SETU’s enviroCORE celebrated a record number of postgraduate awards at this year’s conferring ceremonies at SETU’s campus in Carlow for students specialising in environmental science research.
An historic moment
SETU’s 2024 conferrings saw the largest group of enviroCORE postgraduate students to receive awards in a single ceremony. Students achieved their awards at master and PhD levels, marking an historic moment for the University and a milestone for academic and research staff who supported the students throughout their studies. The students demonstrated outstanding commitment, sacrifice, and dedication to their research, and it was a wonderful occasion to celebrate their hard work.
A diverse range of environmental science research
Two enviroCORE students, Megan O’Dwyer and Beatrice Olayiwola, achieved their Master of Science (M.Sc.) by Research awards. Megan’s research focused on the impact of a soil fermentation product on plant growth promoting bacteria, soil function, and plant defense. While Beatrice investigated the deposition of antibiotic layers onto implant surfaces and bacterial biofilms using low temperature plasma. Additionally, Jason Uhlemann, a student of both enviroCORE and compuCORE, achieved his M.Sc. for his exploration of the suitability of artificial neural networks for nematode identification.
PhDs were awarded to six additional students across a diverse range of research activity. Sandra Bohan looked at the potential of acute phase protein biomarkers in salmonids to monitor stress in aquaculture. Stephanie Coakley’s work was an eco-physiological investigation of a local dimorphic population of the invasive plant Impatiens glandulifera and its interactions with the soil microbiome, pollinators, and cadmium.
Elena Grosu achieved her PhD for her research on characterising the bio-stimulant activity of the soil bacterium Ensifer adhaerens OV-14 to support plant development and stress resilience. While Anna Karpinska was awarded a PhD for her work on an agro-ecological analysis of recycling-derived fertilisers in Irish grassland.
Demi Ryan’s PhD research was on bio-based fertilisers (BBF) and the response of the soil microbiome to their use in agriculture and the efficiency of a phosphate solubilising bacterium to enhance BBF phosphate release. Jiao Zhang was awarded a PhD for her research on the development of functional food products from byproducts from the brewing industry.
Support and supervision of research
SETU would like to acknowledge the extraordinary support of its supervisors and their external project partners, who were a guiding force to this wonderful group of students. This includes: Dr Guiomar Garcia-Cabellos, Dr David Ryan, Dr Richard Lally (Alltech), Dr Rosemary O’Hara, Dr Darren F. Kavanagh, Dr Liam O’Neill, Dr David Dowling, Dr Carloalberto Petti, Dr Brian O'Rourke, Dr Gary Cahill, Dr Anne-Marie Enright; Dr Ewen Mullins (Teagasc), Dr Dheeraj Rathore (Teagasc), Dr Thomais Kakouli-Duarte, Dr John Byrne, Dr Patrick Forrestal (Teagasc), Dr Kieran Germanie, Dr David Dowling, Dr Adriana Cunha Neves, Dr Ariane Perez-Gavillan, and Dr Oisin Cawley.
enviroCORE is SETU’s bio-environmental research centre that works to promote strategic applied research and education in innovative environmental biotechnology. Its aim is to contribute to a sustainable economic and social development through its initiatives, to our region and beyond
For more information on SETU’s enviroCORE, click here.