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Dr Lena Ciric
Senior Lecturer
Dept of Civil, Environ &Geomatic Eng
Faculty of Engineering Science
- Joined UCL
- 2nd Jul 2007
Research summary
Lena's research expertise lies in the application of molecular biology techniques to the profiling of microbial communities found in various built environments, from the communities present in the air in theatres to those residing on high touch surfaces in hospitals. She also studiesbacterial antibiotic resistance mechanisms and their modes of transfer amongdifferent communities. Lena leads the Healthy Infrastructure Research Group at UCL CEGE. The group investigates how microbial communities interact with the built environment and engineering solutions that reduce the spread of pathogens and improve environmental health. She has received over £3M in research funding from UKRI, Wellcome, the British Council and the Healthcare Infection Society and has published 55 peer-reviewed articles with over 1900 citations and an h-index of 26.
Teaching summary
Dr. Ciric is the the coordinator of the Environmental Systems module (CEGE0015) and contributes to the delivery of the Engineering Impact Assessment module (CEGE0099). She supervises yearly MSc group projects as part of the Collaborative Environmental Systems Project module (CEGE0029). She has also successfully supervised over 40 MSc and over ten final-year UG research projects. She has successfully graduated eight PhD students and is currently supervising six doctoral students. She is involved in the People and Nature Lab at UCL East and has contributed to the design of a number of new modules the lab will be delivering.
Education
- Napier University , Edinburgh
- Doctorate, Doctor of Philosophy | 2007
- University of Oxford
- First Degree, Bachelor of Arts | 2000
Biography
Lena completed her first degree in Biological Sciences at the University of Oxford in 2000. She then went on to work as a research assistant at the NERC Centre for Ecology and Hydrology (CEH) in Oxford, where she also completed a CASE PhD Studentship hosted at Napier University Edinburgh investigating the bacterial community dynamics in diesel degrading consortia in 2006. Lena moved to the UCL Eastman Dental Institute in 2007 and worked on two EU funded postdoctoral projects. Lena took up a permanent post at UCL CEGE in October 2012 and runs the Healthy Infrastructure Research Group there.