Ian Cousins

Research Interests and Biographical Information

Research Interests. My research comprises a combination of experimental and modelling approaches to investigate the sources, transport, fate and exposure of contaminants. In recent years, much of my research has focused on per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS). I work closely with analytical chemists in our department to better understand the behaviour of PFAS and other substances.

Biographical Information. I earned a BSc (Hons) degree in Chemistry at the University of York (1989) and a Master’s degree in Environmental Management at the University of Surrey (1991) before working as an Environmental Chemist in the water industry for 4 years (1991-1995). I returned to academia and earned a PhD at Lancaster University (1998), then worked as a Postdoc in Contaminant Fate Modelling at Trent University in Canada (1998-2001), and as a Visiting Researcher in Contaminant Fate Modelling at Stockholm University (2002-2004). I took a position as Assistant Professor at Stockholm University in 2004, was promoted to Associate Professor in 2008 and Full Professor in 2012. I have published 188 peer-reviewed journal articles and 10 book chapters, which have been well cited (designated as a Highly Cited Researcher in 2018 and 2020). In 2020, we kicked off the PERFORCE3 project, which is a Europe-wide multi-partner doctoral research training programme in the field of PFAS coordinated by Stockholm University and funded by H2020. In 2021, we kicked off the ZeroPM project, which is a multipartner research project funded by H2020 and targeting PFAS and vPvB/PMT substances. I previously worked as Associate Editor of Chemosphere (2012-2018) and became Associate Editor of Environmental Science and Technology in 2020 and Associate Editor of Environmental Au in 2021.