewater treatment plant in removing them. The picture here shows me extracting microplastics from the wastewater samples for further examination and analysis.

Joeseph Beaney, (1st-year PhD in Ecotoxicology, University of Bath) on his time sampling the Cam and Wellow rivers In May, I worked alongside fellow Bath Red-Alert student Javeria to collect water samples as part of a new sampling campaign headed by Dr Nicola Ceolotto. We focused on the Cam and Wellow rivers, sampling both upstream and downstream locations, as well as collecting influent and effluent samples from the Paulton and Radstock wastewater treatment plants. This work, carried out with researchers from the Centre for Water Based Epidemiology (CWBE) in the Red-Alert’s Bath-associated living lab, will continue over the next five years. The samples will help build an understanding of chemical loads, environmental risk, the presence of pathogenic bacteria, and the prevalence and trends in antimicrobial resistance genes.

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Image 1 sourced by Yashi Jain, image 2, 3 & 4 sourced by Joe Beaney

Eleanor Kirk, (1st-year PhD in Ecotoxicology, University of Exeter) on attending a British Toxicology Society workshop in London In June I took part in the Ecotoxicology & Environmental Toxicology module run by the British Toxicology Society (BTS), which included five webinars and an in-person NC3Rs ‘Next Generation Risk Assessment’ workshop hosted by Unilever at the London Wellcome Trust. It was a brilliant opportunity to work alongside participants from regulatory, industry, and agrichemical backgrounds, with hands-on exercises and discussions around current chemical toxicity testing and emerging new assessment methods (NAMs).

Sian Davies, (1st-year PhD in Biosciences, Cardiff University) on attending a NERCfunded Freshwater Field Identification Skills workshop in Dorset In July, fellow Red-ALERT-aligned student Maddy McCarthy (1st-year PhD, University of Bath) and I attended a NERCfunded workshop on ‘Freshwater Field Identification Skills’.

During the five-day workshop, held at the Freshwater Biological Association (FBA) River Laboratory in Wareham, Dorset, we learnt about freshwater macroinvertebrates, protists, meiofauna, and eDNA in the field, lab, and classroom. We started the week in the River Frome, where we collected macroinvertebrates and eDNA samples from the river water. Following this, we began our microscope work, learning to identify macroinvertebrates to family level.

It was invaluable to work through such a large collection of specimens and benefit from the expertise of John DavyBowker (FBA), Dr Melanie Fletcher (Natural England), Dr Matt Hill (Harper Adams University), and Simon Pawley (AECOM Ecology).

Demonstration sessions also provided insight into processing large volumes of samples, calculating biotic indices, and the use of RIVPACS. Towards the end of the week, we completed a practical eDNA analysis session led by Dr Demetra Andreou and Dr Kirthana Pillay (Bournemouth University), where we assigned eDNA sequences to taxa using BLAST. It was useful that the training integrated both traditional morphological identification methods alongside eDNA techniques, allowing for a clear comparison between them. We wrapped up the week with more field sampling and microscopic preparation and examination of protists (microalgae, ciliates, and flagellates) and meiofauna (tardigrades and rotifers), in sessions led by Professor Genoveva Esteban (Bournemouth University). The workshop was an amazing opportunity to develop practical skills, gain confidence in species identification, and connect with other freshwater ecologists. I’m excited to apply what I’ve learnt to my own macroinvertebrate research moving forward.

Images 1 sourced by Eleanor Kirk, Image 2, 3, 4 & 5 sourced by Sian Davies

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Students taking part at the ‘Festival of Nature’s SouthGate Bath Family Day public engagement event, (07/06/2025) This year’s Festival of Nature focused on the theme of water and celebrated the launch of the Bath Riverline, a new riverside trail connecting green spaces across the city. Red-ALERT students ran an interactive outreach stall in collaboration with the Centre for Water-Based Epidemiology and the Institute of Sustainability and Climate Change. The event was a fantastic opportunity to raise awareness among members of the public and to strengthen connections between environmental research and local communities.

“It was a great opportunity to interact with the public and talk to both adults and children, not only about our research but about how the little changes we make can lead to a big impact.” – Chloe Ingham

"Being at the Festival of Nature was a great opportunity to speak to the public about RedALERT, and my research. Learning how to speak to different audiences about our work is a vital skill, and this event allowed me to improve it" – Holly Roberts “Improving our communication and public outreach skills was a valuable experience.

Finding effective ways to demonstrate and discuss our research with the public was challenging, but very rewarding" – Sian Davies

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“It was a good experience. Explaining my research to people without a science background was a bit challenging, but also interesting. It was nice to connect with others and share my work.” – Yashi Jain Images accredited to Holly Roberts

Centre for Doctoral Training News Red-ALERT Cohort 2 Projects Announced We are excited to confirm the projects for our second cohort of Red-ALERT PhD students, who will begin in September 2025. In total, 13 projects will be undertaken across our four partner Higher Education Institutes.

University of Bath – four projects developing innovative tools and technologies for freshwater monitoring and pathogen detection.

Bangor University – three projects exploring antimicrobial resistance and freshwater disease ecology.

Cardiff University – two projects focused on pollution assessment and the recovery of impacted river systems.

University of Exeter – four projects investigating pollutant impacts on freshwater ecosystems and approaches to restoration.

All students have now accepted their places, and we look forward to welcoming them into the CDT community. They will be formally introduced in our next issue, Autumn 2025.

Cohort 2 Induction The induction for Cohort 2 will be taking place on the 2nd October, where Cohort 1 will be involved in presenting 2-minute presentations of their project work to date introducing the new members to the goals of Red-ALERT.

Training Events Update The next CDT training course, ‘Public Health: Water Omics & Ecotoxicology Tools’, will be hosted by Professor Charles Tyler and Professor Eduarda Santos at the University of Exeter from 10th-14th November 2025, providing training in omics-based and ecotoxicology methods to monitoring contaminants, impacting freshwater health.

The following course, ‘One Health Models’, will be hosted by Professor Davey Jones, Professor Dave Chadwick and Professor Olga Golyshina at Bangor University from 19th-23rd January 2026, focusing on integrated modelling of environmental and human health with applications to antimicrobial resistance and pollution.

More details on specific training schedules will be released soon.

Cohort 1 Publications Comparative impact of sunlight and salinity on human pathogenic virus survival in river estuarine, and marine water microcosms Kevill, J.L., Herridge, K., Li, X., Farkas, K., Malham, S.K., Robins, P., Jones, D.L., 2025, In: Water Research, 278, 123411 Dynamic Culture Improves the Predictive Power of Bronchial and Alveolar Airway Models of SARS-CoV-2 Infection Caygill, C.H., Lopeman, R., Lewis, K.A., Richardson, E., Casas-Sanchez, A., Heavey, N., Winrow, A., Williams, C., Wooding, D., Edwards, T. and Lucas, E.R., 2025, In: bioRxiv, pp.2025-07.

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