Department of Chemical Sciences hosts its first official Research Day

The Department of Chemical Sciences at UL was proud to host our first official Research Day at The Strand Hotel on May 31st, 2023. The full day event was attended by staff, researchers, and postgrads in the Department and featured keynote speakers and presentations from research fellows, Bernal Research Centres, industry partners and our very own postgraduate students!

The day kicked off with a keynote presentation, "Why crystals will save the world" by our very own Prof Michael Zaworotko. Prof Zaworotko detailed how new materials discovered by his research group point toward an alternate approach to store such gases which is both less energy intensive and safer. Following on were SRI-IRC Research Fellows, Dr Jennifer Cookman ("Seeing is believing: Liquid Phase TEM for Pharmaceutical Crystallisation") and Dr Soumya Mukherjee ("Clean Water and Air: Building Materials Bottom-up") . The morning concluded with informative updates from our three Bernal Institute research centres, SSPC, PMTC and DPTC.

After lunch, Dr Jennifer Fitzgerald from Lilly Kinsale spoke to attendees on the goals, careers opportunities and exciting prospects coming to the new facility opening in Limerick next year. Next up, was our Thesis-in-three competition where 10 very enthusiastic postgraduate students quickly defined the scope of their research in a creative three-minute, three-slide presentation. Audience members voted on the winning presentation with Hannah McKeever and Paul Tasker taking the top two spots. 

Then came the highlight of the day: the Table Quiz. Eighteen highly-competitive teams faced off in topics that ranged from the periodic table to popular music. In the end, team "Fastest Fingers", lead by Dr Shalini Singh, were the winners.

Following on, Head of Department, Prof Tewfik Soulimane gave a quick departmental update in his closing address and thanked everyone for their efforts during his tenure as HOD. Guests then moved on to the poster session. Over 20 postgraduate students not only had the opportunity to present their work to a team of esteemed judges, but also to share and discuss their research with their peers and colleagues. It was a tough choice and the results were very, very close, but in the end the winners were Rebecca Forde (1st), Kelly Murphy (2nd) and Niraj Patil (3rd).

Finally, the day concluded with a BBQ and few drinks on the sunny terrace!