Kate Schofield

Kate is a Senior Environmental Chemist with over 10 years’ experience in delivering multi-stakeholder projects in academia and industry roles working at the interface of chemistry and biology to evaluate human influences on soil and water environments. Kate has a PhD in biogeochemistry from the University of Plymouth and a BSc in Environmental Science from the University of Reading.

In addition to working on chemical risk assessment, Kate’s expertise is focused on the assessment of chemicals in the terrestrial environment, and she has led Ricardo’s research input to a range of projects including ECO61 which aims to understand the effect of micro and nanoplastics in soil ecosystems, the impact of PFAS fire suppressants on natural ecosystems and the development of a soil health assessment tool.

Prior to joining Ricardo, Kate has held academic and industry research positions. Most recently as a Senior Research Fellow and Lecturer at the University of Plymouth, leading a programme of interdisciplinary research and delivering technical leadership and knowledge in the assessment of the fate and effect of various environmental pollutants on soil health and water quality. Kate has also worked in industry-based R&D to assess the impacts of emerging pollutants (PFAS and UV filters) in surface waters, soils, and sediments; develop novel ecotoxicological testing methodologies; and conduct comparative chemical formulation life cycle analysis.