I was a PhD student working in the Manchester Geomicrobiology group with Jon Lloyd from 2011-2015, and was co-supervised by Julia West from the British Geological Survey. My PhD project focused on the impact of microbial processes on transport properties of a host rock environment for the geological disposal of intermediate-level radioactive waste. This involved carrying out a number of column experiments under high pH conditions, aiming to be representative of some of the conditions that will be present in this environment.
Currently I am a Postdoc working in the acidophile research team at Bangor University with Barrie Johnson. I use acidophilic microorganisms to bioleach metals from a range of ore types, with a particular focus on cobalt extraction.
Outside of research I enjoy running, hiking, cycling and eating. My favourite microorganisms belong to the genus Serpentinomonas. They are alkaliphilic hydrogen utilizers and were the key players in some of the experiments during my PhD, but really I’m just a fan of anything extremophilic.
The microorganisms that inhabit the spent nuclear fuel ponds (SNFPs) at the Sellafield site have been studied for over a decade using DNA-based techniques. By sampling the pond water, extracting DNA, and analysing it using Next Generation Sequencing, it is possible to identify the whole microbial community present in the SNFPs. The microorganisms that colonise […]
Hello! I’m Alison, I come from a town called Solihull in the West Midlands. I completed my undergraduate MSci (Hons) degree in geology from the University of Birmingham, specialising in the geochemistry of metasomatic fluid-rock interaction within an igneous complex. After graduating I spent some time in the Prairies of Canada, studying the controls on […]
In early June, I had the opportunity to attend “The geochemistry and mineralogy of contaminated environments” meeting, held at Burlington House in London. This was the first ever joint meeting between the Royal Society of Chemistry’s Environmental Chemistry Group and the UK & Ireland Mineralogical Society’s Environmental Mineralogy Group. There was good representation from the […]
The first Women in Environmental Science (WiES) workshop was hosted by the University of Manchester last 13th of June. Dozens of attendants participated in this event; a vast majority of them were women, although the event did not discriminate any gender. Moreover, women from all sorts of environmentally-related backgrounds participated, from academy to industry. There […]