School of Chemistry Green and Sustainable Chemistry Seminar

3 Nov 2023

The Green and Sustainable work of four School of Chemistry PhD students was showcased at a recent seminar, building on the School's adoption of the Beyond Benign Green Chemistry Commitment.

Organised by Dr Gillian Collins, a lecturer in the field of Sustainable Materials, this seminar featured talks from across sections within the School of Chemistry and spanned multiple topics relating to Green Chemistry. The four speakers included:

• Emma O'Sullivan-Carroll with a talk titled "Comparison of chromatography techniques to determine greener analytical methods for the detection of pharmaceuticals in wastewater effluents."
• Rachel Breen with a talk titled "Catalysis in the circular economy: Converting plastics to commodity chemicals."
• Katie O'Callaghan with a talk titled "The power of continuous flow technology in Green chemistry processes."
• Eibhlín Halpin with a talk titled "Air quality in Ireland: The importance of monitoring priority pollutants."

This talk built on the School of Chemistry recently signing up to Beyond Benign, an international initiative to incorporate the teaching of Green and sustainable chemistry at primary, secondary, and tertiary levels. According to their website, Beyond Benign provides educators with the tools, training and support to make green chemistry an integral part of chemistry education, and their Green Chemistry Commitment provides a framework to unite the green chemistry higher education community around a common vision with multiple sustainable goals.

Speaking about the event, Dr Gillian Collins said, "It's great to see our talented PhD students showcase their diverse research on green and sustainable chemistry, which is essential to solve many global sustainability issues."

Professor Anita Maguire, Head of School, said "Chemists play a very significant role in developing solutions to global sustainability challenges. Within the School of Chemistry at UCC there are many research projects underway focused on different aspects of sustainability and green chemistry spanning sustainable materials, air quality, green approaches to synthesis, environmental analysis, etc. Today’s seminar provides an opportunity to hear some of our early career researchers present some of their current research providing insight into the breadth of expertise in this area within the School, aligned with the University’s commitment to Sustainability."