Dr Jo Burgess

Senior Technology Consultant / Head of South Africa
Isle Utilities Ltd

Dr Jo Burgess is a microbiologist and biochemist by background and has taught the subjects at university level prior to joining Isle. She is currently leading the Isle Knowledge Hub on SARS-CoV-2 in wastewater and is a guest editor for a special issue of the IWA Publishing journal Water Science and Technology on SARS-CoV-2 transmission and risks in water and wastewater.

Jo is uniquely placed to provide an up to date overview of the COVID-19 water sector publications, impact assessments and response documents and guidelines from government organisations, NGOs, utilities, and private companies. She holds a PhD in environmental biotechnology and a Master of Research in water pollution control technology (Cranfield, UK).

Jo has worked in South Africa for 18 years and her time in the water sector there has provided a range of water and sanitation service provision experiences from unsewered informal settlements to off-grid luxury tourism facilities, to dense urban megacities – all of which will help provide insightful and relevant questions for the international application of wastewater-based epidemiology for COVID-19.

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