PhD Studentship in: A simple approach to tailoring biofilms for effective removal of micropollutants during wastewater treatment

Sheffield Water Centre at The University of Sheffield, in collaboration with Southern Water and the EPSRC Centre for Doctoral Training in Water Infrastructure and Resilience.

PhD Studentship in: A simple approach to tailoring biofilms for effective removal of micropollutants during wastewater treatment

Stipend: This post will fully cover university tuition and provide a tax-free stipend for Home and Overseas students of £24,000 per year.

Closing Date for Applications: 14^th March 2025

Start Date: 29^th September 2025 (contract duration 4 years)

Freshwater is a precious and finite resource. The increasing pollution of freshwater sources (surface, ground) with synthetic chemicals of anthropogenic origin with unknown long-term effects on human and aquatic life is a major public concern globally. Effective wastewater treatment is crucial for eliminating these synthetic chemicals. Some synthetic chemicals such as antibiotics (e.g. sulfamethoxazole) and industrial chemicals (e.g. perfluorooctanesulfonic acid) are persistent pollutants i.e. degraded very slowly within established wastewater treatment processes, which to a large extent rely on microbial activity within biofilms to biodegrade these pollutants. Biofilms are communities of microorganisms attached to each other and to a surface via a matrix of extracellular polymeric substances. Microbial activity within biofilms is leveraged in established fixed film process such as trickling filters to remove macropollutants (e.g. organic carbon) effectively. Whether microbial activity in biofilms found on trickling filters can be modified for more effective removal of synthetic chemicals currently labelled as persistent pollutants is an outstanding question.

The community of microorganisms that compose the biofilms are but a subset from those that are present within wastewater because studies have shown that the microbial composition of the biofilms are different to that of the process liquid. Since microbial activity within the biofilm is the main driver of chemical transformations leading to the treatment of wastewater, we hypothesise that changing the microbial community composition should change the treatment process outcomes.

The proposed project seeks to investigate the hypothesis that changing the microbial community composition of biofilms in trickling filters will lead to better biodegradation rates for persistent micropollutants. The exemplar micropollutants to be investigated will be chosen according to the business needs of the project sponsor and will include emerging persistent pollutants of concern such as perfluorooctanesulfonic acid. The project seeks to affect the change in microbial community composition through a simple approach i.e. by changing the chemical properties (hydrophobicity, charge, acid-base composition) of the carrier material (medium) within trickling filters. The student will gain in-depth expertise in surface functionalisation and analysis, microbiology and biofilm characterisation techniques, molecular biology assessment (e.g. sequencing) and chemical analysis (e.g. chromatography) to assess degradation rates of synthetic micropollutants.

The research programme to be completed in this project will be undertaken as part of the EPSRC Centre for Doctoral Training in Water Infrastructure and Resilience (CDT WIRe). WIRe is a collaboration between the three leading UK Universities in water resilient infrastructure. Students will benefit from a bespoke training scheme delivered by world leading experts from academia and industry, access to world leading experimental and computational facilities as well as close and regular contact with industry and end user partners. WIRe is committed to promoting a diverse and inclusive community, and offer a range of family friendly, inclusive employment policies. For further information on the WIRe scheme visit the web site at: https://cdtwire.com/

The project will be supervised by Dr Esther Karunakaran and Prof Frederik Claeyssens in collaboration with partners from Southern Water.  There will be generous opportunities to travel to visit our academic and industry partners in both the UK and overseas.

Eligibility Criteria

This studentship is subject to standard RCUK eligibility criteria. It is open to all students with Home or Overseas residency (subject to a maximum quota of overseas students per training grant).

The selection criteria for the position are;

•      A good honours degree (or equivalent experience) in Engineering, Physical Science, or a related subject.

•      Enthusiasm for research

•      Good level of written and oral communication skills, as appropriate for disseminating research and communicating with project partners.

•      Willingness to collaborate with other researchers, industry and end-users.

•      Aptitude for research in a relevant area (e.g. surface functionalisation, experimental design, sensing and monitoring systems, data/time series analysis, water resources) as evidenced by previous experience.

How to apply

Interested candidates should email a covering letter and their Curriculum Vitae to Miss Lindsay Hopcroft (cdtwireapps@sheffield.ac.uk). For information and informal enquiries please contact: Dr. Esther Karunakaran, email address: E.Karunakaran@sheffield.ac.uk and Prof. Frederik Claeyssens, email address: F.Claeyssens@sheffield.ac.uk