MESA Phd Candidate, Irene O'Callaghan, has been named Environmental Sciences Association of Ireland (ESAI) Postgraduate Researcher of the Year!

MESA Principal Investigator, Dr Tim Sullivan, along with Dr Debbie Chapman of the UNEP GEMS/Water Capacity Development Centre (CDC), has co-authored a new publication, published in One Earth, and entitled The role of water quality monitoring in the sustainable use of ambient waters. The article examines the current status of water monitoring programmes, and highlights gaps and shortcomings, as well as recommendations for future requirements.

MESA Principal Investigator, Dr Tim Sullivan, and PhD candidate, Hannah Binner, have, along with Prof Mairead Harding and Dr Naghmeh Kamali of the Oral Health Services Research Centre (Cork University Dental School & Hospital), co-authored a new publication, entitled Characteristics of wastewater originating from dental practices using predominantly mercury-free dental materials. The study examines the composition and characteristics of wastewater from dental streams, and analyses the ecotoxicity, particulate load and overall risk from this understudied source of environmental contamination. This article addresses a knowledge gap, and highlights central findings that include the presence of micro- and nanoscale particles in dental wastewater, suggesting dental wastewater could act as a pathway for nanoparticles to enter the environment, and an EC₅₀ (48h, D. magna) of as little as 0.2 mL/L of dental wastewater.

MESA Principal Investigator, Dr Tim Sullivan, and PhD candidate, Irene O'Callaghan, have, along with Dr Dara Fitzpatrick of the School of Chemistry (UCC), co-authored a recent publication, entitled Thiophilicity is a determinant of bioaccumulation in benthic fauna. This study examines the uptake and bioaccumulation of sediment-bound contaminants in benthic macroinvertebrates. It is shown that the rate of bioaccumulation is linked to the elemental thiophilicity of the contaminant. The paper offers new insight into the mechanisms of bioaccumulation and triophic transfer in the aquatic environment, and presents evidence supporting the existence of a thiol-mediated process in benthic fauna.

Dr Tim Sullivan, Principal Investigator of the Materials & Environmental Science Applications (MESA) Research Group, has been appointed as the Director of the UNEP GEMS/Water Capacity Development Centre!

Environ 2021, held virtually from UCC this year, has ended with much success!

Three MESA-associated talks were delivered at this year's Annual Scientific Meeting of the Irish Freshwater Sciences Assoication (IFSA).

The 2020 UCC Autumn Conferrings saw the graduation of two MESA masters students. Congratulations to Hannah Binner and Laurean Quinlivan!

MESA Principal Investigator, Dr Tim Sullivan, along with Irene O'Callaghan, has authored a recent publication entitled Recent Developments in Biomimetic Antifouling Materials: A Review. The paper discusses emerging techniques for preventing fouling of surfaces, with an emphasis on adapting existing strategies found in nature.

The paper is published in Biomimetics.

MESA PhD candidate Irene O'Callaghan has been awarded an Early Stage Researcher Bursary from An Fóram Uisce (The Water Forum) in order to deliver policy recommendations on the topic of legacy contamination of freshwater sediments and the impacts on catchment and drinking water protection.

MESA Principal Investigator, Dr Tim Sullivan, and PhD candidate, Irene O'Callaghan, have co-authored a recent publication, entitled Shedding the load: moulting as a cause of variability in whole-body metal concentrations. This article demonstrates how moulting can induce a significant variability in measured accumulated pollutant concentrations in aquatic biota. The study is forthcoming in The Crustacean Society's Journal of Crustacean Biology, published by Oxford Journals.

MESA Principal Investigator, Dr Tim Sullivan, has co-authored a recent EPA Research Report entitled "Environmental Outcomes from Licence Enforcement Activity" (Report No. 316).

This report outlines the role and impact of enforcement on environmental complience, and offers key recommendations for improving the effectiveness of environmental enforcement.

The report is published by the Environmental Protection Agency (Ireland), and can be accessed here.

