Knowledge exchange in Germany on microplastic pollution
This week LHEI microplastics group visited Germany with the aim to share experiences and learning new skills. We visited TZW DVGW-Technologiezentrum Wasser in Karlsruhe, where microplastics research group led by Dr. Nicole Zumbülte conducts drinking water analyses, and University of Hamburg Microplastics Research Center led by Dr. Elke Fischer. We learned about their research topics, as well as presented the research conducted at LHEI in the field of microplastics (LHEI lead researcher Inta Dimante-Deimantoviča), introduced the floating island concept in the “BioFloat” project (research assistant Elīna Vecmane) and eutrophication mitigation methods in the “Trust Alum” project (research assistant Valentīna Burdukovska).
During the meetings we discussed the strengths and weaknesses of different analytical approaches, as well as drew inspiration for developing new research topics. Many thanks to the research groups in Germany for their warm welcome and knowledge shared!
The knowledge exchange was supported by LVAF project No. 1-08/83/2024 “Development of guidelines for monitoring microplastic pollution of drinking water in Latvia in accordance with EU recommendations” and the Baltic-German University Liaison Office project supported by the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) with funds from the Foreign Office of the Federal Republic Germany.
