Dr Laura Carter

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

<h4>Research projects</h4> <p>Any research projects I'm currently working on will be listed below. Our list of all <a href="https://environment.leeds.ac.uk/dir/research-projects">research projects</a> allows you to view and search the full list of projects in the faculty.</p>

• 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

<h4>Postgraduate research opportunities</h4> <p>We welcome enquiries from motivated and qualified applicants from all around the world who are interested in PhD study. Our <a href="https://phd.leeds.ac.uk">research opportunities</a> allow you to search for projects and scholarships.</p>