Research
Hannah's research interests centre on metals and their interactions with organic matter and biology in aquatic systems, including the development of a new method for measuring metal-binding organic matter in seawater. Hannah is involved in many international research projects, particularly through her involvement in the GEOTRACES program. Her research areas have expanded from coastal and open ocean research to working on terrestrial, glacial and freshwater systems, as well as consultancy roles and projects with industry involving water quality and water treatment, aquaculture and hydroponics.
Investigating the sources of marine metal-binding ligands
Supervision of PhD theses:
Millie Goddard-Dwyer, 'Marine humic substances: distribution, cycling pathways, and biogeochemical function', 2024
Gemma Portlock, 'The sources and sinks of thiols, reduced sulphur substances, and humic-like substances in hydrothermal waters', 2023
Leo Mahieu, 'Analytical challenges, development and application of CLE-ACSV for the determination of the organic speciation of iron in marine waters', 2023
Funding:
PI Whitby, 'Investigation of the marine sources of iron-binding ligands (IMIL), British Council (2020-2022)
PI Whitby, 'Investigating the sources of marine humic substances', IsBlue and Marie Curie PRESTIGE Fellowships (2018-2020)
Collaboration on relevant projects:
TONGA (http://tonga-project.org/web/), SWINGS (https://swings.geotraces.org/en/about/), SCALE (https://www.sanap.ac.za/scale-win22-science-team-fe), AMAZON (https://andrea-koschinsky.org/research-projects/amazon-geotraces/)
Many relevant publications; see publication list.
Improving sustainability in Controlled Environment Agriculture (CEA)
Relevant funding:
PI Whitby, 'Improving the longevity of hydroponic nutrient solutions to minimise discards', NERC Cross-disciplinary grant (2023)
Collaboration with Farm Urban Ltd (Liverpool), Liverpool John Moores University, Manchester University.
Relevant student theses/publications: Bannon et al., in prep.
The impact of metals on phytoplankton
Relevant funding:
PI Whitby, 'Effects of Ocean Alkalinity Enhancement on Marine Diazotrophs', Royal Society (2024-2026)
Relevant publications:
Tang, W., Cerdán-García, E., Berthelot, H., Polyviou, D., Wang, S., Baylay, A., Whitby, H., Planquette, H., Mowlem, M. Robidart, J. and others. 2020. New insights into the distributions of nitrogen fixation and diazotrophs revealed by high-resolution sensing and sampling methods. The ISME Journal 14(10):2514-2526, 10.1038/s41396-020-0703-6.
Wang, S., Tang, W. Delage, E., Gifford, S., Whitby, H., González, A.G., Eveillard, D., Planquette, H., and N. Cassar. 2021. Investigating the microbial ecology of coastal hotspots of marine nitrogen fixation in the western North Atlantic. Scientific Reports 11(1):5508, 10.1038/s41598-021-84969-1.
Long, M., A. Holland, H. Planquette, D. González Santana, Whitby, H., P. Soudant, G. Sarthou, H. Hégaret, and D.F. Jolley. 2019. Effects of copper on the dinoflagellate Alexandrium minutum and its allelochemical potency. Aquatic Toxicology 210:251-261, doi.org/10.1016/j.aquatox.2019.03.006.
Research groups
Research grants
Cross-disciplinary research for Discovery Science
NATURAL ENVIRONMENT RESEARCH COUNCIL
January 2023 - March 2023
Investigation of Marine sources of Iron-binding Ligands (IMIL)
BRITISH COUNCIL (UK)
January 2021 - December 2022