mestech spring bulletin

Spring Bulletin 2014

MESTECH

Spring

Bulletin 2014

Introduction to the COMMON SENSE Project SmartBay present their plans for 2014 Dr Jenny Ronan on her passive sampling project Researchers present at TCD Sensor deployed in collaboration with Commissioner of Irish

Lights (CIL) Kick-off in Limassol,

Cyprus, March 2014

Top: MESTECH Group March 2014

Left: Watch this space – Collaboration with Limerick School of Art and Design on „Manipulate

to Recreate‟

Highlights This Issue

Welcome from Director

FP7 Successes

Oceanology

Researcher

profile

Environ 14

CIL and

MESTECH

MariaBox

In the first quarter of 2014 there has been a significant

drive to build on what has been achieved in the past year - in terms of EU funding successes, through the new Horizon 2020 programme; building the partnerships with

SmartBay Ireland and Newfoundland; engaging with new opportunities in Ireland through SFI to establish Centres of

Excellence and continue to develop in-situ monitoring capacity to provide agencies with support to develop decision support tools.

The plans to establish a SmartBay Innovation Hub at the DCU Innovation Campus will lead to mechanism whereby cleantech

companies can scope out new opportunities into the marine environment. The planned roll-out of the SmartBay cable in

Galway Bay this year is an exciting development in the overall plan to exploit our marine resource.

We continue to welcome visiting students from Portugal, France and Brazil on an annual basis – and congratulate Lizandra

Paludetti on successfully defending her research project carried

out at MESTECH, as part of her

degree in the University of

Sao Paulo.

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Spring Bulletin 2014 COMMON SENSE Project

The COMMON SENSE project aims to provide easily usable, cost-effective, multi-functional innovative sensors to perform

in-situ measurements on key parameters. This project focuses on eutrophication, contaminants, marine litter and underwater

noise descriptors of the Marine Strategy Framework Directive (MSFD).

The primary role of the DCU project team (John Cleary, Margaret McCaul and Eoghan McNamara) is the development

of microfluidics-based sensors for nutrients in the marine environment, in addition to providing a platform for integrating

electrochemical sensors for heavy metals which are being developed by project partners.

Dr Caroline Murphy and Prof Fiona Regan attended

from the MariaBox kick-off on the 6-7th of March hosted by the project coordinator Dr Panayiotis

Philimis in Cyprus.

Marine environmental in situ assessment and

monitoring tool box or 'MariaBox' is funded under the European FP7 Ocean.2013 program to address the

topic of innovative multifunctional sensors for in-situ monitoring of the marine environment.

Prof Regan (pictured right) presented work on maritime

MariaBox kick-off in Cyprus

March 2014

system which includes a web platform to bring a more sophisticated view of the environment.

Once validated under laboratory conditions, the sensors will be deployed on marine platforms such as buoys, submerged

moorings and a range of marine vessels.

The project‟s initial objective is to provide an understanding and basis for cost effective development and integration of sensors. It will then focus on design and development of new sensors for the detection of

nutrient analytes, low concentrations of heavy metals, surface concentration of micro-plastics, and underwater noise. The sensors will be integrated with transversal sensors into a multifunctional, modular

Top right: Microfluidic phosphate detector

Left: Syringe pump array for mixing reagents

maritime biofouling, algal-toxin immunosensor development and marine sensing systems. The group will be working with researchers from the National Research Council, Italy, The Norwegian Institute for

Water Research as well as the Spanish National Research Council.

.

Spring Bulletin 2014 SmartBay Newfoundland Collaborations

IBM Agri Food Symposium, January 2014

Invent 2013 award for MESTECH

Prof Regan and MESTECH members Dr Aoife

Power and Alan Barrett, were awarded an Invent DCU, 2013 Award for engagement with business/industry on the 24th February. The award

was in recognition for the team‟s engagement in an Enterprise Ireland Innovation Partnership, regarding

the development of advanced optical coating technologies, with Valeo Vision Systems.

The IBM event was designed to highlight key

technologies that are driving efficiencies, cost reduction and growth in the agri food sector. Some IBM Business Partners demonstrated their solutions in

terms of forecasting and providing decision support for the sector using a range of scenarios.

The Symposium illustrated how technology underpins and enables growth in the Irish Agri/Food sector

selling into demanding global markets. Simon Coveney TD, Minister for Agriculture, Food and the

Marine attended and addressing the event he emphasized the need to implement ICT, including

monitoring technologies and data management systems, in the sector to support the projected growth targets over the coming years.

