Virtual Networking event: Managing Water Pollution

Every day approximately 8 million pieces of plastic pollution find their way into our waters.

Plastic pollution has become one of the most pressing environmental issues, as rapidly increasing production of disposable plastic products overwhelms the world’s ability to deal with them.

Emerging contaminants (ECs) are chemicals that have been detected in global drinking water supplies at trace levels and for which the risk to human health is not yet known. They include pharmaceuticals, personal care products, pesticides, herbicides and endocrine disrupting compounds.

Join us for our networking discussion when we'll be joined by experts in this field, which include a University of Bath Academic and a group of startup companies who'll discuss the issues around water pollution and how they are taking action to help us clean up our act.

AGENDA:

8.30am: arrive with coffee and croissants to network (via breakout rooms) with other attendees.

9.00am: Prof Jan Hofman, Department of Chemical Engineering, University of Bath. Will provide a presentation about Urban Water Pollution and Contaminants of Emerging Concern.

9.15am: Interactive Q&A expert panel session (see below). Hosted by Pete Keevill, Entrepreneur in Residence, STBAH.

9.30am: Another chance to network via breakout rooms with other attendees.

10.00am: Finish

Join us, like minded people and a panel of experts for this free to attend networking event. Once you have pre-registered closer to the event date you will be sent a ZOOM link to enable access to the event.

Get to know your speaker and panelists:

Professor Jan Hofman: His research is focused on creating sustainable solutions in the water cycle. His personal research interests are: sustainable water management origin; fate and abatement options for emerging contaminants like pharmaceutical compounds or nanoparticles in water; thermal energy recovery from water and wastewater; resource recovery from wastewater and water treatment residuals; upscaling of nanotechnology application for water treatment.

Panelist detail:

Giovanna Laudisio, CEO & Co-Founder, Naturbeads. Naturbeads is a spin-off company that started at the University of Bath. Naturbeads Ltd is a 2-year old start up working to scale up a manufacturing process for the continuous production of cellulose microbeads which are produced from renewable and sustainable resources. Giovanna has 15+ year of experience in R&D and technology commercialisation. She is an experienced project manager with passion for environment and a track record of projects execution.

Megan, Stratgic Partnership Lead, City to Sea. City to Sea are a not-for-profit organisation campaigning to stop plastic pollution at source, by connecting their actions to our oceans. Founded in Bristol by environmental campaigner Natalie Fee. Megan is the Strategic Partnership Lead at City to Sea working closely with water companies across England.

Jon Shepherd, Head of Programmes & Funding, FRANK Water. Bristol based charity, FRANK Water work to improve access to fresh water, sanitation and hygiene in India & Nepal. Jon, will talk about their overseas work in relation to pollution.