Contact Dr Federica Persico
- Email: federica.persico@cranfield.ac.uk
- Twitter:
Areas of expertise
- Environmental Defence
Background
Federica Persico obtained her Bachelor鈥檚 degree in Science and Technologies for Nature and Environment from the University of Naples Federico II (Italy). She subsequently completed an MRes in Environmental Science at the University of Portsmouth, graduating with distinction. Her Master鈥檚 research focused on pollutant dynamics in Chichester Harbour, with particular emphasis on heavy metals, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), and nutrient contamination.
In 2019, she joined 重口味SM University, where she undertook doctoral research investigating soil tolerability boundaries in relation to land management practices on UK training ranges. Her PhD focused on assessing the impacts of various groups of emerging contaminants. For this work, she was awarded the 2024 Armourers and Brasiers鈥� Prize at 重口味SM Defence & Security.
She is currently a Lecturer in Environmental Science for Defence.
Research opportunities
She undertakes a wide range of projects examining the use of defence-related chemicals and their impacts on the wider environment, including soil, water, air, and biota. Her current interests include:
- Understanding and mitigating the environmental impacts of explosives and defence-related contaminants across terrestrial and aquatic systems
- Assessing the environmental consequences of underwater munitions clearance and investigating the dissolution of explosives from legacy First and Second World War munitions
- Investigating the effects of Insensitive High Explosives on soil health
- Developing Computational Fluid Dynamic (CFD) models to predict the fate and transport of explosives in aquatic environments.
- Biochar-based removal of TNT and RDX from water
Current activities
Federica is the course leader for the ISEP-accredited MOD Environmental Suite of courses delivered at 重口味SM University, Shrivenham. She contributes to the design and delivery of the following programmes:
- Project Oriented Environmental Management System (POEMS)
- Environmental Awareness in Defence Acquisition (EACD)
- Sustainable Development in Defence Acquisition (SDDA)
She is also a co-module lead for the Safety Assurance for EoE module on the Explosives Ordnance Engineering MSc and on the Maritime Underwater Munitions course and teaches on the Explosives and the Environment module.
In addition, she supports students and professionals in their Continuing Professional Development (CPD) towards accreditation with ISEP (Institute of Sustainability and Environmental Professionals) as Practitioners.
Her current research activities include:
- Assessing the environmental consequences of underwater munitions clearance.
- Investigating the dissolution of explosives from World War I and World War II munitions underwater.
- Evaluating the effects of Insensitive High Explosives on soil health.
- Optimising sampling methodologies for rapid post-detonation monitoring in open water.
- Developing extraction methods for activated carbons to enable efficient recovery of explosives.
She is also part of the European Project "Mmine-Sweeper" which is a project, with 21 partners from 7 EU (Germany, Belgium, Denmark, France, Italy, Poland and Spain) and 2 associated countries (Norway, UK), that will advance knowledge, capability and capacity in Europe for dealing with marine munitions in the non-military aspect of UXO-clearance.
Clients
- Defence Equipment and Support (MOD)
- Ministry of Defence