Professional summary

Prof. Johnson obtained a PhD in Soil Science at Reading University in 1988.  Since 1992 he has been employed as a research scientist at the UK Centre for Ecology and Hydrology.  His work has focused on the impact of chemical contaminants on the natural environment. These environments have included soils, rivers, sewage and groundwater. The contaminants studied include pesticides, endocrine disrupting compounds, pharmaceuticals, personal care products, persistent organic pollutants, metals, nanoparticles and microplastics. To better understand these impacts he has worked with hydrologists, modellers, ecotoxicologists, ecologists and statisticians at UKCEH and in academia.  Much recent research has been examining the fate and behaviour of microplastics in tap water, wastewater and rivers.  His NERC-funded ChemPop project looked at chemical impacts on wildlife populations in water, land and marine environments. 

He has published over 140 peer reviewed papers. This research has been supported by funding from NERC, Defra, Environment Agency, UK Water Industry and the EU.  He remains a visiting Professor at Brunel University and worked as a visiting Professor in Kyoto University, Japan in 2008.  He was a member of the Defra Hazardous Substances Advisory Committee from 2014 to 2022, the Science Advisory Group for the Environment Agency since 2018 and the European SCHEER working group on chemicals since 2021. Since 2022 he has been a member of the UKWIR Committee on Substances of Emerging Concern to the Water Industry.  On 16th May 2022 he was named as one of the top 100 UK influential environmental professionals who had made the greatest impact by the ENDS Report magazine.

Selected publications

Qu Yueming et al. , (2023), Significant improvement in freshwater invertebrate biodiversity in all types of English rivers over the past 30 years. Science of the Total Environment, 905

Mancini Francesca et al. , (2023), Invertebrate biodiversity continues to decline in cropland. Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 290, http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2023.0897

Johnson Andrew C. et al. , (2021), The weight‐of‐evidence approach and the need for greater international acceptance of its use in tackling questions of chemical harm to the environment. Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry, 40, 2968-2977, http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/etc.5184

Johnson Andrew C. et al. , (2020), Learning from the past and considering the future of chemicals in the environment. Science, 367, 384-387, http://dx.doi.org/10.1126/science.aay6637

Johnson Andrew C. et al. , (2020), Identification and quantification of microplastics in potable water and their sources within water treatment works in England and Wales. Environmental Science & Technology, 54, 12326-12334, http://dx.doi.org/10.1021/acs.est.0c03211

Johnson Andrew C. et al. , (2019), What works? The influence of changing wastewater treatment type, including tertiary granular activated charcoal on downstream macroinvertebrate biodiversity over time. Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry, http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/etc.4460

Johnson Andrew C. et al. , (2017), An alternative approach to risk rank chemicals on the threat they pose to the aquatic environment . Science of the Total Environment, 599-600, 1372-1381, http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2017.05.039

Johnson Andrew C. et al. , (2018), Which commonly monitored chemical contaminant in the Bohai region and the Yangtze and Pearl rivers of China poses the greatest threat to aquatic wildlife?. Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry, 37, 1115-1121, http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/etc.4042

Johnson Andrew C. et al. , (2017), Linking changes in antibiotic effluent concentrations to flow, removal and consumption in four different UK sewage treatment plants over four years. Environmental Pollution, 220, 919-926, http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.envpol.2016.10.077

Johnson Andrew C. et al. , (2016), Are we going about chemical risk assessment for the aquatic environment the wrong way? . 35, 1609-1616, http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/etc.3441