Laura Richards

Laura Richards is a Professor in the Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences at the University of Manchester. Her research focuses on environmental geochemistry, groundwater contamination, and sustainable water solutions, particularly in regions like India, Cambodia, and Uganda. She leads the Molecular Environmental Science Research Group and contributes to UN Sustainable Development Goals related to clean water and global inequality.

Her work emphasizes arsenic mobilization mechanisms, microbial interactions in aquifers, and emerging contaminants like antibiotic resistance genes. She has pioneered citizen science approaches for groundwater monitoring and collaborated globally on geochemical tracers and urban groundwater dynamics.

Key awards include the Dame Kathleen Ollerenshaw Fellowship (2019), FHEA (2021), and the IAGC Excellence in Review Award (2021). She actively promotes gender equity in academia, co-organizing international initiatives like 'Women in Science: UK-Brazil Partnerships.'

Her research spans over 47 peer-reviewed articles and includes projects funded by UKRI and the Leverhulme Trust. She collaborates with institutions worldwide, addressing water security through interdisciplinary approaches combining fieldwork, modeling, and community engagement.