"PhD Studentship: How do plastics impact bacterial pathogens in food waste"

PhD Studentship: How do plastics impact bacterial pathogens in food waste

University of East Anglia - School of Biological Sciences

Placed On: 6th March 2026
Closes: 8th April 2026
Reference: CLARKE_U26MMBiCASE

Primary supervisor - tom.clarke@uea.ac.uk

Plastic and microplastic pollution is now globally widespread and can have significant consequences to the environment. As a result it is becoming increasingly important to determine the extent that plastics can impact the biology of both organisms and microorganisms, in particular by affecting the number and survivabilty of pathogenica bacteria in the environment.

The industrial partner Duranta operate an anaerobic digestor capable of processing ~250,000 tonnes of food waste a year. This green digestion process produces biogas that can be turned into energy and a digestate that can be used as fertiliser, unfortunately plastic in the food waste can contaminate this digestate, with unknown consequences to the environment.

The successful student will use a range of bioinformatic and spectroscopic techniques to: 1) Determine the major microbial pathogens and their metabolic activity in the anaerobic digestion process; 2) Identify and quantify the different types of microplastic present in the digestate; 3) Determine what affect the presence of microplastics has on the pathogens survival within the microbial community and fermentation process. Depending on their interests student will have the opportunity to develop their own ideas to minimise the impact of microplastics and plastics within the digestate.

Entry requirements

At least UK equivalence Bachelors (Honours) 2:1. English Language requirement (MED/SCI equivalent: IELTS 6.5 overall, 6 in each category).

Mode of study

Full-time

Start date

1 October 2026

Additional Funding Information

This project is awarded with a 4-year fully funded MMB PhD iCASE studentship with Duranta Energy Ltd. The studentship includes payment of tuition fees (directly to the University), a stipend to cover living expenses (2026/7 stipend rate: £21,805), a CASE Partner stipend enhancement of £2,500 pa and a Research Training Support Grant of £5,000 pa for each year of the studentship.