Meet The 2022 Speakers

Dr Veronica Sofianos

“Size doesn't always matter. How nanoparticles combat climate change!”

Role: Lecturer/Assistant Professor (Ad Astra Fellow)

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Institution: School of Chemical and Bioprocess Engineering, UCD 

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Expertise: Green Energy, Material Science, Nanotechnology

Dr Jungli Xu

“Plastic in our bodies: should we worry?”

Role: SFI-funded Senior Research Fellow

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Institution: School of Biosystems and Food Engineering,  UCD

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Expertise: Plastic teabags, Spectral imaging, Human Health

Aoife Martin

“Biocatalysis: Helping Chemistry Go Green!”

Role: PhD Student in the O'Reilly Research Group

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Institution: School of Chemistry, UCD 

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Expertise: Chemistry, Biocatalysis, Flow chemistry, Pharmaceutical industry

Holly English

“FitBits for Dogs! Tracking animal movement and behaviour with technology”

Role: PhD Student in Lab of Wildlife Ecology & Behaviour

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Institution: School of Biology and Environmental Science, UCD

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Expertise:  Zoology, GPS,  Animal Movement , Foxes, Maned Wolves & Wild Dogs

Dr Elizabeth Hunter

"How your neighborhood socioeconomic status can impact your health"

Role: Data Scientist 

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Institution: Technological University Dublin

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Expertise:  Computer Science, Epidemiology, Infectious disease, Socio-economics, Predictive Simulation Computer Models

 Burcu Akkoyunlu

“Can we employ microorganisms? An alternative solution for climate change”

Role: PhD Student at BiOrbic

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Institution: School of Chemical and  Bioprocess Engineering, UCD 

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Expertise: Chemistry, Fermentation, Microorganisms, Bioprocess Engineering

Dr Sorcha Daly

 “Reduce, Reuse and Redefine Waste for a Sustainable Future”

Role: Post Doctoral Research Fellow

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Institution: School of Chemical and Bioprocess Engineering

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Expertise: Engineering, Microbiology, Conversion of waste to biodegradable plastics

Eleni Zavrakli

“A journey from Mathematics to 3D printing”

Role: PhD Student in the I-Form Advanced Manufacturing Research Centre

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Institution: Hamilton Institute, NUI Maynooth 

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Expertise: Mathematics, Machine learning, 3D printing

Dr Tara Dirilgen

 “Do soil animals interact with bees through plants?”

Role: Ecologist,  Post Doctoral Research Fellow

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Institution: School of Agriculture and Food Science, UCD

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Expertise: Ecology,  Environmental Science, Soil Animals

Rhea Sanjiv Chhaya

“Climate crisis and food safety”

Role: PhD Candidate/MSC Early Stage Researcher

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Institution: PROTECT ITN, School of Biosystems and Food Engineering,, UCD

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Expertise: Food Safety, Risk Assessment, Fungal Metabolites or Mycotoxins

Dr Alessandra Mileo

 “How can a computer learn to “see” and “think"?

Role: Assistant Professor & SFI Funded Investigator (INSIGHT)

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Institution: School of Computing / INSIGHT Centre for Data Analytics, Dublin City University

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Expertise: Artificial Intelligence,, Computer Vision, Computer Science, Neural cognitive systems

Alison O'Reilly

'Bees behind the scenes'

Role: PhD Student

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Institution: School of Agriculture and Food Science, University College Dublin

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Expertise: Pesticides/insecticides, Pollination, Hibernation, Colony Formation