Integrated Cross-Sectoral Solutions to Micro- and Nanoplastic Pollution in Soil and Groundwater Ecosystems

ABOUT US

  • TRAINING NETWORK

    Supra-disciplinary and inter-sectoral research and training network on solutions to the emerging crisis of MnP pollution in subsurface ecosystems

  • SCIENTIFIC EXCELLENCE

    Our holistic training network will deliver scientific excellence by integrating knowledge across traditional discipline boundaries

  • PUBLIC & PRIVATE SECTOR BENEFITS

    Increased understanding of environmental and public health risks from research findings

People

Who & What

The PlasticUnderground Doctoral Network is a multi-partner, inter-sectoral joint doctoral research training network with the aim to train an international cohort of Early-Stage Researchers (ESRs) to develop solutions to the emerging underground plastic pollution crisis in soils and groundwater aquifers. Microplastics (synthetic polymers <5mm) and nanoplastics (<1μm) are now known to be omnipresent in the environment and have been detected in the world’s oceans, rivers, inland seas, sediment and soils as well as indoor and outdoor air.

Vision

Our vision is to pioneer the development of urgently required understanding of the fate, transport and impacts of MnP in soils and groundwater, by providing world-leading research and training on the assessment of subsurface transport pathways and breakdown mechanisms (abiotic and biotic) of MnP in soils and groundwater, the resulting exposure, uptake and biomagnification risks in food-webs, the development of predictive models and solutions to minimise the impacts of MnP and associated chemical additives, and the translation of science into practice informing public behaviour, business practice and policy across the intersection of multiple policy domains, and in the broader aspects of responsible innovation and ethics.

Why

Recent evidence of increasing accumulation of micro- and nanoplastics (MnP) in soils and groundwater raises severe concerns by agricultural and water industries, food manufacturers, regulators, environmental interest groups and citizens. Private and public sectors require detailed understanding of environmental and public health risks posed by MnP in soils and groundwater. The PlasticUnderground Doctoral Network creates supra-disciplinary intersectoral capacity for analysing the fate, transport and impacts of MnP in soils and groundwater to develop solutions for reducing their environmental and public health risks, supporting the EC’s circular plastic economy strategy.

Work Packages

  • We will focus on developing advanced field and laboratory analytical capacity as well as new generation of mechanistic and data-based modelling approaches.

  • Utilizing innovation from “Advanced Analytical Techniques & Models” to advance mechanistic process understanding of the fate, transport and impact of MnP in soil and groundwater ecosystems.

  • We will integrate process and impact knowledge to develop and test the efficiency of behavioural, policy, management and technological solutions to tackle the global subsurface MnP pollution crisis and support the European Strategy for Plastics in a Circular Economy.

  • We will integrate the joint private and public sector capacities of beneficiaries and international partner cohort to provide dedicated training to stimulate entrepreneurship and pathways to innovation development and implementation in our projects.

  • Local training will build on unique infrastructure, analytical equipment, high-end computational resources, and BIG DATA networks and management systems.

    Network-wide training will focus on technical innovations, as well as on the facilitation of the projects tailored innovation chain and science–end-user interactions, communication, and engagement strategies.

  • OPEN SCIENCE strategy endorses that data will be made FAIR (findable, accessible, interoperable and re-usable), enabling data mining, modelling and integration with datasets globally. Research findings will be made available in open-access publications and share via social media platforms.