Sophie Dolling

Sophie Dolling

Higher Degree by Research Candidate

School of Biological Sciences

Faculty of Sciences, Engineering and Technology


Sophie completed a Bachelor of Science (Marine Biology) with a major in chemistry followed by honours at the University of Adelaide in 2019, with a focus on methods for detecting chemical pollution in fish species. During her honours year, she developed skills in analytical chemistry and her intrigue into the link between plastic and chemical pollution in the marine environment grew. This led to the decision to continue research through a PhD project supervised by Prof. Bronwyn Gillanders and Dr Mike Williams (CSIRO).

Plastic pollution is one of the key threats facing our marine environment. But how much do we actually know about this threat? The problem of plastic pollution is more than first meets the eye. My research investigates the potential for plastics to act as vectors for the transport of chemical pollution in the marine environment. Hydrophobic chemical pollutants have the potential to sorb to plastic surfaces, then bioaccumulate in marine species upon ingestion. To better understand the scope of the impacts of plastic pollution on our marine environments, this interaction must be studied further.


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