On 30 April 2025, around 25 delegates gathered at Mt Lucas, County Offaly, for a workshop entitled “Lemnaceae: Roots, Nutrient Uptake and the Circular Economy”.  The location in the midlands of Ireland was highly symbolic: once a vast peatland, Mt Lucas is now a flagship site for duckweed (Lemnaceae) cultivation in Ireland.

Duckweed, a small free-floating aquatic plant, has significant economic and environmental potential for the agriculture industry which lies untapped.

The Irish Environmental Researchers Colloquium (Environ) is the largest annual gathering of environmental researchers in Ireland. It has been held annually since 1991, and is organised by the Environmental Sciences Association of Ireland in collaboration with a university or institute of technology. The conference attracts about 300 delegates annually. The event offers a high-visibility platform for both young and experienced researchers to present their findings to an audience of academia, government bodies and agencies, as well as industry representatives.

This year was the 35^th Environ conference, with a theme of “One Health for a Sustainable Future”. The conference was organised in collaboration with University College Dublin (UCD) and held on 10-12 March at the UCD campus.

Several of our students and researchers attended the conference, and presented their work from the different projects.

Our latest paper is now available online:

Redmond, C., Coughlan, N.E., Purcell, A., Jansen, M.A.K. Optimisation of Dairy Soiled Water as a Novel Duckweed Growth Medium. Plants 2025, 14, 110. 

DOI: https://doi.org/10.3390/plants14010110 

Our project titled “Duckweed as a novel, sustainable source of protein for Ireland (DUCK-FEED)” aims to develop improved, small scale outdoor cultivation systems, develop Lemna growth on farm waste-streams, optimise protein extraction technology, assess feed quality, determine economic and environmental viability, and assess public acceptance of duckweed as a native, protein-rich feedstock. As a part of the project, Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) will be applied to evaluate environmental impacts along the supply chain of duckweed, including farming, processing, and production of composite feeds.

Our Duck-Feed PhD researcher presented his poster entitled "Valorising Yard Washings with Native Duckweeds" at the 2024 ENVIRON conference in Waterford.

The 34th Irish Environmental Researchers Colloquium “Harvest to Harbour: Research from Soil to Sea” was held at the South East Technological University in Waterford from 25 - 27 March.

The latest issue of the Duckweed Forum newsletter has been published by the International Steering Committee on Duckweed Research and Applications (ISCDRA).

A new paper has been published on the development of a stacked duckweed cultivation system:

Coughlan, N. E., et al. (2023). On the rise: Development of a multi-tiered, indoor duckweed cultivation system. Water Environment Research, 95(12), e10964.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1002/wer.10964

The paper describes the development and operation of a multi-tiered duckweed bioreactor.

A new paper has been published on the Computational Fluid Dynamic analysis of a stacked duckweed bioreactor system:

Maguire, D. et al. (2023) Where engineering meets biology: The Computational Fluid Dynamic analysis of a stacked duckweed bioreactor. Aquacultural Engineering, 102375.
DOI: 10.1016/j.aquaeng.2023.102375

The research involved scientists from Process and Chemical Engineering and from Biological, Earth and Environmental Sciences at UCC.

Today Professor Marcel Jansen presented the Duck-Feed project at BioFarm 2023. The two-day conference focusing on organic agriculture in Ireland was organised by the National Organic Training Skillnet (NOTS). It was hosted at the Fitzgeralds Woodlands House Hotel in Adare, Co. Limerick.

Yesterday a group of local dairy farmers visited the School of Biological, Earth and Environmental Sciences at University College Cork to hear all about the potential of integrating duckweed cultivation in Irish farming.

Read the full story at the Brainwaves Project's website.

The duckfeed group is looking for a candidate to take up a 30 months Postdoctoral or Senior Postdoctoral research position at University College Cork, working on the Horizon Europe IMPRESS Project.

Applications are now open, and close on 24 August 2023, at 12 noon.

Further details can be found at the PlantStress website job opportunities page.

We made it on the ISCDRA Newsletter "Duckweed Forum" with our write-up on the highly successful duckweed workshop, which was held in June.

The duckfeed group is looking for a candidate to take up a 3-year PhD fellowship at University College Cork, working on the Horizon Europe IMPRESS Project.

Applications are now open, and close on 28 July 2023.

Further details can be found at the PlantStress website job opportunities page.

The kick-off meeting for a new research project started today at Teagasc in Ashtown. The Horizon Europe-funded IMPRESS project is an international collaboration between 14 partners in 7 countries.

In Ireland, interest in duckweed research and applications has steadily grown over the years. However, research and development efforts are somewhat scattered, with sometimes a lack of joined-up thinking. To bring key stakeholders together, as well as to bring in best international expertise, a one-day workshop on “Duckweed Research and Applications for the Circular Bioeconomy in Ireland” was organised at University College Cork (UCC) in the south of Ireland on the 9th of June 2023.

Irish-produced animal feed, made with locally-found duckweed can help the Irish agriculture industry meet its climate targets, a meeting of leading experts from around the world will hear today.

Some 45 leading scholars and practitioners from around Ireland and across the globe will meet at University College Cork (UCC) today, June 9, to explore advances in duckweed research and applications, and how these can contribute to an innovative and sustainable agri-feed industry for Ireland.

The Duck-Feed team met yesterday at the Teagasc campus at Ashtown, Dublin. Hosted by Prof. Brijesh Tiwari, for many of the team this was the first time they got to meet in person.

For World Water Day, on 22 March 2023, a new film was published on duckweed and its role in water quality. The film was made by Luke Ring, a 4th year student at UCC. The short film, at 3:20 minutes long, explains what impact humans have on the planet, how we are searching for new solutions to the problem of water pollution. 

See our Videos page.

The duckweed group in University College Cork are happy to announce they are organising a one-day workshop on:

"Duckweed Research and Applications for the Circular Bioeconomy in Ireland".

The discussion-focused workshop takes place on Friday 9 June 2023, in Cork.

Exploring on-farm duckweed ponds with a site visit at a Clonmel farm.

The team are happy to present the Duck-Feed Project today at the BioEconomy Research Symposium.