IMNIS Mentee Sara Yazdanparast
This is Tahereh (Sara) Yazdanparast, who is doing a Ph.D. at Macquarie University
in environmental chemistry, environmental contaminants and risk assessment since 2019,
with experience in facilitating citizen science-based programs, and working with animals and wildlife. She is interested in applying geochemistry techniques which enable an understanding of human health exposures in contaminated sites. She has a range of skills in a range of areas including vegetation management, ecology and biology. However, her primary interests include soil and water quality, in-situ and non-destructive analysis and emerging contaminants.
She has obtained relevant technical skills in collecting, testing and monitoring soil, water and dust quality, provided an understanding of contaminants such as soil, groundwater, sediment or surface water for the general protection of human health during my PhD journey.
Her PhD research project is focused on examining trace metal exposures in Sydney’s domestic urban chickens to assess their potential health exposure pathways for livestock (chickens) as well as those associated with their eggs, which are used for human consumption. This will be the first assessment of its kind in Australia and will provide new and important information for Australia’s growing number of urban gardeners and chicken raring.