Olasunkanmi Dosunmu

PhD student

Profile

I am a PhD student funded by the NERC ECORISC CDT, researching on policy in the area of chemical regulation and alternatives assessments.

I completed my undergraduate degree in industrial chemistry at the Federal University of Technology Akure, Ondo State, Nigeria after which I had my MSc at Loughborough University, UK. During my master’s degree, I had my industrial placement at the inorganic geochemistry department of the British Geological Survey (BGS), Kegworth, Nottingham. While at BGS, I completed a research project comparing the in vitro methods used for the determination of the bioaccessibility of potentially harmful elements in soils.

Following my master’s degree, I work as a chemical regulatory consultant in a private consultancy company based in the Southeast of England, Kent. My roles among others involve assessing the physicochemical properties, environmental fate including persistence, bioaccumulation and toxicity (PBT) and environmental exposure of chemical compounds. My interest in the area of my work motivated me to pursue an academic research in this area.

Current Research

My PhD research is titled, Analysis of How the Regulatory Landscape can Support the Transition to Safer and Sustainable Chemical Alternatives. Under the supervision of Dr. Andrew Sweetman (Lancaster University), Dr. Rob Whitting (Wood Plc) and Prof. Avtar Matharu (York University), I will be investigating the role that chemical regulation has played in decision making process during alternatives assessments that has led to regrettable substitution, i.e. the process of swapping one harmful chemical with another which is equally or more harmful than the one being replaced and how the principles of green chemistry can be incorporated into regulation to help cement sustainable chemicals into mainstream use.

My partners are Defra and/or Environment Agency and Wood.