PhD Student Wins Award

Congratulations to PhD Research Student Theresa Hughes of the water Technology Research Group, who won the best student paper award at the 2011 national meeting of the American Society of Mining and Reclamation held at Bismark in the USA for her paper 'Co-treatment of acid mine drainage with municipal wastewater using the activated sludge process: preliminary treatability studies.'  The paper has been published in the conference proceedings: Reclamation: Sciences Leading to Success edited by Professor  R.I. Barnhisel, pages 283-305, published by the ASMR, Lexington .

Environ 2011

UCC main quadrangle
Copyright UCC

The 21st Irish Environmental Researchers’ Colloquium is being held in University College Cork (UCC) from Wednesday, April 6th to Friday April 8th, 2011. With over 300 researchers and delegates from a wide variety of scientific and engineering disciplines in attendance, this is Ireland’s largest annual environmental event. Postgraduate researchers from throughout Ireland share their research offering a unique opportunity to experience the latest ideas in environmental science and technology. Most of the researchers from the Water Technology Research Group will be in attendance at this year’s colloquium. List of presentations

MSc Environmental Sciences

The MSc Environmental Sciences students are spending three weeks with me doing a crash course in hydrobiology.  The 13 students are currently doing freshwater monitoring and are shown here on their third freshwater site visit.

New Publication on Activated Sludge Protozoa

Donata Dubber, a PhD student with the Water Technology Research Group, has just published a paper on the effect of anoxia and anaerobia on ciliate communities in BNR systems. The key outputs of the study were: (i) aeration conditions play a major role in how protozoan communities develop; (ii) activated sludge ciliates display different tolerances to anoxia/anaerobia; (iii) short times of anoxia enhance protozoan community complexity; (iv) with anaerobic conditions protozoan community complexity and abundances decrease; and finally (v) to ensure optimum performance lengths of anaerobia should be as short as possible.  The research is funded by Science Foundation Ireland.

The full reference is: Dubber, D. and Gray, N.F. (2011) The effect of anoxia and anaerobia on ciliate community in biological nutrient removal systems using laboratory-scale sequencing batch reactors (SBRs). Water Research, 45, (6), 2213-2226.   doi:10.1016/j.watres.2011.01.015

Reminder: TCD Postgraduate Open Day



Trinity College Dublin
copyright Tigroney



Just to remind you that members of the Water Technology Research Group will be at the School of Natural Sciences stand at this year's Postgraduate Open Day on Thursday, 27 January 2011 from 4pm - 7pm in the historic Exam Hall in Trinity College Dublin. All the schools and disciplines will be represented and you will have the chance to discuss postgraduate opportunities.

IRCSET PhD Scholarships 2011

Irish Research Council for Science, Engineering and Technology (IRCSET) ‘EMBARK’ Initiative and the Enterprise Partnership Scheme (EPS) offer opportunities for suitably qualified individuals to pursue a postgraduate degree by research. The Scheme supports basic research in the broad areas of Science, Engineering and Technology. The online application system opens on Wednesday 12th January 2011 for individuals hoping to begin postgraduate research in the Republic of Ireland in September, 2011. The strict deadline for applicants to submit applications is Wednesday 16th February, 2011. Link  Those interested in applying for a PhD with the Water Technology Group or within the Centre for the Environment should contact Nick Gray in the first instance.

TCD Postgraduate Open Day 2011



Trinity College Dublin
Copyright Tigroney



There will be a chance to meet academics, researchers and taught course co-ordinators on Thursday, 27 January 2011 from 4pm - 7pm in the historic Exam Hall in Trinity College Dublin.  All the schools and disciplines will be represented and you will have the chance to discuss postgraduate opportunities. The Water Technology Research Group will be represented so come along and meet us. Link

Get involved via facebook

Postgraduate Research Opportunities - Update

We are approaching that time of year when increasing numbers are contacting College about the possibilities of doing postgraduate research towards either an MSc or PhD.

We are very happy to encourage prospective postgraduates to apply to the University to carry out research with the Water Technology Research Group. While we do not have any funded places available at the present time (these are widely advertised when they become available) we still encourage self-financing students and those who can obtain funding from their employer, home Institution and Government.

In the first instance please go to the link at our Graduate Studies Office and read all the terms and conditions that apply to potential applicants. You will notice that all applications are now on-line and are centralized for Ireland.  However, before making a formal application for a higher degree you should first discuss possible projects with us and funding implications. Please contact me at nfgray@tcd.ie.

Details of funding available within Ireland can be accessed at via the Graduate Studies Office website.