Plastic Pollution Working Group Members

Dr. Campbell is broadly interested in oceans governance and the role of state and non-state actors in negotiating ocean governance priorities. With a group of collaborators, she has been tracking the emerging agenda for global oceans governance over the last decade, through organizations like the Convention and Biological Diversity and the UN Sustainable Development Commission. In this context, Dr. Campbell is interested in how plastic pollution emerged and rose to the top of the list of marine conservation concerns among some NGOs and the public, the coalitions that worked to promote it as a priority and the funders who rallied to support, and the science that informs it.

I am an ecologist interested in the intersection of science and community. I am currently working on issues of plastic pollution education from a marine debris perspective and a stormwater/microplastic perspective. I have written curricula regarding marine debris (elementary) and community science and microplastics (high school) and collaborate with researchers at the EE lab of NCSU to study the role of intergenerational learning in changing perspectives on plastic pollution.

Kids’ Presentations Sway Local Leaders’ and Voters’ Attitudes on Ocean Plastics Pollution (article)

Q&A: MEM Students Discuss Why They Got Involved in STEM Education Outreach (article)

Duke Marine Lab Science Outreach With Boys & Girls Club (YouTube video)

Duke Marine Lab Community Science Program on Twitter: dumlcommunity

Dr. Dunphy-Daly’s research focuses on the role of policy and technology in reducing marine plastic pollution. She is interested in how regulations for other pollutants have led to improved technology and how we can apply these frameworks to the plastic pollution pandemic. Dr. Dunphy-Daly co-lead a Bass Connections team on the bioremediation of plastic pollution to conserve marine biodiversity, and she works to engage students in research aimed at ways to reduce the human impact on our marine environment.

Dr. Fürst is taking the lead on a number of relevant issues at Duke Kunshan University. First, she is working with a group of students to do a China plastic policy analysis based on the methodology developed by Dr. John Virdin and Amy Pickle, J.D. and their team for the global plastic policy analysis. Second, she is trying to get a project (and funding) going focusing on opportunities and obstacles for China's new plastic economy. Dr. Fürst is now in the process of editing a special edition focusing on various aspects of plastic issues in China, which will be published in Chinese, and will likely be the first special edition drawing on a team of interdisciplinary contributors, dedicated to plastics, published in Chinese. And, last but not least, she has been developing and leading the Blue Pioneer Program at DKU, where a great number of participants work on plastic issues.

Evan Hepler-Smith is a historian of modern science and technology, specializing in the global history of chemistry, computing and information technology, and chemical dimensions of environmental health, regulation, and justice. His plastics-related research includes work on the naming and classification of polymers and microplastics, as well as on the "industrial metabolism" of plastics (i.e., production, distribution, use, disposal, environmental fate and transport). He teaches History 235, "Drugs, Chemicals and Health: Following substances through economies, environments, and bodies."

Michelle’s research is focused on understanding the sources and impacts of plastic debris on aquatic and marine environments and human health, and developing policies and regulatory mechanisms to address and reduce those impacts.  Much of her client-based work focuses on mechanisms for upstream communities that reduce waste at the source.

Amy Pickle, J.D. and Dr. John Virdin are interested in studying how governments have or can design effective public policy responses to the problem, including:

• Empirical analysis of public policy responses in different contexts
• Global monitoring and tracking of public policy responses and evidence for their effects
• Translating public policy responses into projected reductions in mismanaged plastic waste

Additionally, they are interested in the role that large corporations can play in governance of plastics use, including:

• Empirical analysis of large corporate responses to the plastic pollution problem and evidence for effects
• How large corporations are organizing to address the problem

Professor Roady is a lawyer who has devoted more than four decades to protecting the environment in various courts and administrative agencies. His most recent work includes helping the Pew Charitable Trusts design a study to reduce the production and use of plastics world-wide. He assisted the Nicholas Institute for Environmental Policy Solutions with the preparation of a global survey for the United Nations that evaluated efforts to reduce plastic pollution of coral reefs. He is currently assisting with a student honors thesis that will examine ways to reduce plastic pollution in Hawaii.

Amy Pickle, J.D. and Dr. John Virdin are interested in studying how governments have or can design effective public policy responses to the problem, including:

• Empirical analysis of public policy responses in different contexts
• Global monitoring and tracking of public policy responses and evidence for their effects
• Translating public policy responses into projected reductions in mismanaged plastic waste

Additionally, they are interested in the role that large corporations can play in governance of plastics use, including:

• Empirical analysis of large corporate responses to the plastic pollution problem and evidence for effects
• How large corporations are organizing to address the problem