Brief History

I have always had a keen interest in science and the environment. This was sparked at an early age by my parents, who were both teachers, who encouraged me to explore the natural world, especially the rocky shore and other coastal systems.

In 2005, after completing a part time Access to Higher Education course, I enrolled on the BSc Environmental Science programme at the University of Plymouth, from which I graduated in 2008 with First Class Honours. I was able to tailor my studies to my interests in environmental pollution and ecotoxicology. I focused these interests in my research project (supervised by Professor Steve Rowland) which was entitled "Brominated Flame Retardants in Fish Oils".

In 2009 I attained an MSc in Applied Marine Science from the University of Plymouth, for which I was awarded a NERC stipend. I undertook modules focusing on environmental chemistry, pollution and toxicology. My MSc research project was a study of the bioavailability of potentially toxic metals that are released by anti-fouling paints and was supervised by Dr Andrew Turner (University of Plymouth) and Professor Jim Readman (Plymouth Marine Laboratory). The enhanced knowledge that the MSc has given me will aid me in my present undertaking of a PhD, entitled "The Characterisation and Toxicology of Novel Marine Pollutants", aided and supervised by Professor Steve Rowland, Dr Anthony Lewis and Dr Alan Scarlett.

In July 2010 I attended the annual meeting of the British Organic Geochemical Society in Manchester, where I gave an oral presentation entitled "Toxicity of Naphthenic Acids". This won the best oral presentation prize for PhD students.

Publications

• Jones, D., Scarlett, A.G., West, C.E. and Rowland, S.J. (2011) Toxicity of individual naphthenic acids to Vibrio fisheri. Environmental Science & Technology 45, 9776-9782. [doi: 10.1021/es201948j].
• Rowland, S.J., Clough, R., West, C.E., Scarlett, A.G., Jones, D. and Thompson, S. (2011) Synthesis and mass spectrometry of some tri- and tetracyclic naphthenic acids. Rapid Communications in Mass Spectrometry 25, 2573-2578. [doi: 10.1002/rcm.5153].
• Rowland, S.J., Jones, D., Scarlett, A.G., West, C.E., Liu Pok Hin, Boberek, M., Tonkin, A., Smith, B.E. and Whitby, C. (2011) Synthesis and toxicity of some metabolites of the microbial degradation of synthetic naphthenic acids. Science of the Total Environment 409, 2936-2941. [doi: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2011.04.012].
• Rowland, S.J., Scarlett, A.G., Jones, D., West, C.E. and Frank, R.A. (2011) Diamonds in the rough: Identification of individual naphthenic acids in oil sands process water. Environmental Science & Technology 45, 3154-3159. [doi: 10.1021/es103721b].
  This paper has been selected by ACS Environmental Science & Technology journal Editor-in-Chief Jerry Schnoor to appear additionally in a special online-only virtual issue entitled "Water-Energy Nexus" aimed at the scientifically literate general public.
• Rowland, S.J., West, C.E., Scarlett, A.G. and Jones, D. (2011) Identification of individual acids in a commercial sample of naphthenic acids from petroleum by two dimensional comprehensive gas chromatography-mass spectrometry. Rapid Communications in Mass Spectrometry 25, 1741-1751. [doi: 10.1002/rcm.5040].
• Rowland, S.J., West, C.E., Scarlett, A.G., Jones, D., Boberek, M., Pan, L., Ng, M., Kwong, L. and Tonkin, A. (2011) Monocyclic and monoaromatic naphthenic acids: Synthesis & characterisation. Environmental Chemistry Letters 9, 525-533. [doi: 10.1007/s10311-011-0314-6].
• Rowland, S.J., West, C.E., Scarlett, A.G., Jones, D. and Frank, R.A. (2011) Identification of individual tetra- and pentacyclic naphthenic acids in oil sands process water by comprehensive two-dimensional gas chromatography-mass spectrometry. Rapid Communications in Mass Spectrometry 25, 1198-1204. [doi: 10.1002/rcm.4977].
• Rowland, S.J., West, C.E., Scarlett, A.G., Jones, D., Frank. R. and Hewitt, L.M. (2011) Steroidal aromatic 'naphthenic acids' in oil sands process-affected water: Structural comparisons with environmental estrogens. Environmental Science & Technology 45, 9806-9815. [doi: 10.1021/es202606d].
• West, C.E., Jones, D., Scarlett, A.G. and Rowland, S.J. (2011) Compositional heterogeneity may limit the usefulness of some commercial naphthenic acids for toxicity assays. Science of the Total Environment 409, 4125-4131. [doi: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2011.05.061].
• Jones, D.E. and Turner, A. (2010) Bioaccessibility and mobilisation of copper and zinc in estuarine sediment contaminated by antifouling paint particles. Estuarine, Coastal and Shelf Science 87, 399-404. [doi: 10.1016/j.ecss.2010.01.018].

Presentations

• 22^nd Annual Meeting of the British Organic Geochemical Society, Swansea, U.K., 6-7 July 2011. Oral presentation: "Using a Model for the Toxicological Assessment of Naphthenic Acids".
• SETAC Europe 21^st Annual Meeting, Milan, Italy, 16-19 May 2011. Oral presentation: "Who Needs Lab Work? An Investigation into Predictive Ecotoxicological Computer Models and Naphthenic Acids".
• SETAC North America 31^st Annual Meeting, Portland, U.S.A., 7-11 November 2010. Oral presentation (colleague): "Improved Resolution and Identification of Isomeric Naphthenic Acids by GC×GC-MS".
• 21^st Annual Meeting of the British Organic Geochemical Society, Manchester, U.K., 6-7 July 2010. Oral presentation: "Toxicity of Naphthenic Acids".