Institute of Chemistry of Ireland (ICI) Postgraduate Award

ATU PhD researcher Kris O’Dowd recently received the prestigious ICI Postgraduate Award, 2023. Kris is a final year PhD student in the Department of Environmental Sciences under the supervision of Prof. Suresh C. Pillai at ATU Sligo.

The ICI Postgraduate Award recognises a registered PhD student in any chemistry discipline working in an Irish Higher Education Institution. The student must have demonstrated excellence in research through publications and must also have demonstrated a commitment to supporting and promoting chemistry within their Institution.

ICI is the professional body representing chemists in Ireland. It promotes excellence in chemistry through a series of competitions and awards for chemists at all career stages from second level students onwards.

Kris is working as part of the PANIWATER consortium, a Horizon 2020 EU-funded project. He is an outstanding research student and has published in various high-impact journals such as the Journal of Environmental Chemical Engineering. He also presented his work at several international conferences and is one of the two winners of the 2017 Eurachem Ireland Analytical Measurement competition.

In addition to his research accomplishments, Kris is committed to supporting and promoting

Chemistry and research within ATU Sligo and in the north-west region. He is currently participating in the Current Chemistry Investigator (CCI) program, which is an informal chemistry education and public engagement project with students in their senior cycle of secondary education, allowing discussion of research with 16 to 18-year-old students.

Kris also participated in ESB Science Blast at the RDS Dublin as part of the CCI program. This was an educational program for primary school students and took place earlier this year. As part of this program researchers talked with schoolchildren, explaining their work, and talking about what ‘research’ means.