Biography

Professor Maria Sousa Gallagher is a Professor in Process & Chemical Engineering, School of Engineering at University College Cork (UCC). She is a Principal Investigator (PI) in the Environmental Research Institute (ERI), Food Institute, and Associate Academic and PI in Tyndall National Institute. 

She has more than 25 years of experience in European and National research programmes in innovative and applied projects with several International partners and industry. Professor Sousa Gallagher’s expertise encompass the areas of Manufacturing Competitiveness and Circular economy, including sustainable engineering systems, quality by design, integrated processing technologies, and novel materials for the advancement of the Circular Economy and the SDGs.  
 Prof. Sousa Gallagher has led and/or been involved in 27 successful competitive Research Grants, internationally, in European programmes (INTERREG-AA, ERAMIN2, FP7, CRAFT, INCO, ALFA, FAIR, AAIR), and nationally (FIRM, EI, PC, C+) and at a fundamental and applied level. Her work involved collaborative innovative projects with several international and national research groups, several international companies and the Irish industry. She was Co-PI for the  web based software Pack-in-MAP® (www.pack-in-MAP.com) licence, and  the Spin-out company for the commercialisation of this software with EI PC and C+ funds.
Currently, She is the coordinator and chief investigator in EU ERA‐MIN2 “Recycling of End of Life products” (RecEOL), which is providing evidence that a patented recycling process for Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment is economically viable and environmentally sustainable. She is a Partner and PI, on the EU Interreg research project “Smart and eco‐innovative SEAFOOD processes and products for healthy AGEing” (SEAFOOD‐AGE), which tackles a common social and economic challenge in the Atlantic Area: an ageing population. 

Prof. Sousa Gallagher supervised successfully to completion 88 Postgraduate students (13 PhD and 75 MEngSc). She has a strong scientific publication record with high impact factor (Google scholar, 5953 citations, h-index 35 in engineering, food science/ technology), comprising over 250 publications. 
Prof. Sousa-Gallagher is Director of Masters and PG Diploma in Pharmaceutical & Biopharmaceutical Engineering (2016-21). She led the Minor Research Thesis (MRT), and successfully supervised 60 industry-based MRT (35 MRT on the last 5 years). She coordinated 17 modules (7 Undergraduate and 10 Postgraduate). She has been teaching 6 UG modules on the BE Process & Chemical Engineering, and two with direct supervisory involvement (Work Placement & Research Project). She lectures also on the BSc and MSc in Biotechnology and BSc in Biochemistry.