Isla Stubbs
PhD Student

Isla is a PhD researcher with an interest in the fate  of pharmaceuticals in agricultural soils and the potential uptake into crops. Her PhD project will investigate the pervasive issue of pharmaceutical pollution in agriculture, with a primary focus on understanding its multifaceted impacts and associated risks to both soil health and crop production. As the project progresses, she hopes to shed light on the extent of pharmaceutical contamination in agricultural ecosystems, examining its effects on soil quality, nutrient cycling, and overall ecosystem resilience.

Prior to starting her PhD, Isla completed a BSc in Environmental Science at the University of York. During the course of her undergraduate degree, Isla undertook a placement year at Labcorp Drug Development, where she worked in the terrestrial ecotoxicology department working on a range of studies assessing newly developed pharmaceuticals and their impacts on non-target terrestrial species, including a range of crops, as well as earthworms, ladybirds, lacewing flies, bumblebees and honeybees. This work allowed Isla to find her interest in ecotoxicology, and upon her return to York she completed her dissertation project focusing on CBD pollution and its influence on the behavioral response of the common earthworm, Lumbricus terrestris.