Sam Presents Award-Winning Research on contaminant transport through sorption to microplastics at World Water Day 2026

At the recent World Water Day 2026 celebrations hosted by the Water Institute, MSc candidate Sam Smith won the Best Graduate Poster Award for his work, "Microplastics as Vectors of Co-Contaminant Transport." This research investigates whether microplastics (MPs) from more biodegradable plastics have greater sorption capacity for heavy metals. By comparing MPs with varying susceptibility to enzymatic degradation, it will examine how polymer properties influence metal adsorption and the potential for MPs to disperse metals in the environment.