Projects

METHANE UTILISING BIOTECHNOLOGY 

Reducing greenhouse gas emissions is a critical component of global climate change prevention strategies. However, costs associated with technology operation can outweigh societal benefit, and prevent thier uptake by industry. 

This fellowship aims to develop a new technology that will use methane to produce high valuable compounds. 

Principal Investigator, 2022-2027

Funded by a Royal Society Science Foundation Ireland University Research Fellowship 2022

Grant number URF/R1/221528

UNIVERSWATER:  

Universal interoperate sustainable agri-water management system

Water quality and quantity are under arising pressure from agricultural activities that may cause overexploitation of natural waters and pollutants runoffs (e.g., nutrients, pesticides). These stresses are also compounded by climate change effects. To address the complex challenges of agri-water management, the UNIVERSWATER consortium will adopt a ‘system of systems’ approach by developing and improving technologies designed to optimise water resources uses in a fully integrated way. A dedicated interdisciplinary and intersectoral consortium of 15 partners from six European countries will: a) develop innovative portable and in- situ sensors for a number of parameters and pollutants (salinity, nutrients, CEC, microbiological indicators) and b) couple them with earth observation imaging and advanced explainable and robust artificial intelligence techniques, as well as c) develop cost-effective, sustainable methods based on nature-based and technology-based solutions for water remediation at the point of need and d) promote the adoption of the developed methods through pricing incentive provision. These technologies will be integrated into decision support systems (DSSs) that will be tested at three case studies tackling on-farm treatment of dairy soiled water, mitigation of soil salination through water reuse, and optimisation of fertiliser/pesticide application for freshwater preservation. Going beyond, UNIVERSWATER will upscale these local DSSs into a common platform where a suite of DSS tools can be adapted to different situations after being tailored to the local factors, thereby developing a modular, extensible and holistic universal DSS. 

Project partner, 2024-2028

PESTMAN: 

Pesticide Remediation for better water quality

The overarchaing aim of PESTMAN is to use a multidisciplinary approach merging soil processes, molecular biology, engineering, and quantitaive risk assessment methodologies to: (1) understand the drivers and pressures for the use of pesticides in the environment, (2) examine their fate and persistence, (3) evaluate any potential impact and risks to the environment and human health, (4) develop a low-cowst, passive, in-situ method to remediate pesticides in the environment, and (5) disseminate knowledge and engage stakeholders and the general public with the project. 

Co-coordinator, 2020-2023

Funded by the Environmental Protection Agency, and the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine

Grant number 2019-HW-LS-3