Pictured at the prize-giving ceremony are (l-r): Michael Gilchrist, Maciej Guzik, Muhammad Awais , Des Fitzgerald, Vasilis Valdramidis, Mojibur Khan and Ciaran O’Beirne.
The first UCD Festival of Research and Innovation on the theme Earth Sciences, Energy & the Environment was held in the UCD Health Sciences Centre on Wednesday, 8 December 2010.
PhD students and postdoctoral researchers across the entire university had the opportunity to communicate their research and associated innovative activities to a scientifically literate audience from other Schools and Colleges, as well as to guests from our industry partner companies. Approximately sixty posters were on display featuring a wide range of topics within the theme.
As well as celebrating research excellence, the event provided the researchers with opportunities to network and help to develop new ideas for research projects or for potential research programmes.
The morning consisted of a series of presentations around the theme, including Multi-functional forests - the research dimension, Prof Maarten Nieuwenhuis (UCD School of Agriculture, Food Science & Veterinary Medicine) and A Rational Approach to Interactions of Nanoparticles with Living organisms-with applications? Prof Ken Dawson (UCD School of Chemistry & Chemical Biology). The full schedule is available here.
Fringe events, including the Space Science Research Workshop and the UCD Images of Research provided an added element of diversion to the day.
A number of prizes, including Incubation Space for commercialising research, Directed Market Research Analysis, opportunities to network with Business Angels, iPads and travel bursaries were awarded on the day, as follows:
1st - Mairead McCloskey (School of Geological Sciences) - Heterogeneous coupling on the Sumatran subduction interface and the characteristics of seismicity
2nd - Mardiana Mohd Ashaari (School of Biology and Environmental Science) - Metagenomics of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) contaminated soil
1st - Mojibur Khan (School of Biology and Environmental Science) - Exploiting the evolutionary divergence of the microorganism to identify candidate genes for the Bioethanol industry
2nd - Binh Dang (School of Chemical and Bioprocess Engineering) - Development of photoactive TiO2 for H2 production
1st - Vasilis Valdramidis (School of Agriculture, Food Science and Veterinary Medicine) - Ozone as an environmentally friendly treatment for the production of medicated bedding straw
2nd - Maciej Guzik (School of Biomolecular and Biomedical Science) - Conversion of waste products to value added biodegradable plastic
Muhammad Awais (School of Electrical, Electronic & Mechanical Engineering) – Fabrication of nano-crystalline NiO surfaces for the photocatalytic reduction of CO2
This is the first event in the Festival of Research & Innovation series and additional events will be organised throughout the year in the other three University Research Themes: Health & Healthcare Delivery (HHD), Global Ireland (GI) and Information, Computation and Communication (ICC).
Michael Gilchrist (Vice-Principal for Research & Innovation, UCD College of Engineering, Mathematical and Physical Sciences), Des Fitzgerald (Vice-President for Research), Muhammad Awais (School of Electrical, Electronic & Mechanical Engineering) and Ciaran O’Beirne (Manager, Technology Transfer, NovaUCD).
Michael Gilchrist (Vice-Principal for Research & Innovation, UCD College of Engineering, Mathematical and Physical Sciences), Des Fitzgerald (Vice-President for Research), Maciej Guzik (School of Biomolecular and Biomedical Science) and Ciaran O’Beirne (Manager, Technology Transfer, NovaUCD).
Michael Gilchrist (Vice-Principal for Research & Innovation, UCD College of Engineering, Mathematical and Physical Sciences), Des Fitzgerald (Vice-President for Research), Mojibur Khan (School of Biology and Environmental Science) and Ciaran O’Beirne (Manager, Technology Transfer, NovaUCD).
Michael Gilchrist (Vice-Principal for Research & Innovation, UCD College of Engineering, Mathematical and Physical Sciences), Des Fitzgerald (Vice-President for Research), Vasilis Valdramidis (School of Agriculture, Food Science and Veterinary Medicine) and Ciaran O’Beirne (Manager, Technology Transfer, NovaUCD).