There is growing interest in building on the Galway Statement on Atlantic Ocean Cooperation and taking

advantage of the partnerships and relationships between SmartBay Newfoundland and SmartBay Ireland.

The opportunities for industry exchanges and joint research initiatives have been the focus of engagements over a

number of years. This year, we will see the bridging of the collaboration between the two Atlantic regions and

infrastructures. Initial projects will look at supporting the fishing industry through the use of data management systems to store and analyse their vessel-captured data as

well as industry deployments of technologies at both locations in Canada and Ireland.

Left: Hydrophobic surface developed in DCU

Right: Photo courtesy of Martin Pettitt

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Oceanology International 2014

Oceanology International is a biennial international tradeshow and conference in London recognised as

the leading marine science and ocean technology event. It hosts over 525 suppliers and is attended by

international leaders in the marine technology sector, including companies, technical specialists, scientists

exhibition are interested in deploying technology in SmartBay for testing and validation because of

the significant capacity in the team to support a deployment and also add value to the work

through data management and system integration.

SmartBay had the opportunity to present at the

Ocean Technology symposium at Excel during Oceanology where the Wendy Schmidt Ocean

Health xPrize initiative expressed interest in using SmartBay as a potential test site for the innovative pH sensor technologies being developed as part of

the xPrize.

SEAS-ERA Strategic Forum 2014

Prof Fiona Regan, Director of MESTECH, attended SEAS-ERA on 25th February in Brussels. The Forum will address SEAS-ERA key outputs, SEAS-ERA legacy and future cooperation mechanisms and next steps.

The Marine Institute was represented by Geoffrey O'Sullivan

who gave a presentation on “The EU Atlantic Action Plan (2014-2020): The contribution of the SEAS-ERA Atlantic partnership”.

SEAS-ERA is a partnership of the leading Marine RTD

Funding Organizations in 18 countries aimed at coordinating the national and regional efforts.

The SmartBay team presented their plans for the expansion of the Galway Bay infrastructure in 2014. The cable is due to be in place in this year with the capacity to support ocean energy developers as well

as other industries and researchers that require additional bandwidth for data. Companies attending the

Left: SmartBay exhibition at Oceanology 2014

and policy makers

The Marine Institute organised an Irish Pavilion to

promote Irish marine ICT and related technologies. Established in 1969, Oceanology International features the world‟s largest exhibition for marine science and technology.

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Researchers Present at

Environ 2014

MESTECH researchers presented their research at ENVIRON 2014 in Trinity College Dublin, from Wednesday to Friday 26th-28th February.

The theme of the conference was 'Environmental

Challenges and Solutions' which asks researchers to consider how their research investigates contemporary threats to the natural and human environment and/or

contributes towards finding solutions to those threats.

Beaufort Summer internships

Postdoctoral researcher Dr Tim Sullivan gave

an overview of the environmental sensing projects at MESTECH and an insight into the

current state of autonomous high frequency sensors for environmental monitoring.

PhD Student Gillian Duffy presented her work on the adaptation of a phosphate sensor to

utilise the molybdenum blue method for phosphate determination in order to improve

the limit of detection, making it suitable for monitoring unpolluted freshwaters.

MESTECH offers internships for undergraduate science

and engineering students. These 3 month scholarships provide students with direct experience of laboratory

research where they integrate with members of a multi-disciplinary team. The programme aims to give students an

opportunity to extend themselves intellectually, beyond the limits of degree course and gain valuable experience for their future careers.

For information please contact [email protected]

Below: A Beaufort Marine Research Project

using LEDs

Postdoctoral researchers Drs Tim Sullivan, Kevin

Murphy, Lisa Jones and Jenny Ronan as well as PhD students Brendan Heery, Gillian Duffy and Dian Zhang

gave talks on their work.

Above: Tim Sullivan presents at Environ

Below left: The exhibition space at Environ

2014 Spring Bulletin

Collaboration with USP in Brazil As part of a collaboration between MESTECH and the University of Sao Paulo (USP), Brazilian students from USP have visited

MESTECH to undertake research on sensors for environmental monitoring.

The project aims to monitor pollutants in river waters used as sources for potable water in disadvantaged areas. Pollutants are monitoring

using an optical colourimetric sensor developed in the NCSR. This

Erasmus Visiting Students

Ana Esmeralda Gonçalves and Mirandolina Correia are current Erasmus students with MESTECH. Starting in February this year the students have worked on projects with Drs Tim Sullivan, Aoife

Power and Kevin Murphy.

Both students are studying Environmental Health at Coimbra Health School, Portugal and will finish in May this year. The projects will allow the students to develop skills in material sciences

and gain valuable laboratory experience to further their education.

