Sedimentary my Dear Watson: Winner of the 2016 SWIG Early Career Researcher Prize

Research on optical profiling to detect iron concentrations in sediment pore water was the winning scientific poster by Zoe Goddard from the University of East Anglia, who has the SWIG¹ 2016 Early Career Researcher competition.

Zoe was presented with a trophy and cheque for £1,200 during the gala dinner at WWEM² 2016, where she had earlier presented her research in the poster exhibition area entitled ‘Optically-Profiling Diffusible Iron Concentrations in Sediment Pore Water’. This technique could also be adapted to detect other environmental pollutants.

Zoe is undertaking a PhD at the University of East Anglia. Zoe commented:

“The SWIG Early Careers Researcher Poster competition was an amazing experience for me. The water industry is an area with lots of prospects for exciting innovation and I was honoured to win this award with so much amazing research on display. It has greatly increased my confidence in my research and my ability to present it to a wider audience. I look forward to continuing my research and seeing where this idea can go. I would like to thank my supervisor, Dr. Andrew Mayes, for all his support throughout my project.”

Congratulations also go to the winner of the 2nd prize of £500, Elena Koutsoumpeli for her cutting edge research into the use of affimers (artificial antibodies) for the detection of environmental contaminants ‘Antibody-mimetics for the detection of environmental contaminants’. Congratulations also to the winner of the 3rd prize of £200, Kevin Martins for his research into a ground breaking use of radar to study ‘Wave propagation in the surf zone’.

The quality of posters submitted and the finalists’ presentations this year were excellent and the ten shortlisted posters of the Early Career Researcher Prize on display at WWEM generated a lot of interest from the water sensor industry, who were keen to learn more about the exciting research currently being undertaken into water sensing. SWIG would like to thank WWEM for sponsoring and hosting the poster display and prize ceremony.

The aim of the SWIG Early Career Researcher Prize for Sensing the Water Environment is to raise awareness of technological development and novel applications related to water measurements and thereby promote innovation in sensor research and commercial application. The competition is run every two years and is open to all ‘early career researchers’ within the first 4 years of employment within their area of expertise.

SWIG is a not for profit knowledge exchange and networking organisation which focuses on the use of sensor and associated technologies for use in water and wastewater treatment processes and infrastructure, as well as in natural environments and waters. For further information: www.swig.org.uk or contact the programme manager: rosa.richards@swig.org.uk

1 Sensors for Water Interest Group

2 Water Wastewater and Environmental Monitoring Conference