Beth Richardson is a microbial ecologist and environmental DNA specialist, who uses DNA extracted from soil, sediment and water to examine the microbiome of her study sites. Most of her work focuses on landscapes undergoing reclamation in the Athabasca Oil Sands Region, though she has also worked on samples from environments as diverse as sea ice in the Arctic,the sunlit ocean, and municipal recreation sites. Though her work has applications in public and environmental health, her favourite aspect of her research is studying the evolution of microbes in the ecological niche they have chosen to call home. By examining the biology of single-celled organisms in complex and often challenging environments, Beth aims to discover the genomic adaptations that allow them to survive and thrive, and how these traits are shared across other microbes in the same community.

She did postdoctoral work at the University of Alberta in the School of Public Health, continuing her research on microbial communities in the Athabasca Oil Sands. She began her current position as an Assistant Professor in Cell Biology and Genetics at Mount Royal University in 2022.