Project 13 - Next-Generation Sensors for Understanding and Managing Chemical Pollution

About the Project

Develop next-generation sensing technologies to reveal chemical pollution in the environment, providing the evidence needed to support more effective monitoring and management.

Are you passionate about solving complex environmental challenges? Interested in creating non-toxic environments that benefit society and nature alike? This innovative and exciting PhD project, co-designed with non-academic partners, is part of the NERC-funded ECOSOLUTIONS Doctoral Focal Award, and offers the opportunity to address real world challenges with key opinion-formers to help support sustainable chemical development and create non-toxic urban & rural landscapes.

Project details:

This project will develop new sensing solutions for the identification and quantification of chemicals within the environment, enabling in situ, continuous and real-time monitoring of chemicals of environmental concern. Coupling increased spatial and temporal coverage with improvement in sensitivity could enable a greater understanding of contaminant concentrations associated with sub-lethal impacts on biodiversity and human health risks, such as the promotion of antimicrobial resistance, allowing these risks to be better incorporated into routine monitoring and policy.

Thin-film sensors will be created using emerging luminescent nanomaterials, the optical and surface properties of which can be tailored to interact selectively with specific target analytes. Whilst the overarching vision is to develop sensors applicable to multiple chemicals, dissolved copper will provide the principal case study; copper is a known chemical of environmental concern, whilst being proven to quench the emission of luminescent nanoparticles. These sensors will be combined with highly sensitive photodetectors, with the aim of achieving a detection sensitivity of below 1 µg/L with liquid samples.

Sensor performance will be assessed by progressing from representative laboratory-synthesised sample matrices under different environmental conditions to real-world samples from freshwater systems. This will include potential case studies of highway runoff, wastewater treatment plants and legacy mining areas. The studies will explore how in situ sensing can support action to tackle copper pollution by providing timely evidence of elevated or changing copper concentrations to inform environmental management. This will demonstrate how improved sensing capabilities could support more responsive and effective management of copper pollution.

The ECOSOLUTIONS DFA

Led by the Universities of Sheffield and York and the UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology, ECOSOLUTIONS is a cutting-edge, transdisciplinary initiative. This innovative programme combines science, policy, and societal engagement to transform chemicals policy and management, enabling a safe, sustainable chemicals sector and non-toxic environments. This project is one of 19 projects that are available for the third ECOSOLUTIONS and final cohort who will work together to begin to understand and solve the problems of sustainable chemical design and use, as well tackling the problems that pollution causes in urban environments, rural landscapes and food systems.

What You will Gain

As an ECOSOLUTIONS PhD student, you will work with world-leading experts across diverse fields such as ecology, data science, digital solutions, chemistry, geography, psychology, environmental engineering, policy, and law. You will learn to tackle the risks posed by chemicals while enabling their societal benefits, adopting a whole-systems and solutions-focused approach.

You will receive 3 years and 9 months of funding and take part in a dynamic training and development programme, including:

• Induction course: Connect with fellow students, supervisors, and the ECOSOLUTIONS team while exploring the programme’s mission.
• Primer course: Gain foundational knowledge on the environmental risks that chemicals pose, policy landscapes, and sustainable chemical innovation.
• Transferable skills workshops: Master data management, big data methods, research practices, communication, stakeholder engagement and more.
• Systems-solutions workshops: Collaborate across disciplines to explore sustainable chemical design and development, address pollution in urban & rural landscapes, and develop actionable solutions.
• Three-month secondment: Joint Nature Conservation Committee
• International conferences: Share your findings and network with global experts.

The skills you will need

To do this project you will need the following essential skills:

• Laboratory skills
• Data analysis and/or modelling
• Materials processing, fabrication and characterisation

Eligibility

To be considered for the ECOSOLUTIONS DFA, you will need at least an upper 2nd class honours degree or equivalent in a relevant discipline.

As a collaboration of international research-led universities, we welcome students from all walks of life and from across the world. Within our programme, we are dedicated to diversifying our community.

As part of our ongoing work to improve Equality, Diversity and Inclusion we strongly encourage applications from UK/Home candidates from identified underrepresented groups: Black, Asian and minority ethnic communities, those from a disadvantaged socio-economic background, and disabled people.

Start Your Research Career with ECOSOLUTIONS:

This PhD is part of the ECOSOLUTIONS Doctoral Focal Award (DFA), a prestigious NERC-funded program dedicated to training the next generation of environmental practitioners. For more details and a full list of other PhD projects under this programme, visit: https://ecosolutions.sites.sheffield.ac.uk/

Application Web Page:

For more information on how to apply, please visit the ECOSOLUTIONS website: https://ecosolutions.sites.sheffield.ac.uk/

Project specific enquiries: Dr Matthew Hobbs, m.hobbs@sheffield.ac.uk

Funding Notes

This is a full scholarship which will cover tuition fees and provide an annual stipend in line with UKRI recommended levels (£21,805 for the 2026/2027 academic year, TBC in 2027/2028) for the 45 months duration.

Due to CDT funding rules and Institutional policies, there is a cap on the number of scholarships that can be awarded to DFA students. Once this limit has been reached, ECOSOLUTIONS DFA scholarships will only be awarded to students who are eligible for Home fee status. York and UKCEH led projects can only fund applications from UK/Home eligible applicants and Sheffield can accept applications from both with very limited places for international students.