MESA Principal Investigator, Dr Tim Sullivan, and Masters' student, Lauren Quinlivan, have co-authored a recent publication with Dr Debbie Chapman of the United Nations GEMS/Water centre at the UCC Environmental Research Institute.

This paper, entitled Applying citizen science to monitor for the Sustainable Development Goal Indicator 6.3.2: a review, reviews the current state of the knowledge regarding the use of citizen science in water quality monitoring, and comments on the use of citizen science to support specific UN Sustainable Development Goals.

The paper is published in Environmental Monitoring and Assessment, and the study was part-funded by the UCC Centre for Global Development (CDG), with generous support from FreshWaterWatch of the Earthwatch Institute.

MESA Principal Investigator, Dr Tim Sullivan has co-authored a recent publication entitled Antifouling and Fouling-Release Performance of Photo-Embossed Fluorogel Elastomers. The paper combines chemistry-based and topography-based techniques in a novel anti-biofouling approach.

The paper is published in the Journal of Marine Science and Engineering. The study was funded by the European Union 7th Framework Programme under the SEAFRONT project, with additional support from the Office of Naval Research, UK.

MESA Principal Investigator, Dr Tim Sullivan, was invited, this last week, to speak at the 4th ANZPAC Workshop on Biofouling Management for Sustainable Shipping/1st GEF-UNDP-IMO GloFouling R&D Forum and Exhibition on Biofouling Management, which took place at the Melbourne Conference & Exhibition Centre!

Tim Sullivan (PI), Hannah Binner (Masters student) and Irene O'Callaghan (PhD candidate) of MESA took part in Culture Night on Friday, 20th September. Irene also took part in Cork Discovers on Friday, 27th September.

MESA Principal Investigator, Dr Tim Sullivan, is co-author of a forthcoming publication, entitled The Changing Dynamic of the Regulated and the Regulator Relationship: The implications for Environmental Enforcement, that has won the Irish Academy of Management Corporate Social Responsibility track - Best Paper Award and the overall Best Paper Award.

MESA Principal Investigator, Dr Tim Sullivan, and Masters' student, Lauren Quinlivan, have co-authored a recent publication with Dr Debbie Chapman of the United Nations GEMS/Water centre at the UCC Environmental Research Institute.

This paper, entitled Validating Citizen Science Monitoring of Ambient Water Quality for the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, is one of the first to critically examine the quality of citizen science data, and whether citizen science can be used to support specific UN Sustainable Development Goals.

The paper is published in Science of the Total Environment, and the study was part-funded by the UCC Centre for Global Development (CDG), with generous support from FreshWaterWatch of the Earthwatch Institute.

Hannah Binner (Masters student) and Irene O'Callaghan (PhD candidate) of MESA took part in the first ever Cork-based Soapbox Science event last Saturday, 6th July. 

MESA Principal Investigator, Dr Tim Sullivan, and PhD candidate, Irene O'Callaghan, have co-authored a recent publication, entitled The freshwater isopod Asellus aquaticus as a model biomonitor of environmental pollution: A review.

MESA Principal Investigator, Dr Tim Sullivan, has co-authored a recent publication, entitled The problem of agricultural ‘diffuse’ pollution: Getting to the point, in Science of the Total Environment. The article investigates the ecological impact of dairy farm drainage on a freshwater system.

All three student members of the MESA research group presented work at this year's ENVIRON, held at IT Carlow.

MESA Principal Investigator, Dr Tim Sullivan, has authored a recent publication, entitled Cell Shape and Surface Colonisation in the Diatom Genus Cocconeis—An Opportunity to Explore Bio-Inspired Shape Packing?, in Biomimetics. The article investigates the packing properties of diatoms.

MESA member, Irene O'Callaghan, will present at the 17th International Conference on Chemistry and the Environment (ICCE), organised by the Association of Greek Chemists (AGC) and the European Chemical Society (EuChemS). The conference will be held in Thessaloniki, Greece in June of this year.

All three student members of the MESA research group will present at this year's ENVIRON.

MESA member, Irene O'Callaghan, will present at the 29th Society of Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry (SETAC) European Annual Meeting, set to be held this coming May in Helsinki, Finland.