This project will establish a unique global research partnership focused on studying sediments contaminated by per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS). PFAS sediment pollution is a widespread and persistent issue caused by human activities and industrial processes. Over the years, PFAS mixtures have accumulated in fine sediment deposits in freshwater and coastal systems, creating a store of highly concentrated chemical mixtures that can be released into the water through physical, chemical, and biological mechanisms. In Europe and the UK, over 17,000 sites with high concentrations of PFAS have been identified, often far from their main sources, with concentrations exceeding 500 times the threshold limits. These "forever chemicals" are extremely harmful to wildlife and the aquatic environment due to their high persistence and resistance to degradation. However, there is a lack of knowledge about the primary physical and chemical processes responsible for their fate and transport in aquatic systems, as well as the mutual interaction of PFAS mixtures. This project will establish a new international research partnership focused on the risks posed by contaminated sediment to bridge this knowledge gap by conducting bespoke experimental investigations and prediction modelling. The focus will be on the quantitative understanding of the mobilisation of PFAS in sediments, how waterbody hydrodynamics and geochemical processes impact the fate and transport of PFAS bound to fine sediments. This research outcome will provide a multidimensional approach to describe pollutant behavior and mixture interactions in waterbody sediment that will enhance existing models, such as the Water Quality Analysis Simulation Program (WASP8) and the Remedial Design of Contaminated Sediments (CapSim 4), both used internationally by stakeholders, academia, and industry to describe pollutant behaviour and mixture interactions in waterbody sediment.

United States of America

Abstracts are not currently available in GtR for all funded research. This is normally because the abstract was not required at the time of proposal submission, but may be because it included sensitive information such as personal details.

Sterols are essential nutrients for insects (e.g., for membrane fluidity, hormones and physiological functions). Sterols in plant vegetative tissues predominantly comprise two sterols; beta-sitosterol and stigmasterol. However, in pollen - from which bees obtain their nutrient provision - sterols are structurally diverse and highly variable. Our pilot data show striking variations among 25 pollen sterols across more than 100 plants representing over 50 families sampled from a global collection at Kew with specific sterol groups occurring in closely related plants. Research on the nutritional requirements of honey bees - the only well-studied bee species in this respect - indicates that they cannot synthesise sterols and that their tissue sterol composition is determined by the specific sterols in their diet. Thus, in terms of sterols bees are what they eat. We also know from existing research on artificial diets that honey bee larval growth and survival is highly sensitive to their dietary sterols. For example, honey bees require 24-methylenecholesterol (24MC) for brood rearing and their development is improved significantly when diets are supplemented with this sterol. Our pilot data shows that 24MC is abundant in royal jelly provisioned to larvae and in a range of plant pollens popular with honey bees e.g., in the Rosaceae but is absent from many plant families including Asteraceae which is avoided for pollen by honey bees suggesting sterol composition could influence pollen choice in bees. However, almost nothing is known about the nutritional needs of wild bee species, especially sterols, but our pilot work shows that the sterol profiles of bees vary dramatically across different species but closely match the sterol profiles of the pollen collected by these bees for food. For example, the sterols from ivy flower pollen (Hedera helix) are highly similar to those of the ivy bee (Colletes hederae), which forages exclusively on ivy for pollen. Furthermore, while the sterols of ivy bees and ivy pollen match they differ dramatically from sterols of bumble bees which have sterols matching the pollen they collect. These in turn differ from the sterols of red mason bees (Osmia bicornis). This close association between pollen and bee sterol chemistry strongly suggests that these other bees use the specific sterols in the pollen they collect. We do not currently know whether these differences reflect differences in sterol tolerances or differences in sterol requirements. This project will test this for the first time. Either way, these differences would provide a mechanistic basis for bee population and community dynamics, and thus also a valuable tool in conserving diverse bee communities and the ecosystem services they provide. We will undertake the first comprehensive assessment of sterol nutrients in pollen of UK plants and in UK wild bees. Using these data, we will identify key plant species that can support the greatest diversity of wild bee species. These data will be integrated into landscape scale models of pollen resources to inform pollen sterol provision in the UK. Landscape-scale modelling based on measurements of plant distributions will be used to estimate the capacity of the landscape to support pollinator populations, taking a major step forward from existing assessments on nectar and carbohydrates. We will match these data with assessments of wild bee species to determine how important specific pollen sterols are for specific bees. We will conduct the first ever assessment of how sterols influence development in wild bees to understand fully the potential cost of sterol limitations in the landscape, how dependent bee species are on specific sterols and how this influences specialisation in wild bees. Our data will inform delivery of the UK government's 25 Year Environment Plan and National Pollinator Strategy and wider initiatives to renew floral landscapes in support of bees.

