Rate My Professor Shima Ziajahromi

Dr. Shima Ziajahromi is a Senior Lecturer in the School of Environment and Science at Griffith University, affiliated with the Australian Rivers Institute. She earned her PhD in Environmental Science from Griffith University between 2014 and 2018, a Master’s degree in Environmental Engineering from Tehran University from 2010 to 2012, and a Bachelor’s degree in Environmental Engineering from Tehran University from 2005 to 2009. During her doctoral studies, supported by a Griffith University International Postgraduate Research Scholarship, she developed a novel sampling device for onsite collection of wastewater-based microplastics. Her research centers on the occurrence, fate, transport, and ecological impacts of microplastics, with a particular emphasis on wastewater-derived particles in treatment plants, biosolids, stormwater, indoor and outdoor air, agricultural soils, and aquatic-terrestrial ecosystems. Ziajahromi employs advanced techniques to detect and quantify microplastics down to 1 μm, investigating their accumulation in crops, toxicity to invertebrates like Ceriodaphnia dubia and Chironomus tepperi, plants, and effects across generations.

Ziajahromi’s career at Griffith University progressed from PhD student and Sessional Academic (2015-2018) to Advance Queensland Research Fellow in 2019, a position funded by the Queensland Government and co-sponsored by industry partners. She has led funded projects including those with Water Research Australia on microplastics in drinking and recycled water (2020) and Water Corporation on wastewater treatment plants (2019). Her contributions have earned awards such as the SETAC AU Postgraduate Research Best Publication Award (2017), Australian Rivers Institute Best Student Scientific Paper Award (2018), and the Australian Academy of Science Thomas Davies Research Grant for Marine, Soil and Plant Biology (2025). Key publications include “Wastewater treatment plants as a pathway for microplastics: development of a new approach to sample wastewater-based microplastics” (Water Research, 2017), “Impact of Microplastic Beads and Fibers on Waterflea (Ceriodaphnia dubia) Survival, Growth, and Reproduction: Implications of Single and Mixture Exposures” (Environmental Science & Technology, 2017), “Comprehensive assessment of microplastics in Australian biosolids: Abundance, seasonal variation and potential transport to agroecosystems” (Water Research, 2023), and “Transport and Accumulation of Microplastics from Biosolids to Australian Agricultural Soils” (Environmental Science & Technology, 2024). These works have advanced standardized methods for microplastic analysis and highlighted risks to ecosystems, influencing environmental policy and management strategies.