Dr. Bartholomew Masterson is an Adjunct Professor of the School of Biomolecular and Biomedical Science of University College Dublin. He was formerly a Senior Lecturer in Biochemistry at UCD and is a Member of the International Water Association.

Dr. Masterson has had a long-standing involvement in research on the microbial pollution of recreational waters. He set up a multidisciplinary research group in 1998 to undertake, together with partners at the University of Wales, an INTERREG-II funded study of microbial pollution of the bathing waters at Bray, Co. Wicklow. The partnership extended this research in the SMART project, funded by the INTERREG-IIIa programme, concerning recreational water quality in Dublin Bay and the quality of shellfish waters in Bannow Bay, Co. Wexford. He was the Irish project leader and a member of the International Management Board for the INTERREG-IIIb iCREW project with partners in France, Portugal, Spain and the United Kingdom. The work for iCREW involved the development of molecular biological source-tracking techniques to phenotype indicator microorganisms in the aquatic environment. Most recently, the Irish-Welsh partnership completed the INTERREG-IVA project “Smart Coasts = Sustainable Communities”, focusing on developing predictive models of microbial pollution and the application of source-tracking techniques.
At present Dr. Masterson is active in two further projects. Acclimatize, funded by the Ireland-Wales Co-operation Programme, seeks to elicit measures needed to cope with effects of climate change on bathing water pollution, and SWIM, funded by INTERREG-VA, seeks to establish the best predictive models of microbial pollution for selected bathing waters of the Irish trans-border region, and to develop public advisory signage.