Ana has been working on LEDs as part of the optical colourimetric system. The aim is to learn concepts and techniques in the area of

instrumentation as well as develop skills in engineering and in the laboratory from the work carried out with the sensor.

Journal of Separation Science – “Determination of resin acid composition in rosin samples using cyclodextrin modified capillary electrophoresis”

Right: Visiting student Lizandra Paludetti defends her research.

Mirandolina is a working on materials development for antifouling purposes with a focus on nanomaterials and testing of doped sol-gels

with both nanoparticles and natural compounds.

Above left: Ana Esmerelda Gonçalves

Below right: Mirandolina Correia

sensor measures turbidity and colour changes in water to detect for pollution.

DCU hosted undergraduate student Lizandra Paludetti for five

months and will host Gustavo Voltani von Atzingen a PhD student for several weeks

in late March.

The collaboration will continue with the deployment of the OCS in Brazilian rivers during the Summer. This

work is funded by FUNASA, the National Health Foundation, and ISCA Brazil funding an SFI funding

collaboration between Ireland and Brazil.

Above left: The

Optical

Colourimetric

Sensor


Burrishoole INTRA Project

The purpose of the project is to analyse these data

sets with respect to the work previously carried out by MESTECH in the National Marine Reserve L.

Hyne.

The data collected comprises real-time sensor data related to environmental water quality parameters including pH, salinity, dissolved oxygen and

temperature. The student working on this project will work in DCU with Prof Fiona Regan and Dr Tim

Sullivan and with Dr Elvira de Eyto in Newport in Co. Mayo.

MESTECH postdoctoral researchers Drs Tim Sullivan and

Kevin Murphy visited the Commissioner of Irish Lights (CIL) in Dublin this February to collaborate on their activities in Dublin Bay.

A commercial sensor will be installed on the CIL Dublin

Bay Buoy. The sensor will make avail of the power and telemetry systems on the buoy to monitor chlorophyll, temperature, turbidity, conductivity (saline) and oxygen.

The aim is to integrate these analytes with the AIS radar system to provide these additional measurements to the

CIL network.

Commissioner of Irish Lights &

MESTECH Collaborate

CIL is a maritime organisation delivering safety services

around the coast of Ireland to protect the marine environment and support the marine industry and coastal

communities.

SmartBay Ireland and Burrishoole in collaboration with the Marine and Environmental Sensing Technology Hub (MESTECH), DCU are seeking a student with expertise

in data analytics.

The 6 month project will analyse a historical data set of the environmental monitoring in the Burrishoole catchment. This catchment includes the freshwater L.

Feeagh and the coastal lagoon L. Furnace.

Below right: The lakes at Burrishoole

Photo courtesy of Daniel Brady, Burrishoole Fisheries

Right and below left: Sensor buoys from CIL


Contact Us General Enquiries: Mary Comiskey NCSR Administrator mary.comiskey@ dcu.ie 01 700 8898

Further enquiries: Prof Fiona Regan Director, MESTECH [email protected]

Next Issue:

Horizon 2020 Opportunities

LSAD Collaboration

Asset 2014

Europtrode Conference

Researcher Profile – Jenny Ronan

Jenny Ronan graduated with a BSc Hons degree in Marine

Science from NUI Galway in 2003. She worked in the Marine Institute in Galway analysing shellfish for marine biotoxins and

then worked in the institute‟s residues monitoring programme.

She completed her PhD entitled „An integrated assessment of

oestrogenic endocrine disruption in the Irish marine environment, with particular focus on chemical measurements‟

with Trinity College in 2013.

She joined MESTECH in 2013 as a postdoctoral researcher on

an EPA funded project investigating the role of passive sampling for screening and monitoring new and emerging

chemicals. The project uses polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) samplers for organic contaminants and polar organic chemical integrative samplers (POCIS) for polar contaminants in the

aquatic environment, along with water and biota sampling.

Follow us on Twitter: @SensingResearch Bulletin produced by Colm O‟Hehir

www.mestech.org

Recently a number of compounds have been added to the

list of priority substances for chemical monitoring under the EU Water Framework Directive (WFD). The current

method of grab sampling has proven ineffective in meeting the monitoring requirements of the WFD.

The project aims to provide a report on recommendations for the use of passive sampling as a tool Ireland can use

to meet the WFD specs. Further sampling will take place next year in Cork as well as Donegal, Mayo, Galway and

Dublin. Left and top: Jenny Ronan deploying a passive

sampling device