Dean Leverett, BSc is a Principal Consultant at wca environment and an environmental toxicologist with 20 years of experience in applied ecotoxicological research and project management. Dean’s specific areas of expertise are the design and interpretation of ecotoxicity tests/bioassays, quality assurance and proficiency testing for ecotoxicological tests/ bioassays, endocrine disruption in the aquatic environment, the risk assessment of complex mixtures, wastewater treatment processes and biological monitoring in the marine enivornment.
Between 1996 – 2008 Dean worked at, and later managed, the UK Environment Agency’s ecotoxicology laboratory in Waterlooville where he was was primarily responsible for conducting and managing research projects. This included the establishment and management of a regulatory scheme to assess the risk posed by complex industrial discharges (Direct Toxicity Assessment – DTA), a supporting UKAS-accredited inter-laboratory quality assurance/ proficiency testing scheme for the DTA tests, and the bioassay elements of the DEFRA Clean Seas Environmental Monitoring Programe (CSEMP).
From 2008 – 2010 Dean worked in the Environment Agency’s Ecosystems Science team where he continued to project manage and provide scientific support to a range of environmental research projects. Dean’s Environment Agency project management portfolio included the UK Water Industry Research (UKWIR) Endocrine Disruptors Demonstration Programme (EDDP) (2006-2010) which investigated the efficiency of existing and new wastewater treatment technologies at removing steroid oestrogens, and the UKWIR Chemical Investigations Programme (CIP) (2008-2010) which seeks to investigate the scale of emission, wastewater treatment removal efficiency and sources of a wide range of chemicals (including the WFD Priority Substances).
