People
Sean Comber
Sean has over 30 years’ experience in the environmental industry working as a Principal Consultant at the Water Research Centre (WRc), Atkins and for the past 8 years, as a Professor in Environmental Chemistry at the University of Plymouth. Sean specialises in the pathways, fate & behaviour of chemicals (metals, nutrients, organics) within the aquatic environment from point and diffuse sources. His experience spans field, laboratory and desk-based research, with over 100 peer reviewed journal papers published across these subject areas. Sean’s research group includes a number of PhD students and post doctorate researchers predominantly funded via industry and stakeholder collaborations including Astra Zeneca, International Zinc Association, Copper Alliance, Natural England, Saputo, Wessex Water and the Westcountry Rivers Trust. Recent research has been centred on the biogeochemistry of phosphorus within the UK aquatic environment, pharmaceutical sources and fate in soils and water of developing countries discharging or reusing untreated wastewater and metal speciation in saline waters. Sean provides technical support and critical review for the UK Water Industry Research (UKWIR) £multimillion Chemical Investigation Programme (CIP) and Source Apportionment-GIS (SAGIS) projects. At the University of Plymouth Sean teaches on undergraduate and post graduate programmes and manages the MSc in Environmental Consultancy.
