Dr Ben Tscharke
Dr

Ben Tscharke

Email: 
Phone: 
+61 7 334 61971

Background

Dr Ben Tscharke is an analytical chemist with a keen interest in quantifying analytes in environmental samples. Ben is currently a Senior Research Fellow at the University of Queensland research institute, Queensland Alliance for Environmental Health Sciences (QAEHS), joining in February 2017 after graduating his PhD from the University of South Australia the previous year. His key focus at QAEHS involves the wastewater based epidemiological approach to determine community consumption and exposure to a range of illicit drugs, pharmaceuticals and personal care products. He leads the Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission's National Wastewater Drug Monitoring program at UQ, which collaborates with the University of South Australia (https://www.acic.gov.au/publications/intelligence-products/national-wastewater-drug-monitoring-program-report).

Availability

Dr Ben Tscharke is:
Available for supervision
Media expert

Fields of research

Analytical chemistry Analytical spectrometry Chemical Sciences Environmental epidemiology Epidemiology Health Sciences

Qualifications

  • Doctor of Philosophy, University of South Australia

Research interests

  • Wastewater-based epidemiology

    I am a research fellow at QAEHS focussed on estimating population-level consumption of licit and illicit drugs in communities via measuring drugs and drug metabolites in wastewater. One of my main interests is extending the utility of wastewater data by combining it with other forms of data to improve understanding of drug use and exposure to chemicals in our communities.

Search Professor Ben Tscharke’s works on UQ eSpace

142 works between 2013 and 2025
All (142) Journal Article (108) Book Chapter (1) Conference Publication (23) Other Outputs (10)

141 - 142 of 142 works

Current funding

  • 2025 - 2028
    Identifying sources of contaminants of concern entering Australian sewers
    ARC Linkage Projects
    Open grant
  • 2024 - 2025
    Estimating tobacco consumption trend in Australia
    Australian Taxation Office
    Open grant
  • 2024 - 2027
    Using multiple data sources to understand the opioid crisis in Australia
    ARC Linkage Projects
    Open grant
  • 2023 - 2027
    National Wastewater Drug Monitoring Program
    Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission
    Open grant
  • 2021 - 2025
    Understanding Australia by analysing wastewater during the Census 2021
    ARC Linkage Projects
    Open grant

Past funding

  • 2024 - 2025
    Analytical testing of kava
    University of the South Pacific
    Open grant
  • 2022 - 2023
    Assessing the toxicity and metabolism of New Psychoactive Substances and their presence in wastewater
    Universities Australia - Germany Joint Research Co-operation Scheme
    Open grant
  • 2021 - 2022
    Wastewater analysis services
    Commonwealth Department of Agriculture, Water and the Environment
    Open grant
  • 2019 - 2023
    Estimating use of tobacco and nicotine products through wastewater analysis
    ARC Linkage Projects
    Open grant
  • 2019 - 2023
    National Wastewater Drug Monitoring Program
    Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission
    Open grant

Availability

Dr Ben Tscharke is:
Available for supervision

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Supervision history

Current supervision

Completed supervision

Enquiries

Contact Dr Ben Tscharke directly for media enquiries about:

  • National Wastewater Drug Monitoring Program
  • Wastewater drug testing

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