
Dr Laura Carter
- Position: Associate Professor in Soil and Environmental Chemistry, UKRI Future Leaders Fellow
- Areas of expertise: soil; pharmaceuticals; emerging contaminants; plastics; uptake; fate; sorption; plants; ecotoxicity antimicrobial resistance
- Email: L.J.Carter@leeds.ac.uk
- Phone: +44(0)113 343 3205
- Location: 10.29 Garstang
- Website: Twitter | Researchgate
Profile
Laura Carter is an Associate Professor in Soil and Environmental Chemistry at the University of Leeds, UK. Laura’s research focuses on understanding the fate and uptake of emerging contaminants in the natural environment, with particular focus on soil-plant systems.
Laura currently holds a prestigious UKRI Future Leaders Fellowship which funds the project: ‘Contaminants of emerging concern in agricultural systems: a risk to soil and plant health?’
This project will establish a science platform that uses multidisciplinary approaches to evaluate the global risk of chemicals in agricultural systems. Through a combination of laboratory and field work, it will offer a fundamental change in how we assess the risks of emerging contaminants in the environment by combining expertise in the fields of agriculture, soil and plant health.
Current responsibilities
Society of Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry (SETAC) Pharmaceuticals Interest Group Committee Member
Society of Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry (SETAC) UK Council Member
Previous Experience
Since completing her PhD at The University of York under supervision of Prof. Alistair Boxall, Laura has spent time as a Risk Assessor at Unilever’s Safety and Environmental Assurance Centre (SEAC) and as a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the Commonwealth Scientific Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) in Adelaide, Australia where she investigated the biological effects of pharmaceutical uptake into plants. Most recently, Laura has worked as a Postdoctoral Researcher at the University of York, UK where she contributed to the European iPiE project on the intelligent assessment of pharmaceuticals in the environment, developing soil sorption models and monitoring pharmaceuticals in river catchments.
2022 – Associate Professor in Soil and Environmental Chemistry University of Leeds, UK
2018 – 2022 University Academic Fellow in Soil Science University of Leeds, UK
2015 - 2018 Postdoctoral Researcher University of York, UK
2014 - 2015 OCE Postdoctoral Research Fellow CSIRO Adelaide, Australia
Research interests
My research focuses on understanding the fate and uptake of emerging contaminants in the natural environment, with particular focus on terrestrial systems. I am particularly interested in the following research areas;
- Fate and uptake of pharmaceuticals in soil-plant systems
- Formation and uptake of pharmaceutical transformation products in non-target organisms
- Impacts of sewage derived emerging contaminants on agroecosystem health
- Food-web transfer of emerging contaminants
- Impacts of manufacturing discharge on environmental health
- Contaminants of emerging concern in agricultural systems: a risk to soil and plant health?
- SELECTAR - Selection for antimicrobial resistance by antimicrobial production waste
Qualifications
- PhD Environmental Science University of York
- BSc Environmental Science University of York
Research groups and institutes
- River Basin Processes and Management