Team

Professor Wim Meijer is Professor of Microbiology and Head of the School of Biomolecular and Biomedical Science at University College Dublin. His research focuses on two thematic areas: water quality and human/animal health. Within this context he has directed research projects funded by national and international funding agencies including Science Foundation Ireland, the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, the European Union, the Environmental Protection Agency and the Health Service Executive. His water themed research focuses on water quality of bathing waters, rivers and streams, in relation to faecal contamination, pathogens and antimicrobial resistance, working closely with colleagues in other disciplines, with local authorities and national regulatory bodies. Professor Meijer’s research team leads the laboratory analysis for the National Wastewater Surveillance Programme, working in collaboration with colleagues from the Health Protection Surveillance Centre, National Virus Reference Laboratory, Health Service Executive and Uisce Éireann. This programme aims to determine the prevalence of SARS-CoV-2 and additional human viral pathogens, antimicrobial resistance genes as well as illicit drug use in the Irish population through wastewater-based epidemiology.

Associate Professor John O’Sullivan is Director of the UCD Dooge Centre for Water Resources Research in the School of Civil Engineering and is a Fellow of the UCD Earth Institute and a member. He has research interests in hydrology, hydraulics, and hydrodynamic and water quality modelling and he has been a Principal Investigator on national and European projects in these areas. Associate Professor O’Sullivan has published over 60 international peer reviewed journal papers and in excess of 70 conference papers. He is also an Editor for the International Water Association (IWA) Journal of Water Supply and Technology and a regular reviewer of articles in high impact international journals.

Joanne Chadwick is a Research Project Manager in the UCD School of Biomolecular and Biomedical Science. Joanne has over 15 years’ experience in managing large scale national and international research projects, including several EU projects, focusing on human and environmental health (One Health). Joanne is responsible for the day-to-day management of the Acclimatize project and UCD’s work on the National Wastewater Surveillance Programme.

Jacob Kennedy is a Research Assistant in the School of Biomolecular and Biomedical Science in University College Dublin.

Jacob graduated from Trinity College Dublin with a B.A. (Mod) in Genetics in 2022, where he completed his final project on a novel murine model of Age Related Macular Degeneration. Jacob joined the Acclimatize team two weeks following his final year exams and has since undertaken a range of responsibilities including coordination of undergraduate fieldwork teams and associated laboratory work, MST analyses by qPCR and Bioinformatics.

His role on the Acclimatize project is personal to Jacob having grown up in a boating environment, spending much of his childhood on and in the water in Ringsend Marina, Athlone and other canal systems.