Sarah Purnell

Sarah Purnell is a Principal Lecturer in the School of Applied Sciences at the University of Brighton, specializing in environmental microbiology and water quality assessment. With over a decade of industry collaboration, she has led 14 research projects with major UK water companies including South East Water, Southern Water, and Thames Water, translating scientific findings into practical environmental improvements.

She earned both her PhD and Bachelor's degrees from the University of Brighton. Her academic journey reflects deep institutional roots and specialized focus on water-related environmental challenges.

Dr. Purnell's research centers on water quality assessment, microbial source tracking, and pathogen transport mechanisms. She develops innovative approaches for catchment management and risk assessment, integrating field studies in the River Ouse catchment with advanced laboratory analyses. Her work on bacteriophage applications for environmental monitoring has established new methodologies for groundwater tracer studies and pollution source identification.

Analysis of her 16 publications reveals consistent expertise across environmental microbiology and water resource protection. Her work spans microbial source tracking using bacteriophage markers, pesticide impact assessment on aquatic ecosystems, and quantitative risk modeling for wastewater reuse. Recent publications emphasize practical applications for water industry challenges, particularly in pollution incident performance metrics and catchment-scale contamination prediction.

She actively supervises postgraduate researchers on critical environmental topics including:

• Bioaccumulation of agricultural pesticides in aquatic organisms
• Pollutant source apportionment using advanced tracking tools
• Coastal ecosystem degradation and restoration potential
• Drinking water reservoir risk reduction
• Machine learning applications for salt marsh restoration

Her grant portfolio demonstrates strong industry engagement, featuring Environment Agency projects on pollution performance metrics, Natural England research on sewage discharge risks in protected marine areas, and University of Leeds collaborations on bacteriophage tracer services. Dr. Purnell utilizes the School of Applied Sciences' specialist water quality laboratories, including state-of-the-art microbial and geochemical facilities, for her field and laboratory investigations across Southern England's water systems.