Dr Kelly Sheridan

Associate Professor

School: Geography and Natural Sciences

Alongside her role as an Assistant Professor in Forensic Science at Northumbria University Dr Kelly Sheridan is Research Director at The Microfibre Consortium (TMC), a non-profit organisation leading the textile industry in reducing microfibre release to protect the environment. Kelly is a forensic scientist by trade and has specialised in the field textile fibres for over 17 years. Her research on the prevalence of fibres (aka microfibres) and the factors affecting their loss from textiles and their subsequent movement in the environment came long before ‘microfibres’ became topical. More recently, Kelly has taken her forensic skills and knowledge and is using them to address the challenges of microfibre pollution and their environmental impact.

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Key Publications

Please visit the Pure Research Information Portal for further information
Letter to the Editor: Misclassification of fibres in Ramage et al. (2025) and implications for microplastics research, Sheridan, K., Blackburn, R., Prendergast-Miller, M., Jones, J., Palmer, R., Stanton, T. 13 Oct 2025, In: Chemosphere
Aligning the textile industry towards the mitigation of microfibre pollution, Sheridan, K., Bateman, A., Bland, E., Ducas, C., Mather, S. 30 Apr 2024, Microfibre Pollution from Textiles , Boca Raton, US, Taylor & Francis
Cross-disciplinary Collaboration Challenging Microfibre Fragmentation in the Fashion and Textile Industries, James, A., Mutambo, N., Prendergast-Miller, M., Sheridan, K., Rogers, A. 30 Apr 2024, Microfibre Pollution from Textiles, Boca Raton, US, Taylor & Francis
Mapping the Environmental Impact Assessment Landscape in the Fashion and Textile Industries: Critical Gaps and Challenges, Mutambo, N., Peirson-Smith, A., KeChi-Okafor, C., Irving-Munro, A., Sheridan, K., Prendergast-Miller, M., Namdeo, A., Stanton, T., Gallidabino, M., James, A. 26 Sep 2024, In: Sustainability
Natural Fibers: Why Are They Still the Missing Thread in the Textile Fiber Pollution Story?, Stanton, T., James, A., Prendergast-Miller, M., Peirson-Smith, A., Kechi-Okafor, C., Gallidabino, M., Namdeo, A., Sheridan, K. 10 Jul 2024, In: Environmental Science and Technology
A quantitative assessment of the extent and distribution of textile fibre transfer to persons involved in physical assault, Sheridan, K., Palmer, R., Chalton, D., Bacar, J., Beckett, J., Bellerby, K., Brown, L., Donaghy, E., Finlayson, A., Graham, C., Robertson, B., Taylor, L., Gallidabino, M. 1 Jul 2023, In: Science & Justice
Are microfibres a problem for aquatic ecosystems? What we don’t know about textile pollution, Gallidabino, M., Sheridan, K., Stanton, T., James, A., Ginting, J. 30 Sep 2023
Doing laundry by hand sheds just as many microfibres as machine washing - new research, McKay, D., Sheridan, K., Stanton, T. 24 Oct 2023
Forensic Examination of Fibers: Transfer and Persistence, Sheridan, K. 1 Jan 2023, Encyclopedia of Forensic Sciences, Third Edition, Elsevier
Prevalence and characterisation of microfibres along the Kenyan and Tanzanian coast, Kechi-Okafor, C., Khan, F., Al-Naimi , U., Beguerie, V., Gallidabino, M., Scott-Harden, S., Sheridan, K. 23 Feb 2023, In: Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution

PGR Supervision

Naomi Richardson Fibre fragmentation and Microplastics in the Southern Ocean: Investigating Mechanisms and Geographical distribution in air and water samples using a consistent forensic inspired methodological approach Start Date: 01/10/2025
Naomi Richardson Fibre fragmentation and Microplastics in the Southern Ocean: Investigating Mechanisms and Geographical distribution in air and water samples using a consistent forensic inspired methodological approach Start Date: 01/10/2025 End Date: 17/10/2025