Lab to Farm by the Brainwaves project

The Brainwaves project has developed systems to use duckweed for water remediation. During the project they have been growing duckweed in indoor and outdoor laboratory conditions.

Now the work is starting to scale this system up and the technologies that have been developed in the laboratory are moving to real world setting on farms. The team spent a day on site recording this final video on a local dairy farm in Clonmel, Co. Tipperary.

The Duck-Feed project is now continuing this fascinating work with duckweed for a sustainable protein source for Ireland.

A Duckweed Film by Luke Ring

Research-led teaching provides students with relevant and in-depth learning experiences, while at the same time inspiring staff with new ideas, questions and enthusiasm.

Luke Ring joined the duckweed research group as a 4th year honours student in the School of Biological, Earth and Environmental Sciences at UCC. He studied the question to what extent duckweed will tolerate saline water. This is an important question, as many waste streams that can potentially be used to grow duckweed contain elevated levels of salinity. As part of his project, and to emphasise the importance of clean water, Luke made this inspiring video.