University of Southampton
The School of Geography within the University of Southampton has research groups focusing on Geographical Information Systems, particularly how spatial information such as health records, census data, and land cover can be combined and analysed.
The School is also home to the Centre for Geographical Health Research, whose research interests cover health geography and spatial epidemiology.
Role in the project
Within the project, the group at Southampton is investigating the diagnostic accuracy of existing alternatives to the Aquatest method that is currently under development, particularly the Hydrogen sulphide (H2S) test, another low-cost field test currently in quite widespread use. The group are currently collating evidence on how this compares with standard, laboratory-based methods. The implications of accuracy for onward usage of microbial field tests is also being explored through a variety of scenarios.
More generally, Southampton's role within the project is to investigate the onward use of information from low cost tests in a variety of settings. As well as investigating how low-cost test characteristics might affect the subsequent use of the resultant information about water quality, Southampton will assess methods for integrating any results from an Aquatest device with other commonly available data sets, such as land cover data.
People involved
Dr Jim Wright
The University of Southampton group is led by Dr. Jim Wright, who has previously worked on both the Aquapol and earlier Aquatest water-related projects, which were both coordinated by University of Bristol.
Jim’s research interests include:
- Water and health in developing countries
- Applications of Geographical Information Systems.
Dr Hong Yang
Hong Yang is working on the onward use of information from the new Aquatest device as part of the team at University of Southampton. He recently received his PhD from University College London, where he was working on surface water quality monitoring through a Dorothy Hodgkins scholarship. He previously received a masters degree from the Chinese Academy of Sciences, based on work on eutrophication of the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtse River