Dr Karl Bowles

Karl specialises in the fate & transport and impacts of chemical contaminants, with a strong interest in emerging contaminants. He has over 25 years of experience within research, consultancy, university and government sectors, and is currently a Technical Director with RPS Australia Asia Pacific. Karl has worked intensively on PFAS for over five years, providing specialist technical advice to government, including to the Australian Department of Defence where he is currently a contractor in the Directorate of PFAS Management. He previously contributed substantively to the PFAS National Environmental Management Plan, has derived nationally accepted guideline values for PFAS in soil and co-authored several papers addressing key knowledge gaps for risk assessment of PFAS. Earlier in his career, Karl focused on environmental and analytical chemistry of metals and organometals. Scientific communication is a key interest for Karl, and he is regularly called on to deliver workshops, training and seminars on chemical contaminants.  

Karl is a Principal Investigator in a QAEHS research project, led by Dr Sarit Kaserzon, developing passive samplers for PFAS monitoring in environmental waters and wastewater. For this project, Karl provides an understanding of industry needs for sampling in the contaminated land sector, which is important for developing usable tools with real-world applications. Karl has previously collaborated on projects with QAEHS, researching aspects of PFAS in aquatic wildlife and seafood.