Professor Stuart Harrad

School of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences
Honorary Professor of Environmental Chemistry

Contact details

Telephone: +44 (0)121 41 47298
Email: s.j.harrad@bham.ac.uk

Address: School of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences
University of Birmingham
Edgbaston
Birmingham
B15 2TT
UK

Stuart is an environmental chemist whose research addresses all aspects of the environmental sources, fate and behaviour of persistent organic pollutants (POPs). He has particular interests in human exposure to POPs with a focus on indoor pathways. He is also active in research that explores the environmental forensics utility of chirality.

Stuart is part of the Birmingham Plastics Network, an interdisciplinary team of more than 40 academics working together to shape the fate and sustainable future of plastics. This unique team brings together chemists, environmental scientists, philosophers, linguists, economists, and experts in many other fields, to holistically address the global plastics problem.

Stuart is a member of the Centre for Environmental Research and Justice (CERJ).

Biography

Stuart came to Birmingham in September 1994, becoming Professor of Environmental Chemistry in 2011. Over that time, he has provided lead supervision to over 50 PhD students (from 21 different countries), co-ordinated 12 major international projects, and been PI of ~30 other research projects. Funders of his research are diverse, including: industry and consultancies, Defra, the Drinking Water Inspectorate, the Environment Agency, the EU, the European Chemical Industry Council, the Food Standards Agency, INNOVATE-UK, the Irish Environmental Protection Agency, and the NERC. He has published over 200 peer-reviewed papers, brought around £5.4M research project funding to Birmingham, and led two REF Impact Case Studies related to the influence of his research on national and international policy on POPs and related chemicals. Teaching interests cover all aspects of POPs and related contaminants and Stuart has also authored a textbook on "How to Conduct your Research Project in Environmental Science". He is Editor-in-Chief of two peer-reviewed journals: Emerging Contaminants, and The Journal of Environmental Exposure Assessment. He is also a member of Defra's Hazardous Substances Advisory Committee.

Teaching

Stuart makes a significant contribution to the delivery of the BSc Environmental Science degree programme. He is module leader for:

GGM221 Environmental Transfer Processes, and
GGM341 Environmental Protection

He contributes to GGM109 Environmental Chemistry and Physics

He teaches on several other MSc programmes both within and external to GEES

Postgraduate supervision

Stuart Harrad’s specific research foci are: the assessment of human exposure with persistent organic pollutants (POPs) and its impacts on environmental and human health. This covers pollution of a wide range of environmental matrices, e.g.: air (indoor and outdoor), indoor dust, food, human and wildlife tissues, sediment, and soil. Particular foci in recent years have been the presence of POPs in the waste stream and the implications for the Circular Economy, as well as using novel in vitro techniques to study human dermal exposure to POPs. Specific contaminants of interest are: brominated flame retardants, chlorinated organophosphate esters, and perfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS). His current research projects include:

Assessing human dermal exposure to POPs;
The presence of halogenated flame retardants and PFAS in waste childcare articles, electronics, furnishings and building materials;
Temporal trends in environmental contamination with POPs as indicators of the impact of regulatory control measures;
Establishing baseline contamination of sediments and soils with emerging contaminants;
Enhancing understanding of the interactions between microplastics and POPs in the environment
Exploring the balance between fire risk and the risk of exposure to chemical flame retardants - informing potential revision of the UK Furniture fire safety regulations

Professor Harrad welcomes enquiries from prospective doctoral researchers in his areas of interest.

Publications

Recent publications

Article

Jin, J, Wang, S, Ma, Y, Onoja, S, Stubbings, WA, Abdallah, M & Harrad, S 2026, 'Elucidating the role of microplastics as reservoirs of brominated flame retardants in river sediment', Journal of Hazardous Materials. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhazmat.2026.141303

Hashim, BB, Al-Omran, LS, Stubbings, WA & Harrad, S 2026, 'Risk Assessment of Dermal Exposure to Tris(2-chloroethyl) Phosphate and Tris(1,3-dichloroisopropyl) Phosphate via Contact with Indoor Dust', Environmental Contamination: Causes and Solutions. https://doi.org/10.53941/eccs.2026.100001

