Access to safe drinking water, sanitation and hygiene is the most basic human need for health and wellbeing, yet it is one that still needlessly claims the lives of an estimated 829,000 people every year.

Understanding how microbes such as bacteria, parasites and viruses behave in the environment is key to protecting human health, particularly in low-income settings.

Professor Ebdon will take you on a faecal odyssey, from the depths of southern England to the mega-slums of India, and from rural Malawi to the plains of Nepal. Along the way, you will learn how innovative low-cost tools, such as those involving phages (bacteria-eating viruses) found in our guts, can improve our understanding of disease transmission.

Drawing upon some of his most significant research, Professor Ebdon’s inaugural lecture also offers reflections on his journey to becoming a research scientist and why we should all be excited about entering ‘the age of phage’.

Music by Bensound.com