Marie Curie Individual Fellowship (Biogeochemistry of erosive material deposition in streams: Impact of particulate deposition upon biofilm carbon cycling)
Between 2012 and 2014, Billy held a Marie Curie Intra-European Fellowship within the University of Vienna's Department for Limnology and Biological Oceanography. During this time Billy led research on the Bio-ERODs (Biogeochemistry of erosive material deposition in streams: Impact of particulate deposition upon biofilm carbon cycling) project, collaborating with Prof Tom Battin (now at the Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne, Switzerland).
The Bio-ERODS project investigated the role of organo-mineral complexes in the preservation and burial of organic matter, requires investigation of the interactions with biofilms. Bio-ERODS investigated biophysical mechanisms driving microbial biofilm-particle interactions, the mechanisms that potentially alter the organo-mineral complexation and thus contributing to stream biogeochemistry.