Ma, Y, Sharkey, M, Coggins, AM, Stubbings, W, Healy, MG & Harrad, S 2025, 'Concentrations of perfluoroalkyl substances in sediments and wastewater treatment plant-derived biosolids from Ireland', Science of the Total Environment, vol. 979, 179380. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2025.179380

Ogunyemi, MO, Oluseyi, TO, Oyeyiola, AO, Abdallah, MA-E & Harrad, S 2025, 'Global review of PCBs and chemical flame retardants in e-waste recycling sites: Addressing geographic imbalances', Emerging Contaminants, vol. 11, no. 1, 100426. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.emcon.2024.100426

Jin, J, Wang, S, Onoja, S, Ma, Y, Stubbings, WA, Abdallah, MAE & Harrad, S 2025, 'Investigating the desorption of polybrominated diphenyl ethers from polyethylene microplastics to sediment', Science of the Total Environment, vol. 979, 179532. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2025.179532

Al-Omran, LS, Hashim, BB, Stubbings, WA & Harrad, S 2025, 'Levels, distribution profiles and risk assessment of chlorinated organophosphate esters in car and road dust from Basrah, Iraq', Emerging Contaminants, vol. 11, no. 1, 100435. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.emcon.2024.100435

Ageel, HK, Harrad, S & Abdallah, MAE 2025, 'Microplastics in settled indoor dust: Implications for human exposure', Emerging Contaminants, vol. 11, no. 3, 100506. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.emcon.2025.100506

Onoja, S, Abdallah, MA-E & Harrad, S 2025, 'Microplastics in surficial sediments from some UK rivers and canals: seasonal and spatial variation and relationship with concentrations of organophosphate esters', Environmental Science: Processes and Impacts, vol. 27, no. 7, pp. 2159-2172. https://doi.org/10.1039/d5em00139k

Sharkey, M, Ma, Y, Yang, L, Harrad, S, Healy, MG, Stubbings, WA & Coggins, AM 2025, 'Organic ultraviolet filters in Irish sediments and biosolids', Science of the Total Environment, vol. 999, 180382. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2025.180382

Wang, S, Sharkey, M, Jin, J, Stubbings, W, Bagheri, H, Healy, MG, Coggins, M, Abdallah, MAE & Harrad, S 2025, 'Pyrethroids in sediments and wastewater treatment plant-derived biosolids from Ireland', Science of the Total Environment, vol. 995, 180108. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2025.180108

Al-Mansoori, M, Harrad, S & Abdallah, MA-E 2025, 'Synthetic microplastics in hot and cold beverages from the UK market: Comprehensive assessment of human exposure via total beverage intake', Science of the Total Environment, vol. 996, 180188. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2025.180188

Al-Mansoori, M, Stephenson, M, Harrad, S & Abdallah, MAE 2025, 'Synthetic Microplastics in UK tap and bottled water; Implications for human exposure', Emerging Contaminants, vol. 11, no. 1, 100417. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.emcon.2024.100417

Sharkey, M, Stubbings, WA, Harrad, S, Healy, MG, Wang, S, Jin, J & Coggins, AM 2024, 'Antibiotics Residues in Inland and Transitional Sediments', Chemosphere, vol. 369, 143793. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chemosphere.2024.143793

Abafe, O, Harrad, S & Abdallah, M 2024, 'Assessment of human dermal absorption of flame retardant additives in polyethylene and polypropylene microplastics using 3D human skin equivalent models', Environment International, vol. 186, 108635. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envint.2024.108635

Namazkar, S, Ragnarsdottir, O, Josefsson, A, Branzell, F, Abel, S, Abdallah, M, Harrad, S & Benskin, JP 2024, 'Characterization and dermal bioaccessibility of residual- and listed PFAS ingredients in cosmetic products', Environmental Science Processes and Impacts . https://doi.org/10.1039/d3em00461a

View all publications in research portal

Expertise

People's exposure to persistent toxic organic chemicals e.g. via inhalation and ingestion of dust and food; measuring levels of these chemicals; sources of persistent toxic chemicals, particularly in indoor environments

Expertise

Exposure to persistent toxic organic chemicals, inhalation and ingestion of dust and food; measuring levels of these chemicals; sources of persistent toxic chemicals, particularly in indoor environments