Overview of selection of wastewater and water research project at the Environmental Research Institute, University College Cork Good morning. My name is Paul Bolger and I am manager of the Environmental Research Institute. I would like to thank Catherine and this group for inviting me to give a short overview of research activities at the Environmental Research Institute. Unfortunately the Institute director alan dobson could not be here this morning as he is in Brussels this week. Before I start I would like to welcome you to the Institute, I hope that you have had a fruitful meeting this morning and that you have been inspired by the River Lee flowing gently past the building. As you know the Lee doesn’t always flow so gently despite our proximity we were one of the few buildings that did not suffer any damage due the floods in 2009 . Paul Bolger, BSc, PhD, MBA Environmental Research Institute (Manager) E: p.bolger@ucc.ie W: http://eri.ucc.ie Showcasing Ireland's Water and Wastewater Research' - Enterprise Ireland, May 7th, 2014

We would like to put this down to the caution and expertise of the environmental engineers in our building but I think Lady Luck should be given some credit also.

About the Environmental Research Institute Mission: To generate new research knowledge for the understanding and protection of our natural environment and develop technologies, tools and services to facilitate a transformation to a low carbon, resource efficient society. Established in 2000 under PRTLI2 as a flagship UCC Institute to bring together environmental research from 10 departments and 4 research centres under a single multidisciplinary Institute. Established in 2000 (PRTLI2) . We were a virtual institute for a number of years. The location on the Lee Road was chosen as this areas was to be part of a Sustainable City Campus and the land was granted to UCC by Cork City Council. Moved into the ERI building in 2006 Flagship: One of three flagship Institutes. The Environmental Research Institute (ERI) constitutes an important part of the University College Cork’s strategy to develop inter-disciplinary research institutes that have a critical mass of world-class researchers in prioritised research areas. Multidisciplinary: Brings together expertise in the biological, chemical and environmental sciences as well as environmental engineering, energy and environmental law. The ERI has Principal Investigators from 10 cognate schools/departments. facilitating knowledge-sharing and communication across different disciplines. For example, the location of biotechnologists, ecologists and engineers within the ERI has enabled a broader research approach in the area of bio-fuels, where the biotechnologists study the bio-transformation of crops to fuels at a micro-level, the engineers look at scale-up and process optimisation, and the ecologists look at the ecological impacts of changing land use to growing bio-fuel crops. Umbrella Institute: Key Drivers for the Institute The benefits of scale A strategic approach “One-stop-shop” Increased focus and expertise on funding acquisition (especially EU)

Institute Capacity More than 250 Researchers (70 Principal Investigators, 85 Postdoctoral researchers/research staff, and 95 PhD/Master students) Funding: Over past 5 years Institute researchers have been awarded over €37 M in recurrent funding plus €16 M (PRTLI5) for the new Beaufort Laboratory in Ringaskiddy. Awarded €29 M MaREI marine renewable energy project in 2013 Research output: 699 peer reviewed research papers (2009-2013) Post-Graduate Supervision: Over 138 Postgraduate students supervised (2009-2013) UCC Research Quality Review (2009): Institute awarded the highest score of Level 5 i.e. research of a quality that is of world-leading standard (“a high level of inter-disciplinary research” “world-class facilities” “leaders in their field”) PRTLI Impact Report (2011): ERI was the only Institute/Centre in Ireland which had received funding in the environment and marine area in Ireland that demonstrated high impacts across all six evaluation categories (commercial, human capital, capability, reputation, national policy and wider impacts) and was one of the top ten funded Institutes in Ireland for generating income from non-exchequer and industry sources. an independent report into the commercial and economic impact of research investment in Ireland (PRTLI1-3 programme) found that the ERI had a high impact in all six evaluation categories (commercial, human capital, capability, reputation, national policy and wider impacts). The ERI was also the only Institute/Centre which had received funding in the environment and marine area in Ireland that demonstrated impacts across all six categories and was one of the top ten funded Institutes in Ireland for generating income from non-exchequer and industry sources.

Overview of a selection of water and wastewater projects at the Environmental Research Institute

Developing a zero-discharge domestic wastewater treatment system PI & Researcher: Dr Padraig Whelan, Prof Peter Jones and Fergus McAuliffe (School of BEES/ERI) Email: fergus.mcauliffe@umail.ucc.ie Funding Body: IRCSET Optimising the performance of willow-based WWT systems for Irish conditions Fergus McAuliffe, UCC

Applications of microbial systems for resource recovery in dairy wastewaters PI: Dr Niall O’ Leary (School of Microbiology/Environmental Research Institute) Email: n.oleary@ucc.ie Funding Body: Environmental Protection Agency We export our dairy produce but not our wastewater – can we turn this waste into a resource? Bioaccumulation of Phosphate Polymers COD capture: Polyesters (plastics & biofuel) Novel Hydrolytic Enzymes

Optimising domestic scale biosand filters for potable water treatment PI & Researcher: Dr Deborah Chapman and Greg Beechinor (School of BEES/ERI) Email: d.chapman@ucc.ie Funding Body: IRCSET Developing a seed innoculum to catalyse the rapid development of a biolayer would protect millions of people in developing world Photos from http://www.cawst.org

Pharmaceutical emissions in the environment PI & Researcher: Dr Deborah Chapman and Fabio Bacci (School of BEES/ERI) Email: d.chapman@ucc.ie and f.bacci@live.ie Funding Body: IRCSET Develop a model to predict likely pharmaceutical emissions based on consumption rates and population patterns

Pond weed –from green nuisance to green technology Using pondweed (Lemnaceae) for wastewater clean-up PI & Researcher: Dr Marcel Jansen (School of BEES/ERI) Email: m.jansen@ucc.ie Funding Body: IRCSET and EPA Pond weed –from green nuisance to green technology + N and P Devils Lake, North Dakota, 30 treatment + Heavy metals Zn BCF > 1000 + chlorophenols Gammarus pulex Lemna Punctata – No toxicity at high conc & able to degrade