2025 SETAC AU Mid-Career Researcher Medal - Lisa Golding
Lisa Golding is a Senior Research Scientist at CSIRO and formerly led the Contaminant Effects and Risk Management team before relocating from Sydney to Brisbane. She has played a key role in reducing the risks of contaminants to aquatic ecosystems through research, publications, student supervision, mentoring, expert advisory roles, and service to SETAC-AU. Her work has directly informed the development of several Australian and New Zealand freshwater and marine default water quality guidelines, as well as site-specific guidelines for metals, nutrients, and shale gas wastewaters in local and Pacific region ecosystems.
Lisa has been an active member of the Australasian Society of Ecotoxicology, the SETAC-Laurentian Chapter in Southern Ontario, and SETAC-AU. Through participation in SETAC events, she has built lasting professional friendships that have enriched her career. In return, she is committed to mentoring and collaboration, sharing her knowledge and experience with others. Her current research focuses on advancing new approach methodologies, including the use of multi-omics and machine learning, to address toxicity data gaps and drive innovation in ecotoxicology.
2025 SETAC AU Early Career Researcher Medal - Elvis Okoffo
New research led by Dr. Elvis Okoffo has uncovered that everyday plastic items washed in household dishwashers can release substantial numbers of micro- and nanoplastics into wastewater. The study focused on common household plastics such as polypropylene (PP), polyethylene (PE), polystyrene (PS), nylon, and polyethylene terephthalate (PET), revealing that on average, a single dishwasher cycle with these plastic items can release approximately 920,000 tiny micro and nano particles. Extrapolated to a global scale, this could amount to 33 million particles per household per year. To assess the scale of this emission in practical terms, the researchers modelled a scenario where each dishwasher cycle washes five plastic items, each with a surface area of 1,000 cm² (about the size of a 1L container). Based on this, dishwashing would release fewer than 6 mg of plastic per person per year globally equivalent to just 43 particles per square centimetre washed which is considerably smaller than the mass of a single grain of rice. While these numbers may sound large, the study found that dishwashing is a minor contributor to plastic pollution in wastewater compared to other sources, such as textile fibres from laundry. Yet, the findings underscore how common household activities can still add up to millions of plastic particles entering the environment.
Recent works
Social media profiles
LinkedIn:https://www.linkedin.com/in/elvis-dartey-okoffo
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/okoffodartey.elvispogas
2025 SETAC AU Technical Staff Award - Alexandra Boyd
Alexandra has been working with the ANSTO Ecotoxicology and Radioecology team for the last three years and has supported numerous experimental research studies, including ANSTO-led research, student research projects, and commercial projects. Alexandra’s technical expertise in handling and analysing radioactive isotopes and NORMs has consistently delivered outstanding results, and she makes invaluable contributions to research by her meticulous care in preparing laboratory work and equipment, assisting with experimental deign and data interpretation, and by asking insightful questions. Alexandra has streamlined the lab workflow for live-animal radiotracing studies by improving sample analysis via gamma spectrometry and cold-vapour atomic fluorescence spectroscopy and has improved the data analysis and interpretation process for a diverse range of environmental science studies. She has also ensured all laboratory work has the highest level of QA/QC to ensure the resulting data is robust and can be used for multiple applications.
2024 SETAC AU Technical Staff Award - Florita Flores
Florita Flores is an Experimental Scientist at the Australian Institute of Marine Science, specialising in tropical marine ecotoxicology. She has a strong track record in assessing the impacts of pollutants on marine ecosystems, particularly coral reefs and tropical coastal environments. Her work has had a significant influence on policies and management practices for aquatic ecosystem protection. With over 15 years of experience in environmental monitoring and applied marine science, Florita has led research into the effects of contaminants, such as pesticides and petroleum hydrocarbons, on tropical marine organisms. By generating robust experimental data on the lethal and sub-lethal impacts of these contaminants, Florita has provided essential support to the development of environmental risk assessments. Her work has contributed to the scientific consensus statements that inform government strategies and regulatory frameworks for improving water quality and protecting marine ecosystems, such as the Great Barrier Reef. Her work bridges laboratory science and real-world applications, contributing data to support the derivation of national water quality guidelines and risk assessments.
Here are some links to the most recent relevant papers:
Molecular responses of sponge larvae exposed to partially weathered condensate oil - ScienceDirect
