Bioremediation: Restoring Contaminated Ecosystems, Naturally (Short)
Channel: The Royal Society of Victoria
Date: 13/12/2021

Nature-harnessing technologies are key to effectively and sustainably restoring contaminated ecosystems, using naturally occurring microorganisms to clean up contamination from oil and other organic pollutants in soils, groundwater and water bodies. The bioremediation process both destroys contaminants and restores an ecosystem’s functional microbiome.

But every local ecosystem is unique when it comes to microbiological communities, so new and innovative approaches are required for each contaminated site.

Understanding the factors that determine the stability and resilience of contaminated ecosystems, and the critical role of that system’s natural microbial community, remains one of the frontiers of environmental science. Professor Andy Ball explores how environmental microbiology can be scaled up for impactful and commercially successful applications to contaminated sites all over our highly industrialised world.

Professor Andrew Ball is the Director of the ARC Training Centre for the Transformation of Australia’s Biosolids Resource at RMIT University, and the winner of the Royal Society of Victoria's 2021 Medal for Excellence in Scientific Research in Category I: Biological Sciences.

Produced by the Royal Society of Victoria with the support of the Inspiring Victoria program. Andy's full presentation is available from https://youtu.be/8ZoBy_ewLvc .