GOOD NEWS: EBNet was originally due to finish on 18 March 2025 but has now been extended to 31 January 2026. See the News items for more updates on our activities!
The Environmental Biotechnology Network (EBNet) is one of 6 Phase II Networks in Industrial Biotechnology and Bioenergy funded primarily by the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC) with additional support from the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC), and builds on the successful Anaerobic Digestion Network, one of 13 Phase I NIBBs.
Our community of academics and industry is dedicated to engineering microbial systems for environmental protection, bioremediation and resource recovery. These include, for example, microbes in anaerobic digestion, waste water treatment and those that bio-degrade plastics, oil or other emerging pollutants. Our remit includes terrestrial environmental biotechnology (EB), aquatic EB, organic resources and life cycle sustainability assessment (LCSA) approaches to EB. Click on the video below to find out more about what we do.
If you are interested in these environmental biotechnologies which are or potentially could be deployed at scale, our Network is free-to-join. Find our most important activities on the ‘Don’t Miss‘ panel on the left of this page, on our Twitter (now X) feed on the right of the page or in the menus above.
We:
- facilitate partnerships, networking and knowledge transfer between academia and industry
- provide support for Working Groups to carry out activities in specific areas of environmental biotechnology
- have funded Business Interaction Vouchers (BIV) of £5,000-£20,000 for projects lasting up to 6 months
- provided Proof of Concept (PoC) funding of up to £100,000 for projects of up to 12 months’ duration
- support the next generation of researchers with opportunities for training, travel and practical experience in academia and industry
For more on selected aspects of Environmental Biotechnology, take a look at our YouTube channel or selected animations (below).
For more information on our activities, see our #EnvBiotechAware week which ran from 3-7 March 2025
Celebrating our Network members and their work, with lunchtime webinars, reports, animations, case studies, outreach and more.
Friday contains some real treats. An Escape Room game to save our water supply, an audiobook, an upcoming podcast with the BSSS and enough information on activities, workshops, consultations, working groups and funded research to keep you riveted for a whole weekend. Don’t miss any of it HERE.
Thursday brings updates from our groups on Environmental Sensors and Wastewater Surveillance, PFAS ‘Forever Chemicals’ and Biochars for Pollution Prevention. Don’t miss our animation on ‘Microbubbles for wastewater treatment and more’, take a look at some more of the research we’ve funded, and catch up with our researchers who outline why they are working in Environmental Biotechnology. View it all HERE.
Wednesday celebrates the work of our working groups on: Anaerobic Digestion, N2O Emissions in EB and Biofilms in Water. More of our ECRs tell us why they love Environmental Biotechnology and there are some great outreach options: an animation from Senate Media on Slow Sand Filtration and a special offer on ‘Stories from the Microbial World’ – explore it all HERE.
Tuesday has lots of information on Anaerobic Fermentations, and updates from our BES and Process Integration Working Groups. Click HERE to explore these, as well as some of our ‘I am an Environmental Biotechnologist…’ profiles.
Monday: Take a look at our working groups on Aerobic Granulation, Bioinformatics and Environmental Biotech & Social Sciences, as well as ECRs, animations and more! Click HERE for details.
