I am an Eli Lilly Lecturer in Process and Chemical Engineering, University College Cork (UCC) and a Funded Investigator (FI) of the Circular Economy, Energy, and Environmental Systems (CEEES) Research Group, within MaREI, the Taighde Éireann (Research Ireland) research centre for energy, climate and marine. Currently I am leading multiple research projects on the topics of circular economy, bioeconomy and biorefining, particularly focusing on microalgal biogas upgrading, advanced applications of biochar and regenerating the wool industry in Ireland. I also serve as the programme director of two masters programmes in UCC, Part-Time MEngSc Pharmaceutical & Biophamraceutical Engineering and Full-Time MEngSc Engineering in Pharmaceutical and Biopharmaceutical Systems. My current h-index is 13, having published over 20 peer-reviewed academic journal papers in top tier journals such as; Biotechnology Advances, Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews and Chemical Engineering Journal. My expertise and research interest lies in: biochemical and bioprocess engineering, biopharmaceuticals, process design and simulation, carbon capture and utilisation, design of experiments, techno-economic (TEA) and life cycle assessments (LCA); circular bioeconomy systems. My qualifications include PhD in Engineering in 2022 on Photosynthetic Biogas Upgrading, co-funded by Taighde Éireann (Science Foundation Ireland) and Gas Networks Ireland (GNI), a Double Degree Masters in Sustainable Energy Engineering, with a special focus on innovation, entrepreneurship and academic-industry collaborative research and a bachelor's in Mechanical Engineering. In addition, I also have a couple of years of work experience as a construction and commissioning engineer and piping design engineer in a world-leading industrial and medical gas manufacturing establishment.

Currently, I have interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary research interests which include: Biochemical and bioprocessing engineering for co-production of advanced pharmaceuticals, chemicals and/or energy Microalgae biorefinery for the production of advanced biopharmaceuticals, biochemicals and bioenergy Biorefinery and bioenergy systems Decarbonisation of industrial processes including the application of Green Chemistry techniques Circular economy and industrial symbiosis Product and process development and optimisation, through Design of Experiments Carbon capture and utilisation from industrial processes Multi-scale modelling and simulation Sustainable and low-carbon process development including techno-economic analysis (TEA), life cycle analysis (LCA) and multi-criteria decision analysis (MCDA).

I leture and coordinate a number of modules in BE and ME Process and Chemical Engineering including Separation Processes (PE3012) Process Design and Feasibility Analysis (PE3016), and Complex Separation Processes (PE6035). I also coordinate industry taught modules (PE4016 - Pharmaceutical Process Validation and PE6032 - Pharmaceutical Industry Advances and Developments) in our BE/ME programmes. Furthermore, I coordinate the Process and Chemical Engineering final year masters thesis research module (PE6050) and act as the year tutor to 5th year students in the ME. In the Masters Programmes (MEngScs), I coordinate and lecture in Sustainability in Pharmaceutical and Biopharmaceutical Manufacturing (PE6057) and Pharmaceutical Industry Optimisation and Scale-up (PE6016). To date, I have supervised and mentored multiple masters thesis research projects including for PE6050 (11 students); ME6019 (5 students) and NE6009 (2 students) and PE6021 (8 students).

Primary Supervision

Co-Supervision