Thilo Hofmann is Deputy Head of the Centre for Microbiology and Environmental Systems Science at the University of Vienna. He studies global plastic pollution and investigates the behaviour of environmental pollutants.
Benny Chefetz (Department of Soil and Water Sciences, Hebrew University of Jerusalem) is the Director of The Hebrew University Center of Excellence in Agriculture and Environmental Health. His research interests relate to physico-chemical processes of organic pollutants occurring in water, reclaimed wastewater, soils and sediments.
Joint Grant Programs with Strategic Partners
The University of Vienna and its strategic partners aim to expand and strengthen their scientific collaboration. This includes the implementation of joint seminars/workshops/teaching activities, where faculty members of both institutions meet, present their work and engage in a dialogue.
For information on funding opportunities within our Strategic Partnerships (upcoming Call for Joint Seminars with HUJI opening in spring 2023), please visit: international.univie.ac.at/joint-grant-programs/
HUJI-UNIVIE Joint Research Grant 2022 goes to…
HUJI-UNIVIE Joint Research Grant 2022 goes to…
The HUJI-UNIVIE Joint Research Grants provide funding for joint research projects to expand common research interests at both universities. Out of ten excellent applications, the project chosen for the HUJI-UNIVIE Joint Research Grant 2022 (funding: 30,000€) was Thilo Hofmann and Benny Chefetz’s project “From road to plate”, investigating how tire wear compounds are taken up by edible plants and may pose a risk to consumers.
The project investigates if tire wear particles are taken up in edible plants.
Sewage sludge is a major source of soil contamination with microplastics such as tire wear particles (TWP), because TWP are not fully eliminated during wastewater treatments. Sewage sludge is used as a fertilizer in agriculture, thus introducing TWP to the agroecosystem. In their project, Thilo Hofmann (Centre for Microbiology and Environmental Systems Sciences, University of Vienna) and Benny Chefetz (Department of Soil and Water Sciences, Hebrew University of Jerusalem) want to investigate if TWP are taken up in edible plants and thereby reach consumers.
The project, starting on 1 March 2023, will investigate the uptake of TWP-derived compounds in root, fruit, and leafy vegetables under realistic growing conditions. Growing experiments under greenhouse and field conditions will be done by the HUJ team using their facilities in Rehovot, analysis will be done by the UNVIE team together with the HUJ team, thus combining the strengths of both universities. This study is the first of its kind to assess a so far overlooked pathway of plastic pollution to edible plants. By reaching out to the public, the project team also wants to raise awareness of the complex connections between plastic pollution and food.
Greenhouse in Rehovot
