Lukasz Cieslak

Research Topic: Microbial dynamics and biodegradation potential in contaminant plumes in groundwater

Background: Before coming to Sheffield Lukasz graduated with a MSc Eng. in Biotechnology from Technical University of Lodz (Poland). During his studies he went for IAESTE internships in Organic Chemistry to University of St Andrews (Scotland) and to the Manipal Institute of Technology (India). He then went on to obtain a MSc in Technical Microbiology. Following completion of a master degree he was provided with the opportunity to carry on studies at the University of Oklahoma (USA) and University of Portsmouth (UK), working on microbially influenced corrosion risk assessment.

Current projects: Lukasz Cieslak is part of the Groundwater Protection and Restoration Group, an international centre of excellence, based here at KRI. He is currently involved with the EU funded ADVOCATE (Advancing In Situ Remediation for Contaminated Land and Groundwater), led here by Dr Steve Thornton.

The ADVOCATE project is looking for innovative and sustainable solutions to actively combat contamination of land and groundwater, as required by the Water Framework Directive. The research carried out links lab-scale studies with field-scale evaluation and will develop performance assessment tools and decision-making frameworks to help remove pollution or contaminants from land or groundwater.

Q&A: What do you think are the benefits of working at KRI?
The main advantage of working in KRI is the diversity of the scientific community in the building! Everyone has experience in different areas, so most of the ideas are reviewed from different perspectives in group meetings or many of the events organised internally.

What do you hope to achieve through your research?
Personally, I would like to observe in detail, how micro-organisms behave in an environment that is contaminated by pollutants. I hope my topic will attract the attention of new scientists to that research area because the subsurface is another exciting world, which is not fully understood.

Where would you like your research to take you?
Ideally, I would like to continue my career in Microbial Ecology. It is a fascinating field, which as with many new disciplines, is looking for new discoveries!

To support his work with ADVOCATE, Lucasz has produced a short video which can be viewed here.