Viviane Runa

Viviane graduated from the University of Aveiro (UA), Portugal in 2014 with a Bachelor’s degree in Biotechnology. She then did her Masters in Industrial and Environmental Biotechnology, which included a placement at the Swedish company Anoxkaldnes. Her Master’s thesis and her previous research focused on the extraction of polyhydroxyalkanoates from pure and mixed microbial cultures. Her PhD project looks at the microbial ecology of wastewater treatment, focusing in the enhanced biological phosphorus removal process. The aim is to develop strategies to study these complex microbial cultures and correlate the ecology of the system with water treatment performance. As a side project, she works as a volunteer in a Portuguese NGO for development cooperation. In her spare time, she enjoys travelling to new places, reading and cooking.

New approaches to microbial ecology in biological phosphorus removal systems with Dr Ana Lanham and Dr Brian Jones; Industrial Partners: Wessex Water, Anglian Water – PhD project
Manipulation of mixed sugar metabolic response to increase lipid accumulation in Metschnikowia pulcherima with Dr Daniel Henk and Dr Chris Chuck – 2nd MRes project
From wastewater to bioplastics: producing polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHA) in UK wastewater treatment plants as a substrate for innovative composite materials with Dr Ana Lanham and Professor Janet Scott – 1st MRes project