For the DIFFUSE project, we will bring together the considerable complementary knowledge and experience of the British Geological Survey (BGS), the Centre for Ecology and Hydrology (CEH), and Newcastle University (NU).
British Geological Survey (BGS) is the world's oldest national geological survey. A public sector organisation and the UK's premier earth science centre, it provides impartial geoscience advice to governments, industry, academia and the public.
The Centre for Ecology & Hydrology (CEH) is a world-class research organisation focusing on land and freshwater ecosystems and their interaction with the atmosphere. CEH integrates UK-wide observation systems and curiosity driven research, from the smallest scale of genetic diversity to large-scale, whole-Earth systems. We work across disciplines and facilitate academic, public, private and voluntary sector partnerships. CEH's extensive, long-term monitoring, analysis and modelling deliver UK and global environmental data, providing early warnings of change and management solutions for our land and freshwaters.
Newcastle University (NU) has been undertaking research into mining-related pollution for 25 years. The current focus of the research group is on abandoned metal mines, and in particular (1) the sources, transport and fate of metal contaminants in mining-impacted catchments and (2) sustainable treatment solutions for waters polluted with metals. The research team works across scales, having successfully undertaken research into novel mine water treatment technologies at lab-, pilot and full-scale. Similarly, the scale of investigations by the team into the sources, transport and fate of metals range from fundamental processes explored in the lab, through detailed investigations of short stretches of streams and rivers, through to large-scale investigations of whole river systems, such as the River Tyne.