Martin Sharkey

Senior Post-Doctoral Researcher, University of Galway
My primary research area is in the investigation and ultimate removal of legacy and emerging hazardous contaminants from the environment, including: interventions and screening methods to remove hazardous additive chemicals from recycling streams to prevent contamination of clean plastic and textile materials; investigations of wastewater treatment systems, the release of treated water to the environment, and the use of by-products such as biosolid fertilisers in agricultural and industrial applications in order to assess environmental uptake of hazardous chemicals; proposing revisions to regulations relevant to the ubiquity of industrial chemicals in everyday applications and their uptake into the environment.
Thus far, I have co-authored three EPA technical reports and 16 peer-reviewed publications in high-impact international journals. These have thus far generated over 400 citations, along with h- and i10-indices of 8. I also have a broad range of teaching experience having lectured and demonstrated in undergraduate physics modules for several years, and the supervision of both undergraduate and post-graduate physics- and environmental science-based research projects. I have sat on the organising committees for multiple international conferences encompassing various environmental and health impact aspects of emerging contaminant research, and am part of several international organisations including the Institute of Physics and the International Waste Working Group, in order to stay apprised of and engaged with up-to-date knowledge in various fields of study.
I have advised on and worked on projects with multiple organisations towards the ends of removing harmful contaminants from circulation, improving waste management and recycling systems, and improving human and environmental health, including: the Environmental Protection Agency of Ireland; the Department of Agriculture, Food, and the Marine; Department of the Environment, Climate, and Communications; the UK’s Environment Agency, and the UK Department of Environmental and Rural Affairs.