Environmental Biotechnology Network

Green Stories – October 2025 highlights

Every month we are highlighting selected items from our Green Stories: Microbes to the Rescue anthology, equivalent to about 30 mins in the Audiobook version. The anthology is also available as a free eBook on the Resources page. This month’s authors are both from Australia but with rather different stories to tell: Chapter 7:  Interview with …

PFAS developments

PFAS continues to draw the attention of regulators and others, to such an extent that it can sometimes be hard to keep up. Fortunately the UK’s Contaminated Land: Applications in Real Environments group (CL:AIRE) has now set up a PFAS Webpage that compiles relevant information from around the world.  Non-commercial …

BBIA/GCSB Bioplastics webinar – available to view

The Bio-based and Biodegradable Industries Association (BBIA) has kindly made a recent webinar on Bioplastics available to EBNet members  –  watch it here. The presenter is Prof Jhuma Sadhukhan of the University of Surrey, who is UK Lead for the Global Center for Sustainable bioproducts (GCSB). The webinar covers the following …

WASTE Impact Report 2024 – and a shout-out for its activities

At the suggestion of one EBNet member who is particularly active in this area, a brief shout-out for the work of WASTE, which aims to catalyse scalable, system-level solutions to urgent challenges in the area of sanitation and solid waste management. WASTE is an international organisation that develops and manages …

IBioIC Process Scale-up: online session 15 Oct 2025

Date: 15 Oct 2025, 14-15:00 UK IBioIC is hosting an online session on Reducing Risk in Process Scale-up with Modelling and Simulation. Scaling up from lab to industrial production is one of the most challenging steps in process development. Equipment at industrial scale often behaves very differently to laboratory systems, …

Task 37 Webinar on Biogas systems and Sustainability available now

IEA Bioenergy Task 37’s webinar on The Role of Biogas Systems in Building a Sustainable Society is now available to view for those who missed the live event. The webinar included an introduction to Task 37 by the Task Lead Dr Bernhard Drosg, followed by technical presentations: Sustainability effects associated …

New EBIC podcast episode – and New Scientist Live event

Episode 2 of the Environmental Biotechnology Innovation Centre‘s Podcast Series features Prof Natalio Krasnogor and Yasir Akbar of Newcastle University. In this episode, they discuss their pioneering work at the intersection of computer science and engineering biology, with a particular focus on the innovative use of barcodes in engineered microbes. From …

Leverhulme Trust Research Fellowships – closing 6 Nov 2025

Leverhulme Trust Research Fellowships are open to experienced researchers, particularly those who are or have been prevented by routine duties from completing a programme of original research. Priority will be given to applicants whose teaching and administrative duties have significantly impacted their ability to undertake research in the three years …

Prof Pathik Pathak

It is with great sorrow that we note the death on 9 Sept 2025 of Prof Pathik Pathak, Professor of Sociology in the School of Economic, Social & Political Sciences at the University of Southampton. Colleagues will know him as a higher education innovator, a champion of the power of …

Royal Society Dorothy Hodgkin Fellowship – closing 28 Oct 2025

The Dorothy Hodgkin Fellowship (DHF) programme aims to support outstanding early career scientists who require a flexible working pattern due to personal circumstances, such as caring responsibilities and/or health-related conditions. The programme aims to enable the next generation of research leaders to: Build an independent research career at a UK …

New BES Webinar available – and don’t forget the next one!

The most recent webinar in our current BES series, from 8 Sept 2025, is now available HERE on EBNet’s YouTube channel. The topic was Interfacial Bioelectrochemistry  –  Enzymatic NO and CO₂ Reduction and H₂ Evolution. Our speaker was Dr Cristina M Cordas, from the NOVA School of Science and Technology …

Wastewater treatment – past and future perspectives

A recent perspective paper on wastewater treatment will please many readers while ruffling a few feathers for some others. The paper notes that over the last century wastewater treatment plants (WWTP) have essentially evolved in a piecemeal way to address a number of issues, rather than adopting holistic design approaches …

Microbiome-Net launched

Microbiome-Net, a new BBSRC-funded Network, officially launched  at the Microbiome Innovation One Health Conference on 15-16 Sept 2025. Its goal is to strengthen capacity, support innovation, and foster a more connected and collaborative national microbiome innovation ecosystem. Microbiome-Net brings together teams from NBIC, the University of Liverpool‘s Microbiome Innovation Centre, the …

Water in Industry – abstracts deadline 15 Dec

Abstracts deadline: 15 Dec 2025 Conference: 27 June – 3 July 2026, Delft, Netherlands The IWA Water in Industry 2026 (WIN2026) conference covers topics related to industrial water use, treatment, monitoring, recovery and policy. Abstracts based on original research or case studies and workshop proposals are invited on the following themes: …

Royal Society Short Industry Fellowship – closing 23 Oct 2025

Deadline: 23 Oct 2025 This scheme is part of the Royal Society’s Industry programme, and facilitates short dynamic engagements between scientists employed in industry or academia (including postdoctoral researchers), enabling the parties to collaborate on a mutually beneficial project. Awards can be held full time for 3-6 months, or 50% …