Katie Plaisted
PhD Researcher

Profile

Biography

Katie completed her BSc in Environmental Science at RMIT University in Australia, followed by a MSc in BioSciences at the University of Melbourne, Australia. Her masters research was utilising native tardigrade and rotifer species to assess environmental impacts of metal in Antarctica. During her masters, Katie also worked at Eurofins Australia in their Microplastic Lab helping to develop methods to identify and quantify microplastics in the environment. Following her studies, she spent two years working at ALS Scandinavia in Sweden as a chemist developing analytical methods to measure persistent organic compounds in environmental samples.

Katie is now a PhD researcher at the University of York with an interested in fate and uptake of organic compounds in the environment. Her research encompasses analytical chemistry, ecotoxicology, ecology, aquatic and terrestrial invertebrate and environmental science. Katie’s research aims to increase the understanding of the impact of persistent organic chemicals to invertebrates in aquatic environments and the effects on biodiversity loss.

Career

Education/Career

• 2023–Present: PhD Environmental Science (University of York)
• 2022–2023: Analytical Chemist (ALS Scandinavia)
• 2021–2022: Laboratory Technician and Analyst (Eurofins Australia)
• 2020–2021: MSc BioSciences (University of Melbourne)
• 2017-2020: BSc Environmental Science (RMIT University)

Research

Overview

Predicting the effects of chemical contaminants on biodiversity loss in a changing environment: the role of toxicokinetics.

The overall aim of this research is to develop an understanding of biological and chemical factors determining the toxicokinetics of chemical contaminants in aquatic invertebrates and hence effects on biodiversity. The findings will be used to develop new predictive approaches for estimating the internal exposure concentrations for chemical contaminants in aquatic invertebrates with different biochemical, physiological and morphological traits under diverse conditions. By applying these predictive approaches, we will explore how internal exposure varies across current invertebrate communities and how ecological and water chemistry changes resulting from climate change might affect this exposure in the future.

Supervisors

1. Professor Alistair Boxall (University of York)
2. Professor Lorraine Maltby (University of Sheffield)
3. Dr Claudia Rivetti (Unilever)

Funding

This project is funded by NERC ACCE DPT and Case Partner Unilever.