The impact of emissions from urban, agricultural and industrial areas on local air quality is a growing concern. However, understanding the identities, distribution and abundance of airborne microorganisms remains in its infancy. Deleterious health effects can arise following exposure to infective bacterial and viral organisms. Indeed, the risk to human exposure from bioaerosols and volatile organic compounds are still difficult to quantify in real time. There is also growing concern about the accidental or deliberate release of biological materials in the environment and the associated impacts on human/animal health and the economy. Thus, rapid bioaerosol detection is an urgent civilian and military requirement. In 2012, the Government instigated a "Blackett Review" to address the question "Which technologies or capabilities will enable rapid, wide-area surveillance of a broad spectrum of biological agents in the next 15 years?" As the risk of exposure is directly linked to the concentration and type of microorganisms, much clearer characterisation, quantification and monitoring methods are needed if the temporal and spatial trends of infectious species are to be evaluated in different environments. Current monitoring methods are labour-time intensive, expensive and inefficient at capturing sufficient amounts of biomaterial for bioaerosol characterisation. Furthermore, there is currently no standardised protocol established which often leads to an underestimation of the diversity and quantity of microbial load. Thus, a more in-depth understanding of bioaerosol material is required. Next Generation Sequencing (NGS) has facilitated the characterisation of bioaerosol material at the fine-scale. However, such methods are being used with no guidelines as to the type of filter to be used; sampling flow rate, time period, or extraction methods. Furthermore, simply characterising the aerosol microbiome is only the first step to understanding the microbial processes occurring in bioaerosols in different environments. Metatranscriptomics which provides an understanding of how communities respond to changes in their environment may be more appropriate to analysing complex bioaerosol communities and their interactions with biotic/ abiotic factors in the environment. The overall aim of this project is to develop a 'bio-toolkit' for high-confidence, wide-area biodetection and biomonitoring of bioaerosols from urban, agricultural and industrial environments. Specifically, the project aims to develop novel techniques for rapid, high-throughput sample capture, concentration and preparation for detecting bioaerosols. The project will utilise a combination of NGS (metagenetic) and chemical marker analysis to characterise the aerosol microbiome across environments. This will provide a robust, cost-effective, sensitive approach to identify, quantify and monitor key pathogens in bioaerosols. We will use metatranscriptomics to identify the functional diversity of the aerosol microbiome and provide insights into the processes supporting bacterial diversity in aerosol samples. We will examine how functional diversity changes across environment type and context and provide additional phylogenetic information on total bacterial diversity. A major project output for end-user beneficiaries will be an optimised network system for the rapid and responsive wide-area real-time monitoring (i.e. detection, characterisation and quantification) of bioaerosols (specifically bacterial pathogens) across urban, agricultural and industrial environments using portable 'in-field' micro-instrumentation. We will produce a database of microbial volatile organic markers for the rapid characterisation of bioaerosols from different sources. The project also provides a better understanding of the impact of bioaerosols from different sources on human exposure which is of direct relevance to the NERC strategy.

Doctoral Training Partnerships: a range of postgraduate training is funded by the Research Councils. For information on current funding routes, see the common terminology at https://www.ukri.org/apply-for-funding/how-we-fund-studentships/. Training grants may be to one organisation or to a consortia of research organisations. This portal will show the lead organisation only.

Project highlights: - This project will support global efforts to investigate and monitor declining pollinator population by fabricating bio-inspired 'synthetic' flower attractants. - This interdisciplinary project will use cutting edge techniques in design including 3D printing, CAD and visualisation, in design and microfabrication to replicate flower shape, colours (including UV), smells and function (i.e. providing micro-capillary sugar solution) - 'Synthetic' flowers will be tested in controlled settings using captive insects, as well as being deployed and tested in real world settings as attractants for machine vision AI-assisted insect monitoring systems.

The four objectives will be addressed during the internship by a review of ecosystem services literature and valuation studies, and by collection of data through a case-study approach (see outline of work plan below). The applicant's expertise is in the identification and characterisation of ecosystem cultural services, and understanding the conceptual bases of the ecosystem services approach. She has a first class honours degree in business organisation, and knowledge of rural land use from her PhD case-study (submitted May 2012) which focused on a restored (multi-habitat) quarry. This experience, in combination with the input of the MPA and RSPB,will enable a full exploration of the potential regulating, supporting, provisioning and cultural services of restored quarries. The applicant is experienced in qualitative research, and will be able to apply her experience of interviewing, and the analysis of policy,ecological and planning documents to fulfil the study objectives. This collaboration will add value to the partners by meeting needs expressed in key organisational documents, and by allowing them to adapt to new social,economic and regulatory environments. It will highlight areas where more information is needed to successfully adopt an ecosystem services approach for quarry restoration. It will provide evidence to allow the MPA to make an informed decision on whether to invest further in research to promote an ecosystem services approach to quarry restoration. The MPA will also be provided with material to disseminate and promote the appropriate implementation of an ecosystem service approach to member firms. The project will provide the RSPB with evidence on which to base future funding applications, to enable them to expand their provision of restoration expertise to minerals industry businesses. The collaboration will also help develop the applicant as an independent researcher, who can apply her theoretical knowledge of ecosystem services to an industry specific situation. It will improve the applicant's knowledge of new markets for ecosystem services. The interactions with industry representatives will also develop her profession network and inter-personal skills.

Poor housing stemming from rapid urbanisation has led to faulty plumbing and toilet systems; dysfunctional water filters has led to excessive amounts of polluted water. In addition to this, high fluoride concentrations in water which can lead to dental/ skeletal fluorosis is an issue in some regions.