ECORISC Alumni

Imogen completed her PhD at the University of Exeter in August 2029 under the supervision of Professor Charles Tyler

Imogen’s project focused on the effects of chemicals, principally pesticides, on riverine invertebrate populations in England. This included identifying regions within England where riverine invertebrate communities are most affected by pesticide chemical pollution. This work further conducted site-level analyses in the priority regions to assess for causal relationships between surface water pesticide concentrations and changes in riverine invertebrate family richness over time. Imogen’s work also progressed understanding on bioindicators among riverine invertebrates that provide measures of impacts for specific pesticide pollution, notably for organophosphates and carbamates. 

During the course of her PhD Imogen published a number of papers including:

1. Poyntz-Wright, I. P., Harrison, X. A., & Tyler, C. R. (2025). Evaluation of the pollution pressures posed by groups of chemicals on British riverine invertebrate populations. Biological Reviews. doi: 10.1111/brv.70075

2. Poyntz-Wright, I. P., & Tyler, C. R. (2025). Mind the gap—national pesticide monitoring data needs for invertebrate effects assessments in English rivers. Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry, 44 (3), p. 637-642. doi: 10.1093/etojnl/vgae087.

3. Poyntz-Wright, I. P., Harrison, X. A., Johnson, A., Zappala, S., & Tyler, C. R. (2024). Identifying freshwater invertebrate taxa susceptible to AChE-acting pesticides. Environmental Pollution, 363 (2), 125217. 11, pp. 

4. Poyntz-Wright I.P., Harrison XA, Pedersen S, Tyler CR. Effectiveness of eDNA for monitoring riverine macroinvertebrates. Sci Total Environ. 2024 Sep 1;941:173621. doi: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2024.173621. Epub 2024 May 28. PMID: 38815833 

5. Poyntz-Wright, I. P., Harrison, X. A., Johnson, A., et al. (2024) Assessment of the impacts of GABA and AChE targeting pesticides on freshwater invertebrate family richness in English Rivers, Science of The Total Environment, 912, p. 169079. doi: 10.1016/J.SCITOTENV.2023.169079. MID: 38815833 

6. Poyntz-Wright, I. P., et al. (2023) Pesticide pollution associations with riverine invertebrate communities in England, Science of The Total Environment, 903, p. 166519. doi: 10.1016/J.SCITOTENV.2023.166519.
   
   

During her PhD studies Imogen had internships with JNCC and Defra, in the case of the latter helping to develop a white paper on endocrine disrupting chemicals.

Following her PhD, Imogen took on a position of employment at Babcock as a data analyst position. This reflects the interest she developed especially during her PhD for data analysis and statistical models.

Eve completed her PhD at the University of Cardiff in August 2029 under the supervision of Dr Micheal Harbottle. 

Eve’s project aimed to address the fundamental questions regarding water based polymers (WSPs) prevalence and the effect on organisms. Her research aimed to develop analytical methodology capable for quantifying these polymers investigating their biodegradation and exploring their effect as flocculation agents on freshwater sediment. 

During the course of her PhD Eve published a number of papers including:

1. Tarring EC, Robison-Smith C, Cable J, Durance I, Harbottle M, Ward BD. Detection of polyvinylpyrrolidone in Daphnia magna : Development of a refractive index quantification method for water-soluble polymers in aquatic organisms. Science of the Total Environment 2024; 935: 8. 

2. Tarring EC, Durance I, Harbottle MJ, Lucas R, Read DS, Ward BD. Water-soluble polymers: Emerging contaminants detected, separated and quantified by a novel GPC/MALDI-TOF method. Environmental Pollution 2024; 340: 10.

3. Tarring, E. C., Robison-Smith, C., Ceballos-Ramirez, A. D., Durance, I., Harbottle, M. J., Cable, J., & Ward, B. D. 2025. Toxicity of the water-soluble polymer PVP is dependent on molecular weight and feed concentration for a freshwater model species. Science of the Total Environment, 983, 179686. 

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