Mr Tim Knowles, Bsc (Hons)
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Background
I graduated in 2003 from the University of Bristol with a BSc (Hons) in Chemistry. For my final year project, I conducted a preliminary investigation into the fate of estrogens of agricultural origin in the environment. This involved the detection and quantification of estrogens from farm wastes and soils by SIR-GC/MS and was supervised by Richard Evershed and Ian Bull.
I started my PhD in October 2004 under the supervision of Richard Evershed at the University of Bristol , and Roland Bol and David Chadwick (Institute of Grassland and Environmental Research, North Wyke). My PhD is funded by the BBSRC .
Research
Huge amounts (approx. 70 million tonnes) of solid manure are applied to agricultural land in England and Wales each year, as well as treated sewage sludges and composted wastes. There is only a limited understanding of the nature of the organic nitrogen-containing compounds present in these, and even less is known about their fate in the environment.
My project aims to characterise the major organic N constituents of animal wastes and investigate their mobility and mineralization rates in, and leaching from soils. This will be achieved by GC/MS analyses and compound-specific δ15N GC/C/IRMS studies to track highly 15N enriched organic compounds in animal wastes. Simple compounds such as amino acids, amino sugars, peptides and urea will be studied as well as macromolecules such as proteins.