This 18-month, international networking project aims to bring together dance educators, researchers, industry stakeholders, and artists from UK, Nordic countries and US, to raise the profile and status of dance education and to exchange ideas on the topic of Critical Dance Pedagogy. Through discourse (four hybrid seminar-workshops) and in practice (Artist Lab), the Critical Dance Pedagogy network seeks to examine taken-for-granted assumptions, dominant stereotypes, educational and studio structures that (re)produce hierarchies of positions and capitals, barriers and exclusions, and social inequalities, Together participants in the network will examine widening access and participation, student-artist-centred learning and democratic practices in dance education, for greater diversity and inclusion. The network will particularly focus on pedagogy within secondary, further and higher education, and will examine complexities and enablers of democratic working. The significant, complex, embodied issues will be at the core of the discussions, debate, artist development at the Artist Lab, and in the academic, industry-facing and public-facing outputs. Through a series of four, hybrid seminar-workshops, the network will establish opportunities for new scholarly discourse and UK and international connections on the topic of Critical Dance Pedagogy. Key themes will be explored from different disciplinary lenses and methodologies (e.g. sociology, gender, queer, race theory, philosophy, learning theories) and international/cultural perspectives. Each of the seminar-workshops will host 50 participants and will take place across the UK and hybrid to enable global and wide UK access. The seminar-workshops are as follows: 1.Intertextualities and Identities to take place at Canterbury Christ Church University (CCCU) Speakers:Dr Nyama McCarthy-Brown, (Ohio State University, US), Dr Funmi Adewole (De Montford University, UK), Ash Mukherjee (UK). 2.Equality, Diversity and Inclusion to take place at University of Coventry (UoC) Speakers:Dr Ali Duffy (Texas Tech University, US).Sophie Rebecca, (UK), Dr Kathryn Stamp (Co-I, UoC). 3.Pedagogy(ies) and Practices to take place at University of Edinburgh (UoE) Speakers: Professor Eeva Antilla, (University of Arts, Finland), Stuart Waters (UK), Dr Wendy Timmons (UoE). 4.Leadership and futures to take place at Queen's University Belfast (QUB) Speakers: Professor Rosemary Martin (Nord University, Norway), Dr Aoife McCarthy (QMB), Professor Angela Pickard (PI, CCCU). The network will also connect with leading dance industry organisations at the forefront of sector and policy research related to dance education: One Dance UK, People Dancing, Dance HE, South East Dance, Parable Dance, Parents and Carers in Performing Arts (PiPA), Advancing Women's Aspirations in Dance (AWA), Dance Mama, to ensure the benefits of the network and research are beyond academia, and dance sector voices are fully integrated. The network will also explore student-artist-centred learning, pedagogy and practice in an Artist Lab facilitated by Stuart Waters (a teaching artist with multifaceted intertextualities). The range of outputs and dissemination have potential to reach and benefit widely across public, academic, educator, and industry audiences in the UK and internationally. There will be one public-facing: a film for public engagement and response of learnings/practices as student-responsive pedagogy from the Artist Lab, two academic: special issue of a journal and book proposal, and two industry-facing: summary report and infographic, that will support future scholarly research, professional dance education/training, artistic/performance practices, and policy development. The network has potential to impact thinking, policy and practice within dance education contexts to facilitate a diverse, creative student and artistic workforce.