Earth Institute Annual Flash Talk Competition
The UCD Earth Institute held its annual postgraduate and postdoctoral research flash talk competition on April 21 this year, during Earth Week. Hosted by Earth Institute Associate Member Shane McGuinness (School of Architecture, Planning and Environmental Policy) and judged by Dr Sarah Cotterill (Civil Engineering), Dr Adam Kane (Biology and Environmental Science), and Dr Orla Kelly (Social Policy, Social Work and Social Justice), the event featured 10 two-minute talks, and was a wonderful opportunity to hear about the breadth and variety of environmental and sustainability research going on across the University.
The competition included presentations from the following contestants:
- PhD student Laura Griffin (Biology and Environmental Science): Living with wildlife: Is it okay to feed wild animals?
- PhD student Kieran Harrahill (Architecture, Planning and Environmental Policy): Just a transition or a just transition? Connecting beef farmers to the bioeconomy to benefit their income
- Postdoc Sarah MacQueen (Agriculture and Food Science): The mathematics of future pollination services
- Postdoc Eva Jobbová (Geography): Irish Droughts - an oxymoron, or a forgotten phenomenon?
- PhD student Bawan Amin (Biology and Environmental Science): Towards understanding animal behaviour in a changing world
- PhD student Veronica Farrugia Drakard (Biology and Environmental Science): The Secret Life of Seaweeds
- Postdoc Hakan Karaosman (Business): Decolonizing Fashion: How to move from window-dressing to a just transition?
- PhD student Conor O'Loughlin (Biomolecular and Biomedical Science): Fungi are fun-guys - Maximising fungal growth to enrich foods of the future
- PhD student Alison O'Reilly (Agriculture and Food Science): Pollinators and Pesticides - What's the Buzz?
- PhD student Lea Braud (Biosystems and Food Engineering): Why are Smurfs blue? – Introducing a new colour to the world!"
- Postdoc Virginia Morera-Pujol (Biology and Environmental Science): SMARTDEER: a comprehensive assessment of deer distribution in Ireland
The four winners were:
- Alison O'Reilly, Main prize winner
- Hakan Karaosman, Audience prize
- Sarah MacQueen, Live prize
- Bawan Amin, Recorded prize
