Wastewater Based Epidemiology (WBE) has been in use to
understand circulation of pathogens and other public health
challenges for decades, but in the midst of the COVID-19
pandemic WBE was rapidly expanded as part of the public
health response in England. This included uses such as
estimates of regional prevalence of infection and identify
hotspots for incidence that were otherwise not detectable
using clinical surveillance. This research was carried out in a
collaboration with the Environmental Monitoring for Health
Protection (EMHP) group, part of the UK Health Security
Agency and LSHTM. As the UK emerges out of the
pandemic, WBE will pivot towards other public health
challenges.
In this PhD, the student will have a unique opportunity to work
closely with within the EMHP and acquire experience in how
scientific research is used within government. An analysis of
the impact of COVID-19 restrictions on prevalence (estimated
using WBE) will be carried out using the available data and
statistical analyses. At SGUL there will also be the
opportunity to learn and undertake elements of wastewater
testing. In particular, the development of cost-effective,
mobile testing will be investigated for use in low resource
settings, including for use in LMICs. For this, the student will
make use of a battery operated, PCR-based testing platform
that can detect SARS-CoV-2 within 30 minutes, developed by
an industrial collaborator.