Jian Zang published a paper on an innovative decentralized water system in India which utilized rainwater harvesting and zero wastewater discharge to locally (re)generate 39% of the water needed for a higher education institution with student and staff accommodation.
Research by Jidapa (Aom) Plaimart shows that the combined application of digestate with coconut husk biochar is a promising biotechnology for sustainable agriculture, promoting the circular re-use of agricultural waste residues, in addition to renewable energy generation. Read her article in Environmental Pollution.
Kishor, with our colleagues in Tanzania, has published an article in the Journal of Environmental Management showing that DNA fragments are much more resilient under chlorination than intact cells or culturable bacteria. Consequently, complementary plate count methods remain essential for the correct interpretation of molecular data for disinfected waters. An important insight gained from the IMAGINE project.
We have assembled small equipment items into a water quality lab that fits into a suitcase. The suitcase lab enables 16S rRNA gene amplicon based characterization of millions of bacteria in water samples, almost anywhere in the world. A fantastic outcome of our collaboration with colleagues in Ethiopia.
Every year I have the privilege of working with talented CivEng students on their MEng/BEng projects. This year, MEng student Joseph Lazenby developed a fantastic website to interpret and share water quality information with the public, while BEng student Maximillian Ballard produced a BEng project prize-winning website on sanitation solutions. Well done, both!
Dr Kishor Acharya was awarded a Rapid Response Grant from the Global Challenge Academy to work with the Addis Ababa Water and Sewerage Authority (AAWSA), Addis Ababa University and the International Water Management Institute, in Ethiopia. The project aim is to share best practice for personnel working in the collection, treatment and management of wastewater.
Yifei, Jiangkun and Sanjeeb have successfully published a first outcome of our trinational collaboration with the China University of Geosciences, Wuhan, and the Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay, on using enzymes to degrade antibiotics in wastewater treatment plant effluent.
Congratulations to Dr George Mangse, who has published a paper from his PhD in the journal Environmental Pollution. George is now an academic in the Department of Biological Sciences, Nile University of Nigeria, Abuja.
Kishor’s MinION paper, published on Oct 31st, was among the Top 100 Downloaded Scientific Reports papers in Microbiology in 2019.
