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  1. Queen Mary University of London
  2. About us
  3. Sustainability
  4. Sustainable development goals
  5. Goal 14: Life Below Water
  6. Research

Research

Resilient Freshwater and Marine Systems

Queen Mary’s Resilient Freshwater and Marine Systems research supports the protection and restoration of rivers, estuaries and coastal environments. 

Researchers have developed practical tools including MoRPh Rivers and the River Condition Assessment to measure habitat condition, identify pressures and monitor restoration. The River Condition Assessment is used within England’s Biodiversity Metric, helping translate Queen Mary research into practical ecosystem management. 

Queen Mary also works with organisations including the Environment Agency, Thames21, The Rivers Trust and South East Rivers Trust on river assessment, restoration and freshwater habitat management. 

Monitoring river health with MoRPh

The Modular River Survey (MoRPh) is a Queen Mary-developed method for monitoring the physical condition and habitat quality of rivers and streams. 

The approach records features including vegetation, sediment, channel form and habitat structure, allowing changes in river condition to be tracked over time and following restoration. 

By 2024, more than 500 surveyors had been trained across the UK and Ireland and more than 5,000 surveys completed. Queen Mary research published in 2024 also used MoRPh to monitor physical habitat changes following river restoration, helping assess whether interventions are improving freshwater ecosystems. 

Detecting microplastics in water

In 2024, Queen Mary researchers launched a £450,000 EPSRC-funded project to develop new sensors for detecting microplastics in aquatic environments. 

Led by Dr SaeJune Park with the Water Research Centre, University of Leeds and National Physical Laboratory, the technology uses terahertz metasurfaces to enable faster, more sensitive and potentially real-time monitoring of microplastic pollution in rivers, lakes and oceans. 

The technology is designed to provide more practical environmental monitoring, helping identify microplastic contamination and supporting organisations and industries working to reduce pollution entering aquatic ecosystems. 

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